San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters via a conference call on Sunday. Here is everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Were there any injuries that cropped up today and could you talk about what the rough timeline is for CB K'Waun Williams?
"Yeah, I think treatment started at 12:00, so we let the players sleep in because we didn't get back until like 3:00 last night. So, I'm not sure exactly yet. All I still have is [FB Kyle Juszczyk] Juice, he got an x-ray. X-rays were negative. I don't have any new things for us right now."
What about K'Waun?
"K'Waun, they all stayed back this week to work out. I think we'll up his stuff a little bit this week. I don't know if we'll be able to have a practice to involve him. We'll see here over these next two days. We plan to get him back on the field in individual and stuff, but I don't know if he'll be ready for practice. Just so I get all of these out of the way, you know we had a lot of guys that didn't dress. The guys that have a chance to come back this week are [DL Ronald] Blair [III] has a chance with his groin, [DB Adrian] Colbert we expect to be back and able to play this week, [DL] Dee Ford we expect him to be practicing, [G Joshua] Garnett should be able to practice and play, [TE George] Kittle should be able to practice, [WR Jalen] Hurd we're hoping can get back to practice, [LB Elijah] Lee, he will be good to go and play, [RB Jerick] McKinnon we're hoping to get out there a little bit this week, not necessarily in the game but in practice. [Raheem] Mostert, he had that quad over the weekend so I don't know how he is today, but hopefully he'll be able to get back this week, I don't know if he will tomorrow. And [DL] Jullian Taylor we expect to get back also."
What's the update on your PUP guys? Do you think C/G Weston Richburg and TE Garrett Celek will be activated, probably more Richburg, by Saturday?
"Yeah, I'm hoping so. I'm hoping that we can get Richburg activated this week so we can get him in practice a little bit. It depends on how it went. When we left him behind, I was told over the phone it went well. We'll get to see him tomorrow when we bring him out onto the field. If he's good enough to go with some people, then we'll get him off that so at least he can take some snaps with our quarterback and get a guy in front of him instead of just a bag and a trainer."
Obviously, you guys gave OL Daniel Brunskill a lot of work last night. I know you wanted to kind of rotate him and OL Najee Toran from the week before. What have you seen from him, what did you see from him last night and what have you seen from Brunskill in this camp?
"He's done a good job. He's gotten better each week. He's still battling to try and make this team, but [OL Mike] Person very similar kind of like what I told you guys about [WR] Jordan Matthews, Peron's played in this league for a while, we know what he can do. Having him out the week before gave Najee some more opportunities and we wanted to make sure to give a few other guys opportunities this week with Brunskill coming in. I doubt Person dresses next week, so that should open up some more room for the other guys besides Brunskill."
With all the depth you guys have at quarterback, receiver and running back, are you starting to get a lot of calls on those guys and what are the odds that you will trade one of them at one of those positions? It seems like you have more possibilities this year obviously than the last couple years.
"No, we do. It's something that's stressing us out a little bit right now, because we've got a number of guys that we do like and that can play in this league. We all can see the numbers. No one's calling me personally, so I haven't gotten anything yet. That's what [general manager] John [Lynch] and his group they do all the time. Even when you get calls, it heats up a little bit more around this time. Everyone kind of keeps in touch throughout training camp and there is dialogue going, but it does get a little more real right now. We'll see what happens here over this next week."
Did you keep track of Damontre Moore at all when he was in the AAF?
"No, I didn't at all. I know John and his staff upstairs, they found him, they looked at the AAF hard and put a bunch of guys on it. We got Damontre from them and I believe we also got Brunskill from that. But no, the coaches, we didn't know anything about them until they got here, but they all did a good job in our tryout camps and they've been continuing to do well since."
He obviously stood out in the last game. What do you need to see more from him for him to prove himself worthy of possibly a spot or maybe even practice squad?
"Well, he's done a lot. He's a candidate. He's done a real good job. You guys can see the plays he's making. He's been consistent with it, so it's going to be tough when we get down to the final D-Line group, because we've definitely got a number of guys. But, he's doing all he can to make it real hard on us. I know it's about other guys and the people he's going against and who we think is going to be available for Week 1 and who is going to help us throughout the year. It's a tough decision that I'm excited that we're in a position to have to make."
What's the status of DL Nick Bosa?
"Nick Bosa's still the same. No change. He's still rehabbing and doing well. We know there's a chance for him in Week 1, and that's what we're hoping for, but that would get a little bit more clear I think after this week."
Overall, are you pretty pleased with where you are health-wise? There's been no season-ending injury to a starter it sounds like other than T Shon Coleman as the swing tackle. Getting through the exhibition season like that, is that pretty good?
"Yeah, we'll definitely take that. It's tough when you lose guys for the year, that's when you're really in trouble. Knock on wood, that's only happened with one guy so far and a guy that was very important, so that was tough. We have a lot of guys out, as you guys know, which has made it a challenge throughout training camp, but I'm hoping we get these guys back Week 1 if not within the first few weeks, and looks like we're on track there. I hope that continues."
The offense was a lot more aggressive yesterday. It seemed like you guys took more shots down the field. Was that just a Kansas City thing or is that what the offense is going to look like this year?
"No, we'll take a shot down the field every time if we think that's the right thing to do. I think there were some different matchups in Denver with protections. I don't think we ran the ball as well and we didn't get in a groove as much, doing as well on third downs. When you don't get the whole offense in a rhythm for whatever that might be, depending on what you're going against, just missing a few plays where you don't stay on the field, you become pretty one dimensional. When you can stay on the field and have a couple 12-play drives, a couple seven-play drives, you get to mix up things and set it up and sometimes that gives you more opportunities for bigger plays."
How did you feel about the receivers? How did you feel like they performed yesterday after getting a chance to re-watch?
"There were a bunch of them playing, some I think did better, some did worse. Overall, I thought we did alright. I'm always pretty hard on the receivers, though. I still think we need to keep doing better than we have been, though."
Any reason that WR Dante Pettis was in there late in the fourth quarter?
"Just because I believe he needed to be. He's still trying to earn a role on this team and he's still trying to show us what he's capable of doing consistently."
What have you seen from WR Kendrick Bourne? Obviously, he had the penalty yesterday. What has he done to earn his spot on the 53?
"Bourne's a good receiver. He's a big body who plays big. He's fearless out there, not scared to get hit. He blocks as well as any of the receivers we have on our team. Him, like a few other guys, he just needs to be more consistent. I know he had the penalty, which wasn't a good one, because we had pretty good look with the play we had going, but he just has to be more consistent for us. He's done some things that has helped us a ton, but we need him to keep taking a step forward and make sure he only makes good plays for us."
How about Matt Breida? It seems like he's had a really good camp. It seems as though you're going to use him and RB Tevin Coleman no matter what, but is there a chance either one of those guys is more of a workhorse that you have in mind, like one has to be the starter, so to speak?
"No, it doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter to me at all. I feel that way with running backs, I feel that way with receivers. I really feel that way about every single position probably except for O-Line and quarterback. So, it just depends on what packages you want, what the mismatches are, what play you're running. I know I've got a lot of confidence in both of those guys. I think they're both very good backs. This'll be my third year with Breida and this will be my third year with Tevin. I feel like I've got a pretty good feel for those guys, so does our running backs coach in [running backs coach] Bobby Turner. It's his same deal. He was with Tevin in Atlanta and here with Breida. We've got guys that are both good players who both bring a little bit different stuff."
You haven't had all the pieces of your defense on the field at once because of injury. What are you expecting to see from them and how are you planning to have them be able to be cohesive once they finally get on the field together?
"I've been happy with the standard of our defense of playing physical. The way they've been running to the ball, I think they've been playing well despite missing some guys. I also felt similarly on offense, too. When you get guys back like the guys you mentioned on defense, when you get guys back like Kittle, if we could get Jet back, we'll see how that goes this week. When you get everyone healthy, when we get Hurd out there healthy, when we get Pettis playing up to his potential, we've got a number of guys on our team who could take us completely to another level. A lot of that has to do with guys getting healthy and also guys playing to their potential. What I'm excited is I can say that about a lot of guys on our team. Now, we've got to see if we can do it or not. Sometimes that's out of your hands. I always say it's in God's hands when it comes to injuries, but that's why we also need guys to take care of their bodies not just on Sunday but throughout the week and do things the right way and we need some other guys that we believe in, who do have the ability to take our group to another level. We know who those guys are, but we've got to get that done. It is very encouraging because I see that a lot with a lot of people which makes me excited about this year in comparison to the last two years. But, I also know that doesn't mean anything. You've still got to go do it. It's still hard. This is a very challenging league and every team feels the exact same way is what I'm saying. There's a lot of pressure on a lot of these guys. The neat thing is though, all of these guys are capable of doing this and we've got to get them there."
Can you go over the throw that Garoppolo threw to Dante Pettis near the goal line where there were three guys around him? What was the thinking behind that and what did you see from the film on it?
"The same thing I saw live. You shouldn't throw into triple coverage in that situation. We were fortunate not to have a pick. I'd like Dante to go up and try to make more of an attempt to catch it, but that's a ball that should never leave his hands."