San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and Chris Simms of NBC Sports go way back. They were college teammates at the University of Texas. The two remain friends years later.
Shanahan was in Indianapolis last week for the NFL Scouting Combine and sat down with Simms for his new podcast, "Chris Simms Unbuttoned," which you realize is an ironic name after the 49ers coach jokes with Simms about his dress shirt being buttoned to the top. But it was untucked, so maybe that is something.
During the interview, Shanahan and Simms discuss their days with the Longhorns, Madden NFL, and, of course, the 49ers. Shanahan is in his third year as the team's head coach and looks to improve on the 10 wins during his first two seasons. He is working to build the team the right way and discussed that process with Simms.
Shanahan believes the 49ers can improve at every position except quarterback. San Francisco has committed to Jimmy Garoppolo as its starter for the foreseeable future, Nick Mullens showed last season that he can be a capable backup, and the team still has 2017 third-round draft pick C.J. Beathard.
"There's some areas of needs that we have to address more than others," Shanahan explained. "We're two years into this, and I'd like to be further along than we are, but I also expected to be where we are.
"Yes, I wish we won more than four games (in 2018). I think we could have, even with what happened to us. I think there's a couple of close games that we could have won and finished with six (wins). I also think if we could have stayed a little healthier, that would have gotten us a couple more. And if we got a little bit more luck, we could have got more.
"So you're capable of doing stuff, but we knew when we came here it was going to take some time. We wanted to turn it over. We wanted to do that through the draft and through some small free agency stuff; not trying to do a quick fix. I feel like we're right on pace with that.
"Like I said, I expected to win more games last year. I strongly believe we will this year. But what we've done in these two years is really build a foundation of what our team is. We've had to build [the team] with drafts and get in some lower-level free agents to where we have some guys now who we can play with. Now, I really want to add some difference makers."
Shanahan acknowledged that as of last week, he was probably the furthest behind when it comes to studying draft prospects. That's because he has been so focused on free agency, which kicks off next week. What happens in free agency has a significant impact on what the 49ers do in the draft.
Shanahan said that what he sees at the Combine gives him a better idea of what he wants to do in free agency. Still, he wishes the draft, not free agency, occurred first.
"If it made sense, I really wish the draft was right now," Shanahan said. "All we did was study the draft, and that happens in a few weeks, and we just drafted the best players possible, looked at our team and like, 'Oh my gosh, we are in trouble here, here, and here. Let's go overpay in free agency and solve that, and then it will be good.'
"The hard thing is you've always got to overpay in free agency. So whatever it is, you're just going to pay more than they're worth. That's just how it works. But what's tough about that, you go do that, and then it's two months later, and you're like, 'Oh my God, this guy fell to the second round. He's so much better than this free agent. But damn, we went that direction two months ago.'"