San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan met with the media during the NFC's coaches breakfast on the final day of the NFL owners' meetings in Phoenix, Arizona. One of the topics that he discussed was the 49ers' quarterback position and the upcoming NFL Draft, which kicks off on April 27 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
One quarterback who Shanahan addressed specifically was North Carolina's Mitch Trubisky. "He's pretty much like everyone else," Shanahan said of the quarterback. "He's got 13 games on tape. He's had a great college year. Yeah, of course. The more games that are out there, the more coaches like because there's more to study but that's not his fault. You only can control what you can control. The opportunities that he got, he played at a very high level and that's why he's in this discussion for everybody."
Shanahan was asked if there was a quarterback in this draft class who would be worth taking with the second overall pick, which the 49ers own. "There's a possibility always, but I don't care who the coach is, who the general manager is -- no one can guarantee anything," Shanahan said. "It's a process and everyone is looking for that franchise quarterback and people have found him with the first pick in the draft (and) people have found him in the sixth round. Everyone knows all the stories that have gone so that's why you have to look at everyone and you've to go value that and know where people are going to go.
"Just because the first guy's taken doesn't mean he's going to be the best guy. Sometimes the last guy can be the best guy. You never know and it's not obvious all the time. You've got to look into everything and everyone is taking their best-educated guess. That's why you've got to put a lot of work into it."
On Monday, 49ers general manager John Lynch was on NFL Network and also discussed the quarterbacks in the upcoming draft.
"We were at North Carolina's pro day (to see Mitch Trubisky)," Lynch said on Monday. "We had a private workout with Deshaun Watson and we saw DeShone Kizer at his pro day. Back to back to back days. I think it was a really efficient and effective way to do it because we got to really compare them against each other while it was fresh in our minds. And I think as much as you study film and the film speaks in this league, there is some value to seeing it in person. We got time with each of them.
"And I said it when I was hired and really had started to study these guys. I thought they were each getting a bad rap. They each have maybe reasons why people think they shouldn't go two. In Trubisky's case, he's only started 13 games. But they also – you turn on the tape for each of them and they have redeeming qualities that make you say, 'Wow, this guy would be a part of it.'
"So we're evaluating them. We'll continue to do so. And Kyle and I, yes, one of the first things that we talked about (is) you've got to have a franchise quarterback and we know that. We're in search of it and we're looking at every avenue to try to get that and we'll see where we go."