Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
San Francisco 49ers head coach Chip Kelly met with Bay Area media for what is likely his final time following the team's 25-23 Week 17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. He confirmed that there will be a meeting with ownership today to determine his fate.
49ers general manager Trent Baalke, who was at today's game, was reportedly informed on Friday that he would not return. Prior to the game, Baalke confirmed that he had been fired. Kelly will reportedly suffer the same fate, per a report on Saturday night by Adam Schefter of
ESPN.
Kelly had not yet learned that Baalke had been let go. "I didn't learn that Trent Baalke was fired," said Kelly. "I was just called last night. I heard the same reports and Jed just talked to me briefly and said he would talk to me today."
"I feel that if I was distracted by anything else, I wouldn't be giving [the players] what they deserve," Kelly said of the mentality going into the 49ers' final game of the season. "And they gave me everything every day so I've got to give it back to them. Those guys are awesome."
Kelly said that, prior to the game, no players asked him about his future. After the game, there were a lot of hugs between Kelly and the players.
"It's a bottom-line business," Kelly said of the reports. "We probably didn't win enough games."
Kelly said that he has never had any conversations with ownership or management about players or coaches and that he was never asked to make any changes to his staff. "They never told me who to play, who not to play," Kelly said. "We just coached the guys we had and did the best job we could."
Kelly ended his press conference by thanking the Bay Area media for their professionalism this season. "I do appreciate you guys," Kelly said. "I thought my first year here, the group of guys that I got to work with every day, Matt [Maiocco of
CSN Bay Area], Matt [Barrows of the
Sacramento Bee], the whole guys, Cam [Inman of
Bay Area News Group], Eric [Branch of the
San Francisco Chronicle], the rest of the group here, the guys that were here every day, Chris [Biderman of
USA TODAY] – it was awesome. I really appreciate you guys. I thought you were really professional and I enjoyed it. Thank you."
Alex Smith is set to make his first start since suffering a gruesome and life-threatening leg injury on November 18, 2018. The story of the Washington quarterback, who started his career with the San Francisco 49ers, has been an inspiration. Many fans across the NFL landscape will be pulling for Smith on Sunday when the Washington Football Team faces the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
One of those fans is 49ers left tackle Trent Williams, who played with Smith in 2018. He joined KNBR on Thursday night and was asked about his former teammate.
"It's a Cinderella story, for lack of a better word," Williams told Mark Willard. "I was actually one of those guys who seen Alex in the hospital after he had been through, I think it was 12 surgeries in 13 days or 11 surgeries
Trent Williams was frustrated as he watched his San Francisco 49ers teammates struggle in last week's game against the Green Bay Packers. The starting left tackle was supposed to be playing. He entered the week like any other, assuming he would be anchoring the 49ers offensive line.
Then wide receiver Kendrick Bourne tested positive for COVID-19.
Contact tracing identified Williams and two others as individuals who had been close enough to Bourne that they might have contracted the highly-contagious virus. Because the game was on a Thursday, Williams did not have enough time to pass two COVID-19 tests and be cleared to play.
"It was a nightmare, man. It was a nightmare," Williams told KNBR's Mark Willard on Thursday night. "It's one of them things, I
The salary-cap strapped San Francisco 49ers will have some tough decisions to make during the upcoming offseason. The salary cap is expected to drop, and the team has several key players — including many starters — scheduled to hit free agency.
One of those players is veteran offensive tackle Trent Williams, whom the 49ers traded for in April. The Green Bay Packers just made left tackle David Bakhtiari the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history. He will average $23 million a season over his four-year extension.
Williams is earning just over half that amount this season and is playing well. He is currently tied with Garett Bolles of the Denver Broncos as Pro Football Focus' highest-graded tackle.
Kyle Shanahan is just trying to get
