The Denver Broncos will arrive in California on Tuesday night and will take part in two joint-practices with the San Francisco 49ers before the two teams play each other in an exhibition matchup on Saturday at Levi's Stadium. Each team entered the 2017 offseason searching for a new head coach with the Broncos eventually hiring former Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and the 49ers hiring former Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
Amid their coaching search, the Broncos interviewed Shanahan in Atlanta on the morning of January 7th. "He's a very bright coach who's had a tremendous year and has a great future," said Broncos general manager John Elway following the meeting.
Days later, Denver announced the hiring of Joseph and Shanahan would go on to land with San Francisco following Super Bowl LI. How close did Shanahan come to landing the job in Denver? Not very close, according to the 49ers head coach. On Tuesday, Shanahan was asked if he ever thought he would end up in Denver.
"Honestly? No," Shanahan answered. "I just had this gut feeling that I wouldn't. I went into the interview and I really enjoyed it, meeting with those guys. I hadn't seen them for a while. I never felt like it. I feel like, after the interview, I made it hard on them but I always had a feeling that I wasn't."
Shanahan went on to say that he loves Denver. He grew up there and his wife's family is from there.
"It would be a hard thing to say no to when your family is there and things like that, but by no means was that my situation of choice," Shanahan explained.
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