49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Thread

Originally posted by genus49:
My concern is any time the owner or non football guys start to take control away from the football guys things can unravel quick.

I 100% understand the frustration after last season when you not only have a poor result record wise but the big contracts you gave out that offseason almost all failed to produce. CMC, Trent and Aiyuk all played the holdout game and came in either injured or not playing up to their own standard.

The thing is it's a double edged sword. Kyle usually stays out of contract stuff but from
what we know the BA last minute move wasn't the first time. He did it before with Trent Williams almost ready to sign with the Chiefs before Kyle intervened last moment and we got the deal done.

I'm pretty sure nobody had a problem with that since we got several all pro seasons from him that saw us go to 2 straight NFCCG and a SB. And had we let him go to KC you KNOW people would've been bashing him big time for letting someone of his talent go, especially to the Chiefs and fans would be bashing us trading for him only to let him walk after a bad 2020 season.

Obviously it's easy to bash the Aiyuk deal when he came out and played poorly and then got injured and we didn't even have a winning season let alone make the playoffs.

Feels like if Paraag had his way Trent would've been a Chief and then wtf are we doing at LT?

As a team you want to have players good enough that they're eligible for market setting contracts. Obviously with the salary cap you can't retain them all…it's why they traded Buckner. So we do have examples of them making the tough call and losing talented players due to positional value.

But it's easy to have buyers remorse but just can't let one year cloud your judgment where you start moving your top players cuz you don't want to pay them market value and then a couple of tough drafts and you're looking at a roster dying for the type of player you traded.

If you don't let Kyle keep his over the hill favorites at team killing prices across the board and trade them for extra draft picks, you will have a reasonable replacement for Trent. If you had traded him to the Chiefs or anyone else, you would have conversely backed up another postiion. Nobody wants Paraag making football decisions. I want Lynch to have that total control, and weigh Kyle's desires against the good of the whole team. Jed needs to tell Lynch his promise to Kyle to never deny Kyle "what he needs" does not work, and no longer applies.

I think all of this Silver news is GREAT. I've always thought and said Kyle's attachment to past glory players and Lynch's statement that he would never deny Kyle what he needed drove this team into stupid decisions. And there IS room for improvement on Kyle's playcalling and game management. Perhaps paying attention to doing that job will help. Non football people do not need to make personnel decisions. John Lynch just needs to be told to be smart, and don't let Kyle's attachment to players supersede his measured judgement. I have every confidence in him. He just needs to be told he's the boss.

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

Originally posted by Hoovtrain:

Originally posted by GoreGoreGore:

Originally posted by Hoovtrain:

Originally posted by Hysterikal:

Originally posted by Jcool:

.@MikeSilver alludes to an organizational shift within #49ers while mentioning Kyle Shanahan is not in danger of losing his job

"And while Shanahan may not have done his best coaching job in 2024, his seat is not even lukewarm, and he likely regrets his mad sprint up the stairs… pic.twitter.com/b2On4uCSN3

— ???????????????????????????????????????????? (@TheSFNiners) March 7, 2025

I normally don't believe anything Mike Silver says but since this confirms my bias I will believe this report.

Ha

Well this is pretty obvious though. If KS has 2-3 seasons where we miss the playoffs, then he's obviously going to be done. Which won't happen unless it's under some crazy circumstances.

I've seen enough from and him and Lynch where I can confidently say we will continue to be competitive. How they turned this team around wasn't by luck.

However, I agree with York here as well if the reports are true. We've wasted some money on guys and caved in. You don't want to low ball guys and have that reputation around the league (players/agents talk to each other) But we've definitely got taken advantage of a bit.

I'm totally fine with this approach. I get that he should have input, but they pay their FO guys big bucks to scout players, pick players , negotiate contracts etc. Not a fan of when KS gets too involved in these aspects. There needs to be a common ground

I haven't read any of the article, but Kyle has said many times he leaves that/money to the money guys

Many people have been given credit for players other than Shanahan. Like for instance Brian Griese and Bobby Slowik get credit for the Brock Purdy pick. Ambry Thomas was a Adam Peters pick. Mike McGlinchey I think was a 49ers scout pick or something like that.

Originally posted by Crown:

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by Crown:
Sorry.

I am just not buying the rumours and alleged leaks.

If the niners are changing strategy so what? That doesn't mean a power struggle or FO Drama. Companies alter strategy all the time.

+ anyone who believe Mike Silver is getting bamboozled.

If you actually read his article. It's pretty reasonable take on the situation.

Reasonable? sure
Factual? sus

He doesn't lie he is just kind of an a**hole so when fans hear something they don't like it's easy to dismiss him. Like how half the people here hate Tim Kawakami.

The days of just reporting facts and number are long gone. In today's world writers need to create buzz to attract readers. If they don't they lose their job. It's become like the movies that say this is based on a true story. Then they fill the movie with a lot of inaccuracies because it makes the movie more interesting.

Originally posted by Jcool:
He doesn't lie he is just kind of an a**hole so when fans hear something they don't like it's easy to dismiss him. Like how half the people here hate Tim Kawakami.

Yup.

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
The days of just reporting facts and number are long gone. In today's world writers need to create buzz to attract readers. If they don't they lose their job. It's become like the movies that say this is based on a true story. Then they fill the movie with a lot of inaccuracies because it makes the movie more interesting.

More likely, it just makes the movie more Hollywoodized, but that's probably just me and Top Gun.

Originally posted by BOI49er:
If you don't let Kyle keep his over the hill favorites at team killing prices across the board and trade them for extra draft picks, you will have a reasonable replacement for Trent. If you had traded him to the Chiefs or anyone else, you would have conversely backed up another postiion. Nobody wants Paraag making football decisions. I want Lynch to have that total control, and weigh Kyle's desires against the good of the whole team. Jed needs to tell Lynch his promise to Kyle to never deny Kyle "what he needs" does not work, and no longer applies.

I think all of this Silver news is GREAT. I've always thought and said Kyle's attachment to past glory players and Lynch's statement that he would never deny Kyle what he needed drove this team into stupid decisions. And there IS room for improvement on Kyle's playcalling and game management. Perhaps paying attention to doing that job will help. Non football people do not need to make personnel decisions. John Lynch just needs to be told to be smart, and don't let Kyle's attachment to players supersede his measured judgement. I have every confidence in him. He just needs to be told he's the boss.

Great idea. Now tell me how you trade an unrestricted free agent who we agreed not to franchise when the trade for him was made with Washington.

I do agree that taking away some of Kyle's power when it comes to making personnel moves or at least giving John more power where Kyle can't just pound the table last second and get what he wants is better long term for the team BUT I did want to point out that there has been a time where Kyle doing that helped in a big way.

Now maybe John makes the same call with Trent but not Aiyuk or we keep Joe Williams off our board and don't take him and etc.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by Jcool:
He doesn't lie he is just kind of an a**hole so when fans hear something they don't like it's easy to dismiss him. Like how half the people here hate Tim Kawakami.

Yup.

Only half?

Originally posted by BOI49er:
If you don't let Kyle keep his over the hill favorites at team killing prices across the board and trade them for extra draft picks, you will have a reasonable replacement for Trent. If you had traded him to the Chiefs or anyone else, you would have conversely backed up another postiion. Nobody wants Paraag making football decisions. I want Lynch to have that total control, and weigh Kyle's desires against the good of the whole team. Jed needs to tell Lynch his promise to Kyle to never deny Kyle "what he needs" does not work, and no longer applies.

I think all of this Silver news is GREAT. I've always thought and said Kyle's attachment to past glory players and Lynch's statement that he would never deny Kyle what he needed drove this team into stupid decisions. And there IS room for improvement on Kyle's playcalling and game management. Perhaps paying attention to doing that job will help. Non football people do not need to make personnel decisions. John Lynch just needs to be told to be smart, and don't let Kyle's attachment to players supersede his measured judgement. I have every confidence in him. He just needs to be told he's the boss.

A reasonable replacement for TW? Dude, we can't even find a 'reasonable' RT, but you figue we can somehow find a replacement for the best LT in the league. LOL.

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by genus49:
My concern is any time the owner or non football guys start to take control away from the football guys things can unravel quick.

When has it ever been a good idea to have the coach be the GM? Kyle has proven to be bad at that side of things and Lynch has given in to him way to much because of the success Kyle has had & power he was given to get him to sign here. It can only help things to give some power back to the front office.

Once again under Kyle's watch and having that control we're tied with the Ravens for most all pros drafted since 2017. We had a damn good roster for the most part since 2019 and it's been completely overhauled since pre Shanahan.

There have been busts for sure but you still have some people legit thinking we took Solomon Thomas cuz he took a class with John Lynch for crying out loud. We can make educated guesses when Kyle pushed for certain players based on post draft tidbits or the big move for Trey(tho you also had some people claim Kyle wanted Mac Jones and got overruled so there's that too)

Basically with the strong relationship with Kyle and John it's hard to know which way the roster would look if John had full control to build the roster. Yes he brought up looking at Mahomes in 2017 and Kyle brushed it off looking ahead to Cousins. Would John have drafted Mahomes at 2/3? Who knows. Maybe they make the same moves. We also know John talked Kyle into the Jimmy trade. Who knows how we would've done if Kyle's vision of Cousins being his guy actually went down.

How long has Kyles increased role in negotiations been going on or was it just a Deebo/Aiyuk isolated incident?

Originally posted by eastie:

Originally posted by BOI49er:
If you don't let Kyle keep his over the hill favorites at team killing prices across the board and trade them for extra draft picks, you will have a reasonable replacement for Trent. If you had traded him to the Chiefs or anyone else, you would have conversely backed up another postiion. Nobody wants Paraag making football decisions. I want Lynch to have that total control, and weigh Kyle's desires against the good of the whole team. Jed needs to tell Lynch his promise to Kyle to never deny Kyle "what he needs" does not work, and no longer applies.

I think all of this Silver news is GREAT. I've always thought and said Kyle's attachment to past glory players and Lynch's statement that he would never deny Kyle what he needed drove this team into stupid decisions. And there IS room for improvement on Kyle's playcalling and game management. Perhaps paying attention to doing that job will help. Non football people do not need to make personnel decisions. John Lynch just needs to be told to be smart, and don't let Kyle's attachment to players supersede his measured judgement. I have every confidence in him. He just needs to be told he's the boss.

A reasonable replacement for TW? Dude, we can't even find a 'reasonable' RT, but you figue we can somehow find a replacement for the best LT in the league. LOL.

Right. We don't get extra draft picks by trading players that have peaked. Or are not 100% committed. See Bill Walsh.

Originally posted by BOI49er:

Originally posted by eastie:

Originally posted by BOI49er:
If you don't let Kyle keep his over the hill favorites at team killing prices across the board and trade them for extra draft picks, you will have a reasonable replacement for Trent. If you had traded him to the Chiefs or anyone else, you would have conversely backed up another postiion. Nobody wants Paraag making football decisions. I want Lynch to have that total control, and weigh Kyle's desires against the good of the whole team. Jed needs to tell Lynch his promise to Kyle to never deny Kyle "what he needs" does not work, and no longer applies.

I think all of this Silver news is GREAT. I've always thought and said Kyle's attachment to past glory players and Lynch's statement that he would never deny Kyle what he needed drove this team into stupid decisions. And there IS room for improvement on Kyle's playcalling and game management. Perhaps paying attention to doing that job will help. Non football people do not need to make personnel decisions. John Lynch just needs to be told to be smart, and don't let Kyle's attachment to players supersede his measured judgement. I have every confidence in him. He just needs to be told he's the boss.

A reasonable replacement for TW? Dude, we can't even find a 'reasonable' RT, but you figue we can somehow find a replacement for the best LT in the league. LOL.

Right. We don't get extra draft picks by trading players that have peaked. Or are not 100% committed. See Bill Walsh.

If they haven't peaked and we consider them good players, why would we trade them? What does BW have to do with your take?

Originally posted by BOI49er:
Right. We don't get extra draft picks by trading players that have peaked. Or are not 100% committed. See Bill Walsh.

You're out here trying to trade UFAs.

I'm sure if coaches had the hindsight ability that folks like yourself like to use they would never make mistakes. Unfortunately they don't get that power.

Which player should they have traded in your opinion that was actually eligible to be traded?

Originally posted by genus49:

Originally posted by BOI49er:
If you don't let Kyle keep his over the hill favorites at team killing prices across the board and trade them for extra draft picks, you will have a reasonable replacement for Trent. If you had traded him to the Chiefs or anyone else, you would have conversely backed up another postiion. Nobody wants Paraag making football decisions. I want Lynch to have that total control, and weigh Kyle's desires against the good of the whole team. Jed needs to tell Lynch his promise to Kyle to never deny Kyle "what he needs" does not work, and no longer applies.

I think all of this Silver news is GREAT. I've always thought and said Kyle's attachment to past glory players and Lynch's statement that he would never deny Kyle what he needed drove this team into stupid decisions. And there IS room for improvement on Kyle's playcalling and game management. Perhaps paying attention to doing that job will help. Non football people do not need to make personnel decisions. John Lynch just needs to be told to be smart, and don't let Kyle's attachment to players supersede his measured judgement. I have every confidence in him. He just needs to be told he's the boss.

Great idea. Now tell me how you trade an unrestricted free agent who we agreed not to franchise when the trade for him was made with Washington.

I do agree that taking away some of Kyle's power when it comes to making personnel moves or at least giving John more power where Kyle can't just pound the table last second and get what he wants is better long term for the team BUT I did want to point out that there has been a time where Kyle doing that helped in a big way.

Now maybe John makes the same call with Trent but not Aiyuk or we keep Joe Williams off our board and don't take him and etc.

I thought that was your suggestion. No matter. The point is we've seen how to keep it going to multiple SB's, and that's turn your peaked veterans, even super stars, into draft picks while they still have trade value. Bad teams overpay for stars with names. Good teams turn them into fresh opportunities. Kyle Shannahan is the polar opposite. He locks you in, with huge cap hanging over your head whether you continue to overpay for players' declining or injured performance, or you cut or trade them. That's no way to run a railroad long term. But it will get you moaning about your bad luck on injuries. Better to have depth at backup help than to rely on players you can't afford to lose, especially older ones. Fans are always myopic, as the direct replacement for your veterans are usually not the equal to the veteran you trade, but you do hit on a better stream of new stars as you accumulate more draft picks.

I'm optimistic Jed has been burned enough, and is on board. All he has to do is give John his head. I put this on Kyle, and not John. We'll see if I'm right, but John should get first chance to show it, or there will be a house cleaning. Then we lose Kyle too. Yes, Kyle has value, and flaws, as a head coach. We've lately seen other OC's in the league that have value on a par as OC's too, and IMO, that's all Kyle is good at.