Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak Press Conference

Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak

Press Conference – May 7, 2026

San Francisco 49ers

What’s the feeling like here, with any newness and the level excitement too?

“I’ve been here the whole time. But yeah, it’s been good to have the players back for sure. Always a new energy when those guys are back in the building, getting to see them every day, reminding us why we like them so much and just getting to be around the guys brings us energy every day. I’m excited for this phase two, which starts next week and then getting into our OTAs. It will be good.”

What are your goals? What do you try to accomplish when you get the rookies in here for the first time?

“It’s a combination of things. I think one, you really want them to start digging into the installs and the playbook a little bit. And they get in the meeting room with the coaches. So, there’s that part of it, the mental. Getting them on the field and just kind of getting them adapted to the drills we are going to be doing. The way we practice, the way we work on the field, I see it as kind of a two-day orientation for, ‘hey, you’re here for a couple days, you’re in the classroom, you’re on the practice field, you know how we want to work, you know the standard. And then they’re here on Monday. They’re out there on the field with the players and they join the group. So, it’s kind of that dual purpose, and you want to see what they can do. You’ve got all these tryout guys coming in, some of these free agents we signed. You kind of want to see how they look, so just all those things. We’re evaluating it all.”

Will any of your quarterbacks be on the field?

“I believe [QB] Kurtis [Rourke] is going to be out there. I’m not 100-percent sure, but I know Kurtis is eligible to be in our minicamp. So yeah, he might be out there throwing.”

How did you find out that you guys had signed WR Mike Evans and how do you plan on using him?

“How did I find out? Same way you guys did. It showed up on ESPN on that first day of free agency. We were ecstatic and fired up. Obviously, we had a plan. We evaluated him and had intentions to want to sign him, and we talked about it. But just to get it done was incredible. How do we want to use him? I mean, he’s a Hall-of-Fame wide receiver, you know, he’s a one-on-one matchup that you can take advantage of when he’s on the field, and he’s got one-on-one coverage, you want to get the ball to Mike. You feel like he’s going to win. He’s about as competitive as they come. He’s a guy who’s going to win his matchups, and it’s just really cool to have that alpha type of player out on the field at that position for us again. We’re going to use him the way he’s been used his whole career and hopefully get a few more things out of him too along the way as we get him in our program.”

It’s an evolving process, but what is your short-term vision for WR DeZhaun Stribling and then what is the long-term view for where you’d like to begin?

“I mean, short term, you’ve got to go day-by-day with anybody, any new player. You’ve got to teach them the offense, they’ve got to learn everything from the ground up. You’ve got to teach them how you see the position, the fundamentals of playing wide receiver, and he’s got to grow from the ground up. I don’t think any player starts above that. They’ve got to start there. And so that’s the first part. And just getting him acclimated to our playbook, our standard, our work ethic and then our fundamentals. And then I think long-term, you guys have kind of heard us talk about our vision for him. He’s a big, fast, powerful football player, and he can help our offense in so many ways with the ball in his hand, as a route runner, without the ball in his hand is a huge strength of his, the way he plays, his mindset. He’s a complete football player and those guys make your team better. So, he’s going to affect the game in a lot of ways. That’s our vision for him as far as the long-term for sure.”

What’d you see in Kurtis Rourke last year? What’s the next step for him this offseason?

“I got to see him, I think it was a couple weeks, he was able to practice and loved the arm talent. He’s a heck of a thrower. He’s big, he’s strong. He can stand in there and make every throw on the field. And we saw that from him when he was able to be on the field. Super bright guy, absorbs our playbook and our offense really well. He hasn’t missed a beat on that, and I’m excited to go see him out there and just put it all together and get reps with our guys, consistency, stack days and just see how he gets better. We have high hopes for him, but I’m just excited about him as a player.”

Head coach Kyle Shanahan mentioned that RB Kaelon Black was the number two running back on your board this year. What made you so excited about Kaelon when you watched his tape?

“He’s a guy who, he really grew on us over time. The more we watched, studied these backs and really stacked them all together, you saw a guy who got the most out of every run that he put on tape. When he touched the ball, he was maximizing every play. Whether that be an explosive run where he was going through the line or it was a run where it wasn’t blocked very well, and he was going to get you four or five yards. He’s just a really physical, tough runner. He’s got good speed. To me, what I loved about watching him was when you saw their team, Indiana, get to the playoffs, he was one of the best players on the field. He was a big reason why they won the National Championship. He had some huge games and some huge moments and just a competitive dude. And so, we’re really excited about him.”

When you guys walked off the field against Seattle and you watched that film, what stood out to you and have you guys added some players this offseason that maybe have improved you in those problem areas?

“I mean, there are a lot of things that didn’t go well in that game as a team. I wouldn’t just say offensively, but when you look at our games against them last year overall, they’re talented across the board defensively, but there are things you’ve got to do to beat those guys. You’ve got to run the ball better because they want to play their two-shell defenses, but you’ve got to run the ball better. So, we’ve got to improve in that area, and whether we’re adding players or we’re improving our scheme, starts with that. You know, you’ve got to win. You’ve got to beat their corners. They have great corners that want to challenge you one-on-one. You’ve got to get players who can win one-on-one matchups and who you can make plays to on the outside. I think we tried to address that and just add more depth and more talent at the receiver position. So, all that’s all said and done. You’ve got to go out there and play better football and execute better. And so, I’m not going to sit here and say we’ve solved all those problems, which we’ve got to get better as a team and compete better.”

Another Stribling question. We’ve heard that you guys had him as a gold helmet guy. And that means a lot. Have you already picked from him just while he has been here or over the process to get him here? what does that mean to you?

“You definitely pick it up when you’re interacting with him in the Draft process. When you’re meeting with these guys, and you’re doing your interviews, those guys stand out. Just the way that they carry themselves, the way they communicate. [Passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach Leonard] Hank [Hankerson], our receiver coach, it stood out to him right away. This guy’s different, this guy’s a pro, this guy’s all about the right things, and you get that feel for them when you get to know him in the Draft process. I haven’t gotten to be around him a lot yet. I will happen this weekend, and I will moving forward and I’m sure those traits will come out. You couldn’t ask anything more than that, but it’s just a starting point. Now we’ve got to go out there and play and grow as a player. So, just getting to know the guy you really, those characteristics stand out.”

Looking back at last season, what were the kind themes that you are asking QB Brock Purdy to do?

“It’s different than the year before for sure. Because he missed a lot of time, so there were some weird setbacks in his season that I think had to do with his injury. He came out, had an awesome camp, had an awesome first week, then he has the injury, then he comes back from the injury, and you could tell it took him a while to kind of get back to feeling 100-percent. But when you really evaluate where you felt like he was at his best, what does he need to work on? He’s always got to strive to be better in the pocket, whether that’s your footwork, your mechanics in the pocket or remaining a passer in situations where you can make a play down the field. Then things we’re always striving for with him is understanding defense better, accuracy, all those things. So, I think Brock is really watching these cut-ups. He’s really striving to be a better, stronger player in the pocket. And we’re going to work on those things this offseason.”

In what position do you start OL Carver Willis? What’s the biggest challenge for him moving from tackle in the college ranks to inside?

“I think we’ll probably start him at guard. Probably the left to start now, just the way our depth chart is where we need bodies. But we’ll see. Yeah, the biggest transition is probably guard there are always more moving parts, we always talk about that, and guard’s got to worry about different techniques, different alignments on him, just a little bit more to think about playing guard. But, we’re confident he can do it and just to transition to the NFL is inherently going to be challenging. But, that’s why we drafted the guy. We think he’s a really bright guy. We think he’s really versatile. He can actually play center too, we believe. We think he’s a guy who has versatility across the offensive line. So, it’ll be fun to put him in a starting point, see how he does and just see where he can move him around too.”

Every year Kyle talks about the need to kind of give RB Christian McCaffrey a little break. I know you’ve been asked versions of that question as well, and Kyle even joked like, yeah, it’s easier said than done kind of thing. Where do you see that? Do you feel more of an idea like, this needs to be a priority for us this year, to find ways just given where Christian is in his career?

“Yeah, I think literally this day last year we were talking about that. It is challenging because you’re talking about a player who does not want to come off the field, but when you look around the league and you study great backs and study guys who affect the game like he does, those guys do come out of the game. Those guys do get a blow sometimes and whether it’s a drive or a couple plays in a series, it helps those players. Christian knows that, and we’ve got to do a better job as coaches, we’ve got to do a better job at times of getting a better rotation. We know we have young backs that we want to get more production out of, so it’s on us to handle that. But you know, it’s something we’re always weighing, not much we can do about it in the offseason, but as the season gets going and we start putting our plans together, it’s something that’s got to be at the forefront of our mind.”

Explosives are a big part of the game now. It seems like Seattle was great last year on explosives. You guys added a lot of speed it looks like at wide receiver. Is that the thinking, try to get more explosive plays at wide receiver?

“Always. I think we’re always striving for that, guys that you can get easy touches to, that can get you yards. I think we added some guys like that in the offseason. But, that’s always got to be our mindset. We’re trying to find players who touch the ball and make life easy for everybody else.”

You started working with Kyle Shanahan. How has the league changed? I know Christian’s an all-in-one back and then the Cardinals also drafting the running back with their first-round pick. What other aspects would you say that offense and the league have changed?

“I think things change every year. To me, the biggest change that I’ve seen is how defenses have gotten better and how defensive coordinators have gotten better at attacking certain schemes. I think the scheme we run, it’s kind of spread throughout the league over the last 10 years, and I think defenses have gotten a lot better at attacking it. And that forces us to evolve, it forces us to have to figure out new ways to attack defenses. To me, that’s the biggest changes you’ve seen, the improvements in defenses and attacking these schemes. We’ve got to get better, and we’ve got to study them. I think you saw that with Seattle last year, how effective they were. We’ve got to study those schemes, and we’ve got to figure out better ways to attack them.”

Can you expand just a little bit on how you are asking Brock to be better in the pocket?

“I wouldn’t say it’s one thing. You look at plays where, ‘okay, Brock’s a really athletic guy, he can make plays with his feet, but are you missing an opportunity to make a better play down the field maybe because you decided to run or you moved a certain way and you missed a guy down the field.’ So, it’s just working on pocket movement, working on ways you can move in the pocket to find throwing lanes and being more consistent in that area.”

What are you looking to see out of the tight ends while TE George Kittle recovers these next few months?

“Yeah, just continuing to see those guys develop, [TE] Luke [Farrell], [TE] Jake [Tonges] and then [TE] Brayden [Willis]. And we’ve got [TE] Hayden [Rucci] in the building now too. And then we’ve got the guy as the free agent from Penn State. Just want to see all those guys get reps. Jake, we want to continue to see grow as he’s done the past few years, but you don’t get a lot of work in the run game, but those guys are going to get a lot of pass reps and see them grow in the pass game.”