Head coach Kyle Shanahan didn't know Jordan Matthews personally before the 49ers signed the wide receiver. However, the team's new offensive quality control coach, Miles Austin, did. They were teammates for a season in Philadelphia and Austin vouched for Matthews' football intelligence and work ethic.
"We wanted to get a veteran in here," Shanahan said on Sunday. "We wanted to get a guy preferably with more size if we found one we liked. We wanted a smart guy who could help be an example, and he's been exactly that. He's pushing these guys. I mean, he's going to be in the mix."
And a nice little piece of trivia which connects Matthews to the 49ers' storied history, in case you missed it when he was signed in March, is that he is Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice's second cousin.
Matthews joined KNBR on Monday and discussed some advice he once received from the 49ers legend.
"Way before he was who he is now, the GOAT, they actually called him Jerry 'World' Rice back at Mississippi Valley State because they said he could catch anything in the world," Matthews said on the "Papa and Lund" show. "Growing up, I would say that he was always an inspiration, more just how he would work on the field and everything.
"But I had a great father in my life, so I never, even with Jerry being my cousin, I would never put my heroes above my dad. So I always took most of my lessons from my dad. But I finally got to the point before I was going into the league, I said, 'Okay, I just want to talk to Jerry this one time about football.'
"But I was like, 'The guy's busy, so I don't want to bother him every day.' I said, 'I want to talk to him one time about football, going through the draft, and get some advice.'
"I called him up, I said, 'Hey, I just need something. Just give me something that I can take with me through the draft process, Senior Bowl, workouts.'
"He said, 'Jordan, all you've got to do is when you go out there, just tell yourself, "I'm the best guy on this field." Even if you're not, if you tell yourself that, you're going to give yourself the best chance to have a great day that day. Don't worry about anything else.'"
That led Matthews to head to the NFL Scouting Combine and tell himself he was the fastest player lined up to run the 40-yard dash. He ended up running a 4.46 40-time, according to NFL.com.
Matthews brought that mentality with him to the 49ers.
"Look, there's talent on this receiving group," Matthews continued. "You've got Marquise Goodwin, who's got world-class speed. Dante Pettis, I've got great respect for. Deebo Samuel, I player I've loved. I mean, I was teammates with Alshon (Jeffery — also out of South Carolina). He would always talk about Deebo back at South Carolina. I love Kendrick Bourne's game. I love his dance moves, too.
"But I come out here, and there's a ton of competition in this room. At the same time, I always tell myself, 'Hey, you're the best on this field. You're going to be the best teammate. When you get home, you're going to be the best husband, the best father.' So I still use that advice today."
You can listen to the entire interview with Matthews below. The receiver also discusses how dull Buffalo is, playing in Kyle Shanahan's offense, learning from assistant coach Wes Welker, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, buying No. 81 off of Trent Taylor, and more.
It's a fun interview.
