San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters after today's practice. The team is preparing for its preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Here is everything Shanahan had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening Comments:
"New injuries, [CB Jason] Verrett and [LB Dre] Greenlaw they've been out for a little bit. They'll be fine. I don't think they'll play this week, but nothing serious. Just a hip and some foot plantar fasciitis. The new one is [WR] Richie [James] had a knee, probably going to need some surgery. It'll be like a six-week injury or something like that, so we just found that out. And I believe that was it."
Hip for Verrett?
"Hip for Greenlaw."
For Richie James, did you say six weeks?
"Yeah, that's what I was just told coming off. He just got an MRI and we found that out."
What about OL Jaylon Moore?
"He's had some stinger issues. We left him out of practice the last couple of days, but he was good to go today even though he walked-thru. But yeah, he should play Sunday."
What about your plan for starters, guys like T Trent Williams and C Alex Mack on Sunday?
"I mean, ideally just as a whole for starters, I'd like to get close to the first half. I always say the whole half, but I thought we had a real good week of practice. So hopefully if we've seen enough, I can take them out sometime in the second quarter. There's probably a few guys here and there that I might do earlier than that."
Is WR Jauan Jennings going to play on Sunday?
"Yeah, he was out here today. So, that was good, even though it was walk through. I know he was feeling too hurt to go yesterday, but I think things are looking good for him to play Sunday."
Do you want to explain your quarterback plan is going to be for this game and maybe next week?
"I don't mind this game. I plan on putting [QB] Jimmy [Garoppolo] out there with the starters and going. And I plan on mixing [QB] Trey [Lance] in there kind of like I wanted to last week. We'll see how it plays out, but I definitely want to get Trey some looks with the ones in there."
General manager John Lynch said before the game that the plan was a series of Jimmy, two of Trey, and then Jimmy coming back in. What's the idea behind that? Is there any part of that is to just get Jimmy used to the idea of playing and then not playing for a little bit and then playing again?
"No, that's another thing to do from it, but I think the main reason was I wanted to play Trey with the starters. And I didn't want to leave the starters in so long to do that. So, I wanted to make sure he got a number in. And if I left Jimmy in for 20 plays, which I thought was going to be a couple of drives, I thought that'd be too long to then I'd have them stay 20 plays for Trey. So, once he had that on the first drive, I thought we were good. But that was just that game. I don't see it this game, but I'll hopefully get Trey in some there once Jimmy's out. We'll probably be done."
How big is the challenge of getting your starters the reps, but still looking at the guys that you need to decide if they're going to make the team?
"It's a big challenge, but that's also what practice is to me. It tells us a lot more than some of these games. Games tell a ton too, but you get the basis of all your decisions in practice and you kind of want to confirm it in the game. So, there's some situations you need, but it's not like you need that for all 90 guys or 80 or whatever we have left."
Listening to John talk on KNBR today, he made it sound like that as long as WR Jalen Hurd is healthy, he's talented enough to make the team. Do you see it like that? Do you need to see him play well or is just that his health is more of a factor in terms of making it?
"No, I've seen Jalen when he's going. I know he's one of our top six receivers, so that's not an issue. That's how it was for [DL] Dee Ford was last year. That's how [S Jaquiski] Tartt is. We know they're one of our top guys at those positions, but it's such a scary thing and a hard decision for the 53. We have other guys there after those guys who are good and who can make this team and really help us. But you have to make sure guys are healthy enough to play through the year, that they don't just get to Week 1 and only last a quarter and a half. And then they've got another injury and you're wishing you had a guy there, but he didn't make the 53 because of that. So, there's no right or wrong answer. That's just the challenge of it. And you try to get as much information as you can, which is usually if they can make it through a whole camp, they can make it through the season. But obviously they weren't in a situation where they could do that. So that's the dilemma with going into camp hurt and that's the stress of it for everybody coaches, players, the 53-man roster. But that's just part of it."
Do you think you'll miss the fourth preseason game? I know that's a weird thing to say, but just in terms of being able to evaluate maybe the back end of the roster?
"Yeah. I was probably as happy as anybody on the planet when they canceled the fourth game because it's not one I ever enjoyed, at all. But now that we don't have it, yeah, there's a couple things like you'd like to see a couple guys that maybe you weren't thinking about on practice squad, but they get to play for four quarters and they show something in four quarters that, 'You know what let's, let's keep that guy' and you maybe change one or two decisions. So, a little of that I'll miss, but I'm not trading it in to have to go through that game because even though you want to play guys in that fourth game that weren't going to be on your team, there's still a lot of guys playing in that game who have to play and I've lost too many guys that game just trying to get through it."
Have you seen enough of WR Nsimba Webster to have back there as your return specialist or WR Travis Benjamin now that Richie's out of the picture for six weeks? Or will you just keep it open and see what's best?
"Yeah, I think with us, I think it's really hard to make a team as the returner. You have to be one of those six receivers. And if you're close to one of those guys, the fifth or sixth guy, usually it has to be the fifth guy because you only get five guys up on gameday. If you're close to that guy and you have return skills or you're a gunner and you bring something else to the table, then you can pass a guy who might be a little bit ahead of you as a wideout. But if you're not close to being able to contribute as a wideout, it's really tough to make it as a returner. And I think both of those guys, Travis and Nsimba, have done some really good things for us when they're at receiver. And we know they have some experience in their careers as returners too. But it's tough, if you have a guy who's only on there for special teams and you have one guy go down in the game, now you're deciding whether to put a special teams guy out there or play with a tight end."
You've talked about wanting to use Trey potentially like the New Orleans Saints use QB Taysom Hill. Do you have any concerns about him being a rookie and not getting him in a rhythm and just having those sort of disjointed reps as opposed to back-to-back-to-back reps?
"Yeah. You have concerns about everything, but that's why we're working through everything and trying to figure everything out. Seeing what they're good at, what they can help us with on the team, how to balance stuff out, and that's why we are practicing everything. I've never been in a situation where I had a skillset where I had two guys like that you could practice it and that's what we're finding out."
How did TE MyCole Pruitt do after he got back from the injury?
"I think he's done a great job. It's really unfortunate for him, how I think it was his calf, but doing that in the first couple of days, maybe the first day of practice because we know he's been a good player. He's had some success in this league and he's been behind the eight ball with that injury. So, late getting back into it and whenever you do that, it takes a little bit of time to get your football legs back which I know he's been battling. But I've been really impressed with him here in these 10 days or so since he's come back."
How does potentially playing two quarterbacks impact your potential decision to keep a third?
"Not much. You only got two up on game day. So, it doesn't affect it."
Without that fourth preseason game, how satisfied have you been with the dress rehearsal week leading up to the regular season?
"It's been good. It's less for me, it's more for the players and just for everyone to see the routine. Even guys who have been here, you get into a routine and you forget, so you're up at some different times. You're in some different places at times, your lift, and when you eat it's a little bit different each day. So, I think it's good for the players just to go through it, so they're not wondering where the hell they are in Week 1."
What's RB Wayne Gallman II brought to the team beyond just the running ability. Has there been some veteran dependability there too?
"Yeah. I've always been a fan of Wayne and I think he's gotten better. A lot better since he's been here too. How he's done his blitz pickups, how hard he's been running, the difference in him in preseason one and preseason two, I thought it was huge. Not that anything was bad with one, but I thought he took a big step forward and hopefully he'll take a big step forward this week too."
Even though it's just a pre-season game and they have moved to Las Vegas, is there still that excitement of playing the Raiders?
"I always like when our fans are pumped up about stuff, so that makes it cooler. It's still a pre-season game to me. So, I'm not going to sit there and get too excited about it and I don't get too caught up in those rivalries, but I think it's always more fun when the fans are more into it."
Just with Richie, when did he get hurt?
"It started bothering him yesterday in practice. So, we shut them down halfway through practice. And I think he got the MRI this morning."
Was it the meniscus?
"It started with an M and I know six weeks. They said around six weeks. So, I'm guessing, but I don't want to mess that up. It's the knee but I don't like saying that because everyone assumes ACL and stuff, but I know it's not that one."
Could you mention DL Nick Bosa and Ford. What their plan is for Sunday?
"Yeah. Dee won't play. I'm going to talk to Nick today or tomorrow, probably at the hotel. Odds are he probably won't, but I haven't decided for sure yet."
