San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke to the media via a conference call on Sunday. The entire transcript of his conversation can be found here. During the conversation, Shanahan gave updates and shared his thoughts on six 49ers players, giving injury updates, game analysis, and progress over the offseason.
Jimmie Ward
Shanahan gave an update on safety Jimmie Ward, who has been on the team's physically-unable-to-perform list since the start of training camp due to a hamstring injury.
"Yeah, we're going to put him through again," Shanahan said. "We put him through a hard workout last week. Tomorrow we're going to have our DB coach [defensive backs coach] Jeff Hafley go out there and really take him through a hard workout that's more pertained to exactly football. So, we're going to see how he responds to that on Monday and Tuesday and hopefully, we'll get him ready to go by Wednesday."
Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard
Shanahan has had a chance to review the film from Saturday night's loss and discussed how his first two quarterbacks in the game – Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard – did with their reads against the Denver Broncos.
"Yeah, I thought Brian did a good job," Shanahan said. "There's one, I think the first attempt to Vance over the middle, the first one he might have been a hair late on where he could have just checked it down and got a little bit more yards. He came back the next time, I want to say a couple plays later, learned from it, got to him on time, then we just didn't make the play. Besides that, I thought he did a good job with his reads, went to the right spot. Had that unfortunate spot with the ball slipping out of his hand, which got that first fumble.
"Then C.J. came in and did the same thing well too. I didn't think he missed any bad ones. We just had a tough time getting those guys in a rhythm, staying on the field very long. Couldn't get the run game going. We did get it going a little bit more with the first group, we ended up having a turnover that caused that to derail."
Eli Harold
Eli Harold and Ahmad Brooks are in a competition for the starting Sam linebacker job. Shanahan discussed the progress of Harold during the offseason.
"It took Eli a little bit to get going," Shanahan said. "He was hurt in OTAs, he got off to a good start in training camp but quickly got a concussion. Took him a while when he was in the protocol. And he's been back here for, I want to say a little bit over a week now.
"Eli plays physical. He sets the edge really well for us as a Sam linebacker. You know, there's not just competition going on at Sam linebacker, it's also as a rush nickel player. We're trying to figure out who can be our best Sam linebacker in base personnel and then which one of these guys is the best at putting his hand in the dirt and rushing the quarterback when we get to third down. Eli does both of them. Ahmad does both of them. Guys like [LB] Dekoda [Watson] can do it too."
Lorenzo Jerome
Injuries have thrust safety Lorenzo Jerome up the depth chart and the 49ers coaches have been able to get more of a look at him during the team's two preseason games. Jerome has clearly taken advantage of his opportunities. Shanahan was asked what he has seen from the rookie.
"Lorenzo's done a good job," Shanahan said. "I thought a couple of times he's ran around, he's been a ball-hawk for us, he's come up and made some tackles. I thought they caught him a few times out of position last night on a few play-action looks because he's been so aggressive and he's going to have to learn from those because he got out of position a couple of times but they never made him pay for it going outside.
"So, I've been pleased with Lorenzo. He moves around fast, he's really eager, the game's not too big for him, he's made plays wherever he's been and he's continued to do that for us and I hope he continues to get better."
Eric Reid
Safety Eric Reid was everywhere on Saturday night. On Sunday, our own Anwar Jamison wrote about Reid's performance and his transition into the 49ers' new defense. Shanahan also discussed his outing against the Broncos.
"Yeah, and it's the most opportunities he's gotten too. He was out there a little bit longer. We were playing obviously an eight-man front. A lot of the plays got turned to him and he's got to make the play. He did a good job making it, not giving up any more yards after contact. I thought he had a couple good plays in the pass game, especially on a keeper they had, coming back and stopping a tight end on the slide-route. But, Eric did a solid job. That's what we expect him to do and I was real pleased with how he played."