Kyle Shanahan versus Sean McVay will be one of the more intriguing coaching battles for years to come. Both are young and brilliant offensive minds. They are also close friends who happen to be coaching division rivals.
Chris Simms of NBC Sports answered questions from fans during the latest Unbuttoned podcast, and one of those questions was about Shanahan versus McVay. Simms was asked which of the two head coaches is the better offensive mind.
First, Simms disclosed that he is friends with both Shanahan and McVay and went on to explain that the 49ers head coach is one of his closest friends. Despite that, he tried to answer the question without bias.
"Such respect for Sean McVay," Simms said. "Kyle Shanahan is the better offensive game planner and play-caller for me, though."
Simms' comments aren't a knock on McVay. He offers up the example of calling Aaron Rodgers the second-best quarterback behind Tom Brady. It would not be a knock on Rodgers but speaks to how good Brady is.
"These are both guys who are in the top five in football for offensive design, play call(ing), ability to tie their plays together the right way, so they work during a game," Simms continued. "But yes, I think Shanahan is a little more creative in cracking the code than McVay.
"McVay is a little bit more of, 'This is what we do. We're going to be really good at it, and I'm going to call the plays in the right sequences to give your defense a hard time to tell what we're going to do.
"Kyle's a little bit more like, 'Oh, this is the defense you run? Ok, I know the rules of this defense. I am going to f--k your rules up. I know what your middle linebacker's rules are in this play, and I'm going to break those rules,' to where [the players are] going to go over to the sideline and go, 'Coach, I thought my rule was this. What do I do?'"
Simms went on to use the example of Shanahan going against defenses he is very familiar with, like the Seattle Seahawks and Jacksonville Jaguars, and being able to find success against them.
"The Jaguars were on the sidelines yelling at each other (in that 2017 regular-season game) because he had cracked their code," Simms added.
You can watch the entire podcast episode below with the question about Shanahan versus McVay coming just after the 1:13:00 mark.