San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan recently added former NFL wide receivers Wes Welker and Miles Austin to his coaching staff. While the moves have been known for weeks, the team officially announced the additions on Wednesday.
Welker will be the 49ers' wide receivers coach while Austin will serve as the offensive quality control coach.
Shanahan spoke with reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Wednesday and discussed the two new additions to his staff.
"I always try to get someone in who played the position, which is sometimes tough to do," Shanahan said when asked about Welker. "But if you can find someone who did it, and you feel they're prepared from a coaching standpoint, it's kind of the best of both worlds.
"Wes, I've known just from hanging out with him (and) meeting him over the years. I've never worked with him or anything. He was one of my favorite players of all time just watching him from afar and what he did. I used to play against him in college when he was at (Texas) Tech, and just watching how he made it, and the way he made it. That's a guy that not only was really talented but made it because of what was upstairs also and how he developed.
"Knowing he's put in the work and put in two hard years in at Houston going through the quality control route, and just talking to him and interviewing him, you could tell he was serious about becoming a coach and was ready to put in the work, put in the hours. He's a talented guy, a good person, and I feel fortunate to have him on the staff."
Shanahan later discussed Austin, who played one season with the Cleveland Browns when Shanahan was the offensive coordinator there.
"I was with Miles one year," Shanahan said. "He tore us up plenty of times when I was at Washington, and he was at Dallas. But my one year in Cleveland, we got him. I think it was the second to last year of his career, and that's where I got to know Miles.
"Miles was one of my favorite players that I ever coached just in terms of how on it he was whether it was the run game or the pass game. He really enjoyed football. He was descending at that time in his career, so I wasn't sure if I was going to like him as much. But then when I got there, and I saw the person, you could see why he was so successful.
"A guy like that, you're always, 'Hey man, if you're ever really interested in being a coach, you'd be a hell of a one.'"
Shanahan added that Austin was campaigning to join his staff for a while.
"We flew him down to Mobile (Alabama for the Senior Bowl) just to not necessarily interview him because it wasn't about that; just to hang out with him, see how passionate he was about getting into football (coaching) and how serious he was. When you could hear how much he wanted to do it and how good he wanted to be, he has every skillset possible to be as good of a coach as he wants.
"I just wanted to see how bad he wanted to do it, and he has shown that he really wants to do it so now he's going to put in the work, and it's a matter of time before he's a real good one."