Last week, one of the 49ers' most decorated players — Sherman — was beaten badly on a deep route by Goodwin during a one-on-one drill. It came during Sherman's first padded practice since he sustained a torn Achilles in November and video of Goodwin's domination went viral.
Shanahan, however, saw Sherman's effort as a great teaching moment. During a team meeting, he reviewed the play and noted that Sherman immediately tested himself against one of the league's fastest players.
The takeaway: Sherman's desire to improve in practice dwarfed his fear of failure. Shanahan is concerned that less-established players don't have the same mind-set in an age where training camps are scrutinized far closer than past years.
"That stuff worries me for players because now I'm afraid they're going to go there and be like, 'Man, I know you want to try this new thing, but I don't want this to go viral for the next week; I don't want people to say I can't throw this type of ball,'" Shanahan said. "Then they don't get better and they just try to survive the day so they can please people who don't really know what they're working on. It takes a very mentally strong person to not care about that."
Coach smart, some posters, not so much.
[ Edited by eastie on Aug 6, 2018 at 2:41 PM ]