Former NFL head coach Mike Shanahan spoke with reporters on Saturday and shared that he believes his son, head coach Kyle Shanahan, is in a "great situation" with the San Francisco 49ers. He has a great relationship with his general manager, John Lynch, ownership in team CEO Jed York, and potentially has a franchise quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo.
We'll find out about that last one this season.
Garoppolo is coming off an ACL injury that shortened his 2018 campaign to just three games. Mike Shanahan, who worked with Garoppolo for about 15 hours a week last year when the signal-caller was sidelined, joined KNBR on Monday afternoon and briefly discussed the quarterback.
"I think he's great," Shanahan told Greg Papa and John Lund. "First of all, I think he's a great person. You can tell he's a natural leader, and everybody can see the skill level. He just has to become comfortable with the games. He's only [started 10 games] throughout his professional career, and he's going to get better and better as time goes on.
"I think he'll really like the system that he's going to get used to running. I just think there's a big upside, and hopefully, we have the supporting cast to compliment him [...] I think Jimmy is looking forward to (playing on) a complete team. I think San Francisco is getting closer to being that team."
As for Kyle, Mike Shanahan believes the 49ers are giving his son everything he needs to be successful.
"You always want your kids to be happy," Shanahan said. "The thing that I really thoroughly enjoy is he enjoys what he's doing. He loves working for the 49ers. They're giving him every opportunity to be successful, and that's what you look for when you're a coach. I don't care if you're a head coach or an assistant coach, you're looking for the opportunity to be successful in what you do.
"The Yorks have given him an excellent chance to do the things that he was dreaming to do. Now hopefully, they can get it going in the right direction."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.
