President of Football Operations and General Manager John Lynch and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

President of Football Operations and General Manager John Lynch

and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – August 31, 2026

San Francisco 49ers

Opening comments:

President of Football Operations and General Manager John Lynch: “We’ll let you open it up for questions. I’ll just say this is always an interesting time because there’s the excitement of the upcoming season and we have a lot to be excited about with our team and liking where we’re at. But then it’s really tough to have conversations with guys who fought so hard, have been a part of us, sometimes for a long amount of time, sometimes for a short amount of time, and let them know that this year it’s not coming to a reality. We all know that it’s the initial 53, which you guys see the way things work, that doesn’t stay static, that’s fluid and ongoing and will be this year just like it has been in years past. But with that, just open it up for questions.”

Where do things stand with DL Nick Bosa and TE George Kittle practicing this week?

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan: “We’re going to get them out there in these three days and hope it goes well.”

Will Kittle be doing team drills today? Is it going to be sort of a ramp-up situation with Bosa?

KS: “Yeah, with three days before we go, we’re balancing it out with both of them. We don’t want them to go three days in a row. So we’re going to do a little on some of these days and more on one. Both of them are on a little different schedule with the three. It’s a little different now. We usually have these three practices, then we get three days off, and then we kind of settle everything that bonus Monday of the week. We already had our three days off because of our travel deal. And now we kind of have these three bonus practices, and then we’ll get on our plane and go. Our Monday where we kind of settle everything will be our Saturday in Australia.”

So you guys will do a bonus practice on Saturday in Australia?

KS: “Yes. Yeah, that’ll be Monday to us, just in terms of creature of habits, what we do every year.”

George stated last week that he felt like if he wasn’t going to play, it would make more sense for him to stay behind, get 10 extra days of rest, avoid those long trips. Organizationally, do you believe you have to make that decision on whether he’s going to play by the time you take off Wednesday?

KS: “I don’t think you have to do anything. I think if we didn’t think he was going to play though, and it was looking that way, I think it’d be much nicer to make that decision before we left instead of having him go through all that. It’s also a long time that we’re out there. So to be away from the team for a week, not for camaraderie or anything, but just the training staff and things like that and being away from meetings is also a big deal too. But, hopefully these three days that we have, these three practices will go the right way and make it an easy decision to get him on the plane.”

This is for both of you. Obviously, I know putting the roster together and getting the practice squad all before you leave has been challenging. What have been just kind of overall the biggest challenges of preparing for everything to get on that plane and take that flight on Wednesday?

JL: “There’s a lot, and I think it’s an opportune time to give a shoutout to our staff. You guys see coaches, you see front office, you see players. You also know there’s a lot behind the scenes. Our logistics folks, our folks that work in the café, have just gone to tremendous lengths, our health and performance team, to make sure that we’re giving our players the best opportunity to feel right when they play down there in Australia. Everything from getting visas, which much more complicated than I ever knew, and they’ve been outstanding. They’ve worked in conjunction with the League, but most of the work’s been done on our part. And man, hats off to those guys for pulling off a monumental task, and it’s not done yet. But, there’s a lot. And then just the timing. You mentioned practice squads. We’re bringing practice squads from the outside. I’ve never asked a potential practice squad, ‘do you have a passport?’ You know, those are questions we have to ask now. One guy who’s coming in town had to, his parents are next-daying it because it was at the house. So there’s a lot of little logistics like that that are complicated by this. You know, we’re embracing it. We’re having a plan for everything and we’re getting it done.”

We’ve seen Bosa on the side running and he looks pretty good. Is it tendonitis or is it really just being smart and taking extra precaution like maybe you did with RB Christian McCaffrey and just try to not expose him to so much camp in August?

KS: “I think it was that at first, but now it’s more of just being smart. I mean, you guys see him on the field working out. He’s feeling great. We’re deciding how much we want to do in team settings going against people and stuff before we get out there. And that’s what we’ve kind of put out for these three days. Again, they’re not going to go all of them, but we’re going to get them in in these three days. And hopefully that continues what we’ve seen when they haven’t been out there and then we’ll be on to Australia with them.”

JL: “And Nick’s had, he’s been through this before, with ACLs. Nick’s pretty blessed with tremendous genes and was going along great. So, the intention when he came back was that he was right. When he upped the activity, he got sore. And so he backed off. And we put together a really good plan that thinks that we believe will have him ready for Australia. And I always believe that the athlete knows their body better than anyone and Nick certainly takes that to the nth degree. He knows his body extremely well and knows what it takes to have him ready. We saw him one year in a contract year come in here like on a Thursday and play pretty well on Sunday. So, got a lot of faith in his ability to do that.”

I know that earlier this offseason you joked about the John Wooden philosophy of your opponent. It’s hard to ignore the fact that Los Angeles Rams DL Aaron Donald is back with the Rams. What were both of your reactions to that news and the challenges it presents you this season?

JL: “Yeah, I mean, the guy’s different, right? He’s an exceptional player, one of the greats. I do subscribe to that. I think we’re pretty good too. They got better certainly with him deciding to come out of retirement. Now, there’s time away, but I know that guy trains like a bad man. I ran into him in a hotel somewhere a while back and we had some fun chatter back and forth. Never thought he’d do it, but he’s doing it. And so, we better get ready for it.”

I don’t want to parse anything you said, especially after a game, but I think you said something like, ‘Guys like George who’ve taken a step back.’ Was there anything specific that was referring to or was it just in general about a bunch of things?

KS: “Yeah, I didn’t read the transcript or watch what I said, but I definitely had family members ask me about that because of some headlines. I don’t know exactly what I said there, but it was probably just me not speaking right. George has been great. He’s passing everything. We’re just getting him out first time with the team in these three days and anytime you come back out and practice with the team going against people and stuff, I hope there’s not a setback in that way. That has nothing to do with his injury or anything. That just has to do with him coming and practicing for these three days. There was nothing that I meant to say that people looked into. I did say that was an accident.”

There’s so much focus on the first game. It’s the Rams, it’s Australia. Do you have to tell yourselves it’s just one game or does it mean something like, let’s get our guys ready for this game because it’s a super important game, not only just to start the season but that it’s the Rams?

KS: “I think that’s why I’ve always liked the NFL growing up, as a fan. That’s why it’s the only sport that has always kept my interest year-long or throughout a whole season is that every game is just one game. In the NFL, just one game is huge. It’s the first game of the year. I can’t tell you how many times the last game of the year has been the biggest one. To tell you whether you make the playoffs, make the seventh seed or not, or you make the one seed. When you only have 17-game seasons, these are all huge. When you go against division opponents, sometimes you say that counts twice because the best way to get in the playoffs is to win your division. You never look at that any differently. It’s not just one game, it’s so big of one game now. That’s why you try anybody who’s healthy, anyone who passes, anyone who the doctors say it and the player says you can go, you always go. But if they aren’t, if there’s risk of it, if, ‘Hey, man, they’ll be so much better this week, we don’t totally recommend it in the first week,’ then that’s easy for us. We definitely want to do it. It’s got to sign off on all what the doctors say. It’s got to sign on what George says and what Nick says, what everyone says. The best thing to do that is when we get them out into team drills and stuff because everything looks good right now, and I hope that continues through these practices.”

JL: “Yeah, really well said by Kyle. I think a great example of that, [DL] Mykel Williams. We had to make a tough decision. Do we bring him off PUP or not? And ultimately, with what he had, we’re just over nine months. He had an ACL. He also had some additional things in terms of cartilage with his knee and the timeline for that’s about 10 months. Mykel was doing really well. Could we get him there? We had to evaluate, ‘Okay, he could start, he might not be ready for Week One or Two, maybe game three or four.’ Ultimately, we just said, ‘You know what, Mykel means a lot to this organization. We think it’s in his best interest. It’s going to stink not having him for the first four weeks, but we’ll have him the rest of the year in really good fashion, we believe, if we allow him the necessary time.’ Yes, division games count double. Yes, it’s the Rams. They’re all so important, but we’re also always very conscious of a long-term play.”

You seem like a guy that doesn’t get too high or too low about anything, but in a moment of reflection, when you think about the reasons that were just mentioned for this game in Australia, was there ever any reflection of excitement that you could be a part of this when at one point like you didn’t know if you would be able to be there with your guys on this first game given your health early on?”

KS: “Are you talking about from my accident?”

Yes.

KS: “Not really. I mean, when I first got hurt and they told me that I might not be alright the following week when we started, I laughed at them. I thought I was going to look pretty bad, but I never had a concussion like that. The thought of not being right in seven days was kind of out of question to me. So, the thought of not being right in six weeks was extremely out of the question to me. I mean, every day I woke up a little bit surprised. So, that’s when I came back. When we started camp, I was shocked I wasn’t able to talk to you guys that first day. I got in an accident over vacation, and I thought when I came in here you guys would see a cast on my hand and I could tell you guys that I wasn’t the best driver. But, they were right. I was wrong. My head was messed up, and it was for a little bit. But, I never had the thought that it would last up to here. I was never told that it would last this long and I’m very thankful and glad that it hasn’t.”

What’s the plan for OL Jarrett Patterson?

KS: “To get him in the group right away. We love that he has some flex at center and guard. It’s still fluid in all our positions in there, so I want to see where he fits in the group in these three days. That is the hard thing with not just going to Australia, but just not opening on a Sunday. The time that we’re usually used to making some of these decisions have all been sped up. So, I want to get him in the group, see where he fits, just see him in person, see how he can help us at guard, how he can help us at center and how he stacks up to the other guys.”

How much more challenging was it this season with guys with injuries, OL Dominick Puni going back into the concussion protocol, TE Brayden Willis in the concussion protocol, to balance the injuries and then put your roster together?

KS: “Very challenging. Just because of the timing of it. It’s all sped up. Us leaving on Wednesday. Normally, we’d have these three practices and we usually have three days off. We have a players’ party usually every Saturday night before the year and then we start that Monday. So, this Monday has kind of just been sped up to where when it comes to guys like what you said with Dom, guys that you think you’re going to be alright with, but you’re still not totally sure, it does make it a little more complicated. Even guys like Mykel, who we think maybe could be ready before Week Four, but not sure of, that’s the hard back-and-forth discussions that you really there is a right or wrong answer, but if you can’t tell the future, you don’t really know. So, you really get to over discuss those for a while.”

How do you guys feel about the running back and linebacker units? It seems like they’re both pretty deep. And obviously in past years, that depth’s been tested a lot at both spots.

JL: “Yeah, tough decisions there, to say the least. Starting with running back, obviously Christian, we love what we’ve seen from [RB] Kaelon [Black] and when he’s been out there. [RB] Jordan James came back from an early injury and looked really good in our final preseason game. And obviously the ability to put [WR] Deebo [Samuel Sr.] back there plays into that. Linebacker, I thought that those guys were outstanding all through camp. It was a deep group. [LB] Nick [Martin] I think by now has reverted to IR, made the initial 53, but Nick’s a guy we’re excited about. So, it’s a really strong group. Give a lot of credit to [running backs coach] Bobby Turner with the running backs, [linebackers coach] K.J. [Wright] and [defensive run game coordinator] Johnny [Holland], those are really solid groups that we’re extremely excited about.”

And LB Dre Greenlaw is all good to go now? Will he do team work all three days? Is that the plan?

KS: “No, he won’t do all three.”

That’s just kind of maintenance?

KS: “That’ll probably be the case for him throughout the year.”

Who’s your starting left guard and who’s your backup running back?

KS: “Don’t know yet.”

On either one?

KS: “Nope. It’s the truth. Usually, we get all three of these practices and then by that Monday is like when we come in and usually do leadership council, captains and, ‘all right, this is who we’re rolling with.’ But, we haven’t had those three practices yet and we just added a new guy to the group too. So, it’s truly fluid.”

And then, WR Brandon Aiyuk is due a big option bonus on September 1st. Does that apply because he’s on the Reserve/Left Squad List or do you have to make a move before?

JL: “No, nothing changed there. He’s on the Reserve/Left Squad List, and as such, it’s, you know, he’s just kind of not on our roster.”

So anything that he might be due, he doesn’t get paid?

JL: “Correct.”

I wanted to ask about the safety spot. How is S Malik Mustapha doing and where do you see from the group as a whole?

KS: “I’m excited about the group. I think we’ve got a bunch of guys who have, three of our four guys have all started at the position for us over the last two years. Loved adding [S] Ashtyn [Davis], what he’s done in this League and also how he helps on special teams. And we should be getting Mustapha, we’re getting Mustapha back out of practice these three days, so excited to get him back so we can get him in the mix again.”

Just a follow-up to what Jen asked. Instead of asking about all the individual guys, are there any other guys that you’re expecting to miss multiple weeks that are on that kind of injured list right now?

KS: “That are on the 53?”

Yeah.

KS: “No. All those guys are on IR. Yeah. The four guys, I think. Yeah.”

Does WR Mike Evans get the veteran treatment as far as practicing day-in and day-out or is it week-by-week?

KS: “We’ve still got to get to know Mike as it goes. But, Mike is another guy who never practiced three days in a row. [T] Trent’s [Williams] been like that. Christian’s like that. Just talked about Greenlaw. Mike’s still coming back from his injury. We should, I think we’ll get him down there the first Saturday, which I look at as a Monday, but possibly on one of these three days but he’s ahead of schedule, doing good. But, we know with Mike and where he is at in his career, we’ll definitely have to treat him differently.”