San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters ahead of Wednesday's practice as the team prepares for its Week 2 matchup against the Miami Dolphins.

Here's everything Shanahan said ahead of the week's first practice.


Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.

Opening comments:

"[K Eddy] Piñeiro won't practice. He's sick. [WR De'Zhaun] Stribling is out with an ankle. He'll go on IR later this week. He had surgery today. [DL Nick] Bosa, [LB Dre] Greenlaw, and [RB] Christian [McCaffrey] have a rest day. [FB Kyle Juszczyk] Juice limited with finger. [TE] George [Kittle] limited with Achilles. [DL Khalid] Kareem limited with shoulder. That's it."

Did you say Stribling already had surgery?

"Yes, today."


What's the timeframe for his return?

"Not exactly sure, but it's going to be some time. Close to 10 weeks."

You are hoping that he can get back this season?

"We feel good he'll get back this season. It's going to take some time."

What about a timeline for TE Jake Tonges?


"He's out for the year"

What was the extent of that?

"MCL, needed surgery."

With Stribling, he went out of the game twice. Is there a sense that he exacerbated the injury after going back out onto the field?

"No, it just didn't check out as an Achilles, didn't check out as a certain ankle. The stuff that they did, they went through the normal protocols, he was passing them, but then when he ran a certain route it really showed, the one you guys saw on TV that he collapsed on and it was going to happen regardless."


When you're reviewing the film, what jumped out at you about how the defense played, especially in the second half shutout?

"Just really how hard they played, the intent of how they were going. I thought the first play to the last play, even when we put the backups in for the last eight plays or whatever that was, just how hard they were going. By no means was everything perfect, but the way we played was something that we can be proud of and build off of."

What did you think about the play of your interior offensive line?

"I thought they were unbelievable. The pass protection especially, just a huge challenge going against that team and the way they were all tied together as a unit. A lot of good individual plays, but just how they did as a group throughout the whole game was really impressive. And they run-blocked very well too."

Was there a plan to have a rotation at left guard for that game and did OL Colby Connor just play well enough to scrap that plan?


"No, there was no plan on it."

What did he do to win that job going in and within the game?

"It was tight throughout everything, but we felt a lot better about him just during the week of practice that we had down there."

Straight drop backs from under center seem really in vogue around the league Week One. You guys have been doing them for a long time. It seemed like they kind of fell out of fashion around the league. Why do you think they're back and they're popular again and what advantages do they present in offense?

"I mean, defenses play different calls based off of whether you're in shotgun or gun. Sometimes you only do drop-back plays in shotgun and never under center and that changes entirely what a defense does. So, you just try to balance things out so you can have a threat of every type of play call and any type of look so the defense can't eliminate certain things. And sometimes it helps with the quarterback's rhythm a little bit more to get a smooth seven-step drop instead of a short one from shotgun."


Did you modify the schedule at all? Like, what has been the recovery plan here over the last five days or so?

"No, we didn't have to modify it just because we got those off days. We had a bonus practice on Monday, which really wasn't one. The coaches didn't even go out. We met, did all the film with the guys like a normal Monday, and then [vice president of player health and performance] Dustin [Perry] and the strength staff just worked those guys out. Then it was normal today. So, we're back to a truly normal Wednesday. And it actually is our normal schedule now because our times were a little bit different in Australia with the travel to the practice field and stuff. So, it's real normal now."

Your read on just how the guys feel, how you feel?

"I think we're totally good now. Speaking for myself, I felt like crap all weekend. We had two days off and I did not feel right. Took a couple of days. I think I was good by Monday. Talking to some of the guys, some guys felt fine right away. Some went through the same stuff, but I think we're definitely all good by now."

CB Renardo Green coming into this season or in the preseason talked about how he went about the offseason. He felt like he took a step, has a big play in the first game of the season. What have you seen from Renardo Green so far?


"Exactly that. I talked about it, I believe, a little last week. That might've been in my production meeting, I can't remember, but the way Renardo came to day one of Phase One, you could tell that he had put work in away, which prepared him so much more for the month that we got with him. He had an awesome Phase One, Two and Three. Then you get away from 40 days and hoping they'll come back the same. And he came back to training camp the exact same way. You could tell he'd been working all year and really locked in to getting better at everything."

What did you think of defensive coordinator Raheem Morris' ability to generate pressure in this game without really blitzing?

"I thought he did a real good job just mixing up the fronts, the looks, the stunts, picking the right times when to pressure, some four-man, some five-man, but he mixed it up really well throughout the game."

Did you have a chance to speak to Stribling?

"No, I haven't. I just found out he had it today."


How was he after the game?

"I think he was down. He was hoping that it wouldn't be as bad as it was. He had such a good week of practice, had such a good training camp. I know he was just down, but it'll pass. He'll be back and he'll be good to go when he gets back."

What was your overall impression of the rookies? DL Gracen Halton was out there quite a bit.

"I thought they all played well, especially losing [DL] Alfred [Collins] early in the week, losing [DL] Sam O [Okuayinonu] early in the week, Gracen just coming back from a high ankle, so that was his first week of practice. [DL] James [Thompson Jr.] just coming back from a hamstring. He didn't practice until that Friday, so he got a walk-through in before. So, I was really impressed with the young guys on defense just being ready for the game. And same guys on offense. Just with [RB] Kaelon Black, I thought he did well. And Stribling, even though he didn't get to play much, he was so prepared for the game. That was real impressive from all the rookies."

How about LB Jaden Dugger? What did you see from him?


"Dugger I thought played real well. We got him a lot of playing time during the training camp. A lot of playing time in all three of our preseason games. I thought this was his best game so far, so I was really impressed."

When WR Ricky Pearsall went down, you talked about the importance of Stribling and WR Mike Evans, foremost staying on the field and healthy. With Stribling out for an indefinite period of time, do you feel like you have enough there in the wide receiver room? Do you have to do something?

"Yeah, we have enough. I mean, it's always tough when you lose two of your main guys, but I think we have as good a depth as anyone in the league. It's fortunate that he's not gone for the year like Ricky. We will get him back, but we have the people to still hold it down while he's gone."

QB Brock Purdy's first real, significant playing time was against Miami. Take us back to that game against the Dolphins and what you were thinking of when you stepped to the podium that day, just your memories of that?

"I think I've talked about it a lot just over the years, because it was such an impressive game. We had such a good team that year and it's such mixed feelings when you lose your starter and your backup within a month of each other. Then you're down to the third-string quarterback the whole game. So, it was a little sombering after the game and stuff, but I remember always talking about when I got home that night and actually sitting and thinking about the game and really setting in how well Brock played. Just going against that defense he did under duress with all the blitzes, how he hung in there, took hits, how he didn't get many reps at all the whole year and how he knew exactly where to go with the ball. It was just one game, but it was an extremely special game. It was foreshadowing how the following three years would go after that game."


Outwardly to us, obviously Mike Evans had a great game. What is your impression? Was it as advertised, Mike Evans?

"Yeah. Mike is as advertised. I mean, it's just awesome to be able to go to him on, I think it was like, four crucial plays. I forget how many catches he had, but he kept us out there on the field, got us a good touchdown there in the red zone. And Mike's a competitor. I think we all know the talent with how big and long he is, but what makes him special is how aggressive he is and how much he wants to fight on game day."

Using him in the slot is something a lot of people wouldn't expect with him being a true X receiver. Can you take us through that decision?

"I mean, if you don't play in the slot, it's kind of hard to play in our offense. We're inside the numbers the majority of the time, so even if you're the outside guy, you're still in the slot most of the time. He was lined up truly in the slot on a number of plays, especially two of those third-down plays. Mike can do it all. It's awesome. He's a great threat outside the numbers. Our guys are just inside the numbers a lot of the time and Mike's shown since he's gotten here that he's capable of both."

WR Christian Kirk is eligible to start practicing next week. Is he on track to resume his practice?


"I believe so. I didn't ask about him because I know he can't play with us until Week Five, but hopefully he's on track. I'm not sure exactly though."

Did your running back rotation work out the way you wanted it to?

"Yeah, it did work out. I was a little surprised at the end just that Kaelon got more than Christian. That was just kind of how the game went. Has a lot to do with probably me starting out the game. I think I had like three runs in the first 17 plays, but love taking some off Christian and love the fact that Kaelon was prepared for everything, the run game and the pass game, and allowed us to be able to do that."

What stood out about Kaelon to have an impact from Week One versus a couple of other rookie draft picks at the running back position you've had in recent years?

"More that he earned in training camp to be our number two back, so he was who we were going to go with and just how prepared he seemed throughout the week. I mean, there wasn't a time that, all right, Christian got this rep, it's a play for Christian, and his backup won't know what to do. He showed during the week how attentive he was, how much he knew, how much he was studying whether he got to rep or not. And when you do that, even though certain things you definitely want to keep Christian in on, that just makes it a lot easier for [running backs coach Robert Turner Jr.] Bobby to sub him. He doesn't always know what play I'm going to call and stuff and when you're confident that the backup knows what he's doing and can do it, it makes it easier on the position coaches."


Do you feel like that's rare for a rookie back?

"I'd like to say it's what I expect, but it's not always what you get. But, that's how he was advertised coming out of college. I do think he's rare in terms of his maturity and just how much of a pro he's seemed like since day one."

Were all the injured guys, including Alfred, able to make the trip home on Friday?

"Yes. Yeah, everybody made the trip home."

It appeared that you ran Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula out of his nickel in the, maybe, second drive of the third quarter, and then you countered kind of running outside. How did you feel? Did you expect that they would stay with their nickel defense throughout the entirety of the first half? Did that surprise you?


"Not really. I mean, they switch their stuff up so much. I think a lot of it's because of what they want to do and a lot of it's to keep us off balance. You know, just changing the fronts and everything, the personnel changes a lot of schemes and what you're trying to call. So, they started out the game with that, which is surprising based on what they did, which usually means they're going to switch in the second quarter. They just waited until the third quarter. So, I don't know if that was for any specific reason or their plan, but that's how it is with Shula and a lot of those guys. They're going to mix personnels and fronts throughout the whole game and hope to keep us off."

Stribling was hurt, went back in the game, now needs surgery. It raises questions like, what's going on there? Los Angeles Rams DL Myles Garrett now has knee surgery after playing in the game, so it's not a Niners thing. It's a hard call throughout the league, but are you comfortable with your guys' protocol as far as in-game, if a guy is good to go?

"Yeah, I think it's just how football has always been, and sports. We don't have x-rays and MRIs on the sidelines, and they take a while. So, when a guy comes off, Stribling did it and played a number of plays before even saying anything. We didn't know which play it was on. It was actually on a bootleg that I think we hit [TE] Luke [Farrell] on, and somebody hit him at the end of the play that no one even knew about and he fell on his ankle and got up and walked off, but he was hobbling a little bit of it. Like all of us have rolled our ankle and stuff and you play through an ankle. When you find out it's a high ankle, usually you find out you can't play. So, that's what we thought. And then they go through the whole protocol of it, have him run up and down the sidelines. They test everything. I get on the headset, say, 'He's out for a little bit. We're testing him. His Achilles intact. We've seen it's not a high ankle sprain. He's running. We're going to let him go back in.' And then he goes back in and does a turn that you don't replicate on the sideline and then you find out it's worse than that. I did the same thing in college, but no one asked questions about me (laughter)."

After all the preparations and the process that went into Week One in Australia and all the logistics, what's the process been like now flipping the page to Week Two and getting the team back into a normal routine?

"That's exactly what we're doing today. We had a few days to recover, players really got five total, and now it's really day one of the week for us. I thought one of the reasons we played so well is just because of the focus that we had. You know, we can talk about the travel and all that, but that's whatever. Our whole team was locked into that game. I could tell from the first practice all the way to the night before the game, to pregame, to the end of the game. Nothing ever changed with them. That's the goal to do that same thing this week. Not everyone can do it 17 weeks in a row, but the right type of guys can and that's what we're trying to make sure we have on this team."


Just about the deltoid ligament, it seemed like when he ran on the play where it was obvious that he was hurting, when he hopped and then he went down, that maybe something happened in that moment, but I know you said it happened a little bit earlier than that. Is it torn? Is it just bruised? Do you know the details?

"No, because they're irrelevant. I know he needed surgery on his ankle, so he's out almost 10 weeks. Even if I did ask the details, I don't really remember the doctor type of stuff. If one of those things goes in, something goes out that I actually think is important."

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