San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters ahead of Thursday's practice as the team prepares for its Week 6 matchup against the Washington Commanders.

Here's everything he said.


Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.

Opening comments:

"Injuries for practice today. [WR] Deebo Samuel [Sr.], hamstring, will be out. [LB Garret] Wallow, hamstring, out. [DL] James Thompson [Jr.], ankle, out. [DL] Nick Bosa, calf, out. [S Marques] Sigle, ankle, out. [WR] Mike Evans, ribs, Achilles, out. [DB] Siran Neal, neck, limited. [OL Colton] McKivitz is sick, limited. [FB Kyle Juszczyk] Juice, knee, limited. [WR] Christian Kirk, calf, limited. [CB] Upton Stout, shoulder, limited. Go ahead."

Did you say Achilles?

"Just some Achilles soreness."


Do you have a sense about Bosa's ability to play on Monday?

"No, I don't. Hoping he can go, but not able to practice today."

Is his injury something that you feel can go away entirely this season or something you'll be managing for the rest of the season?

"No, usually calves heal and they're usually good."

Can you go over how Christian Kirk's been spending the last few months and whether he's had any setbacks and just what you're expecting out of him?


"Yeah, he has had some setbacks since hurting it the first day of training camp, so that's why it's taken a while. I told you guys I wasn't expecting him this week on Monday, but it's just because I didn't ask. He's had a real good week, had an awesome weekend and he's ready to give it a go. It'll be his first day back today."

We asked you about LB Nick Martin, but you hadn't asked about him. Do we have an update on him?

"No, he's not getting up this week."

Do you have any timeline on Deebo and is IR a possibility with him?

"It is a possibility. I think if we didn't have that Bye Week I think it'd be around that area, but gaining that week where we don't play is why we're still trying to wait out right now and hope we don't have to do it."


In order to do that, that would mean one of those eight guys already on IR you wouldn't expect to come back. Are there any guys in that boat of the guys that you at one point thought would be back that you've since determined won't be back?

"No, we haven't determined any won't be. Kirk's just the first guy up that, after [DL] Mykel [Williams], that we're giving him a chance to."

How's WR De'Zhaun Stribling doing?

"He's doing good. Still a ways away so I haven't seen him too much, but I think he's on track."

How about WR Demarcus Robinson?


"D-Rob, still on IR. Probably outside chance before the Bye Week, but hoping to get him back after the Bye Week."

You have talked before, past seasons about limiting RB Christian McCaffrey's touches. So when you said it this spring, some of us may have rolled our eyes like, 'Yeah, alright.' But, his touches have been limited. I don't know how much of that has been a function of the games, how much a function of RB Kaelon Black, or a combination of things, but has it been a concerted effort to make sure his touch total is less by January?

"Yeah, I think so. I think we had more confidence going into this season to rotate him with the guys behind him. We wanted to do that to, not necessarily keep him healthy but just keep him his freshest throughout the game as we could. I think a number of games, especially those first couple, kind of dictated that a little bit more than we anticipated and then some have gone exactly how we hoped."

There are reasons to believe that the Commanders are going to show up with their A-game this week. After such an emotional win over Seattle, how do you get your team up and ready for a team like this that's kind of desperate maybe?

"I hope that they understand that. I think this team is going to come in, I know they're going to come in ready to go. Anytime your record isn't as good as it should be, with I think that they have a much better team than that and then they lost or tied a tough one last week. The adversity that those guys got to go through. You know, we've had an extra day off. We had a real emotional win. I know we've got a really good team coming in here who's as hungry as can be and I know it's going to be probably our biggest challenge so far."


Does the extra day help you in that regard to get past that?

"Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it helps to take an extra day to get over the emotions of a big game like we had, but some days it makes you sit in that a little extra long and makes it hard to move on to the next week. So, I was glad to get started today. I mean, I always get a vibe. I always talk about human nature in games like this and then our players and how they act usually makes that go away from me. I remember being worried about that after coming back from Australia and a big one versus the Rams. I was worried about that throughout the week and they kind of took that anxiety away from me, just how they attacked the whole week. We're right into it or just starting it and it's been good so far."

What does WR Jordan Watkins have to do to be more involved in the passing game?

"He's just gotten more opportunities since his injuries and keep doing what he's doing. Guys just run routes and sometimes the ball goes to them, sometimes it doesn't. His opportunity percentages go up with the guys that have been hurt. He was backing up Deebo last week and Mike at times. We had [WR Brandin] Cooks doing the same. But, when guys go out, you get more opportunities."

Has he progressed from training camp until now?


"Yeah, I think big time. We've been really happy with how he's played in these games. I think he's earned a lot of respect in these three games and with us it doesn't have to do with the stats. I know he's had two catches and stuff in his first game, and those are two really good plays, but because he hasn't had any in the other two games doesn't really mean much to us. If the ball's supposed to go to him, he's supposed to do his job and we expect him to come through with that, but he's done his job in all these plays. He's blocked well, he's ran good routes, he's gotten open. We've been really happy with how he's stepped up in these few games."

If Bosa were to play on Monday, there'd be a short week before the Atlanta game. Does that go into the calculus at all?

"Not really. It's more about how, is he fully recovered from the calf and what are the percentages of him reinjuring that? And I get more from him and the doctors."

Some of your most successful defenses under Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh and Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans, those guys had linebacker backgrounds, kind of that holistic view. Does defensive coordinator Raheem Morris's background as a defensive back give a little different perspective to what you guys are doing defensively and how is that maybe showing up with your secondary so far?

"Yeah, I think it definitely does. It also has to do with different schemes. When you play our true three-deep, four-under that we played for nine years with true zone drops instead of match drops and just our type of two shells and stuff, you get used to who's supposed to stop plays. When you have zoning linebackers always underneath between the numbers and stuff, DBs don't have to quite be as aggressive. But, then when you blitz, they need to. I think just from a schematic standpoint and from the first day of OTAs, those guys aren't counting on linebackers so they have to be more aggressive in coverage. When you do that throughout OTAs, throughout training camp, you just naturally get more aggressive and better at stuff. Then sometimes we do have our linebackers under it, but they're not always counting on them. They might be there sometimes, they might not. Those guys are playing concepts and stuff to stop plays without any help and that's been their edge. I think it's made them better. It's given them more confidence in practice and I think that's what we're all seeing in games."


With the secondary in particular, a lot of those guys, they've played together now for a little while. How much does that help in terms of communication and some of the stuff you see out there?

"I think it helps a ton. Just both of our outside guys getting the experience. They've seen a lot. We all know [DB Deommodore Lenoir] DMo's been here for a while. [CB] Renardo [Green], even going into his third year, he went through a lot, saw a lot in his first two years and I think that always helps people attack the offseason a little bit better knowing what to expect. Stout having a second year, all our safeties have had time together and played together, so the communication usually starts with them. But yeah, just experience and the scheme has helped."

I know the focus is all the Commanders this week, but Raheem's done an amazing job and you've seen the DBs come of age. Has there been any internal discussions on or off the record with him about being here long-term? Have you guys discussed a long-term extension with him? Would you like to have him here long-term?

"I see Raheem here for as long as I'm here. And if I wasn't, I'm sure they wouldn't be getting rid of him either. Raheem's so good of a coach, you've always got to be nervous you'll lose him as a head coach. But, if that doesn't happen I don't plan on him ever leaving. So, got to make sure that happens."

What do you see from Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels when you look at him on film and what makes him tough to defend?


"Since he came in the league until now, Jayden's got a chance to be one of the better quarterbacks in this league without a doubt. If you take away the running element of him, just how he plays in the pocket is so natural with how accurate he is, how strong his arm is, how poised he is going through a progression, how fearless he is hanging in there and taking a hit, keeping his eyes down the field. When you take that out, how scary he is just running the ball. He's got the speed and the coordination to win games only with his legs, which means you want to keep him in the pocket and not let him out because he can beat you with his legs. However, he's a very scary quarterback in the pocket just playing the position. So, he's got all the tools to be as good as there is."

Can you speak more on S Malik Mustapha and the impact he's made in the last couple of games? You've seen him make one big play after the other. Can you just speak to how he's been playing?

"Malik's been great. I've been talking about coming back from the injury Australia week and not getting as many reps as he'd want, but he was still making an impact when he'd get in there for the last few weeks and then finally get in every rep with Sigle out. He just had more opportunities to do more of what he's doing and I think he showed up all over the field and that's why he was one of our MVPs of the game."

What are the things a quarterback has to do well in the low red zone to be one of the better quarterbacks in that area of the field?

"There's so many different ways that people could do it. They need to make sure your team gets in the end zone in order to be good. There's lots of ways to do that. When you can sit in a pocket and just pick defenses apart, but everything is a lot tighter in there so there's a lot of times people aren't going to be open in rhythm. So, if you have the skill set to just dissect defenses because you're a good pocket passer and you have the skill set to get out of the pocket when it's not there or the pass rush is there, to me is what makes people consistently good in that area."


Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn's obviously under some heat after the way the game ended last week. Obviously, you guys are close. Do you reach out to him? I know you're not too into reaching out to guys during the season. And also, what did you learn about leadership and connecting with players from him during your time in Atlanta?

"I'm very grateful for the time I got with Dan. I learned so much from him. I'd say before I got there, I was so consumed with X's and O's and always trying to find the right answer, which I still am, but I learned such other attributes from Dan. I remember certain team meetings we'd have where he's talking about the ball or we're just doing random things that don't have much to do with X's and O's and how frustrated I'd be at first, like, 'Holy crap, I'm running out of time. I have a lot of important stuff to cover.' Really stressed out. Then just seeing Dan's style and realizing I'll have time to do that, but realizing how important it is to constantly have people together talking about things other than just the X's and O's. Where it comes to tackling, comes to, he'd always call it the brotherhood, to guys just the way they played down-in and down-out. I think that's what you see with Dan on every team. That's something that I've really learned from him, that the more you talk about it, the more you show it, the more you can get your guys to play to a certain style. He made me a much better coach that way, being able to add that importance to stuff that I didn't realize. I knew it was important, but I didn't realize how much you could gain with it like you can in X's and O's."

When you signed Mike Evans, I'm sure you guys envisioned him having this sort of a connection with QB Brock Purdy, but has it surprised you at all how good it's been this fast?

"Yeah, a little bit. I mean, yes and no. Mike has been so obviously that good to anybody who watches him and especially to me watching him over the years. He's always been right there as the best and some people can match with him, but he's just such a first-ballot Hall of Famer. To get him here, just things that we weren't used to doing as much not having a guy like him. I remember always telling Brock and stuff like, 'Hey, there's times you're just going to sit there and wait and Mike will get it done. You don't need to progress even if your feet tell you to. If the coverage doesn't go there, you just wait and give him time because he'll come down with it.' I remember saying to him a ton like, 'This can be really important that you two have a lot of one-on-one. You guys do that stuff a lot because that's just about you guys talking to each other.' Each one's going to be different. It's not like coach talk and telling you, 'Hey, it's going to be at this yard line or this hitch.' It's stuff you guys have just got to get used to each other. I remember going up to Brock in the middle of Australia. I was like, 'Hey, all that stuff I asked you to work with Mike, are you guys there yet? Are you good?' I did that jokingly because I knew Mike hadn't had any reps in like two weeks and Brock got all stressed. He's like, 'Well, I haven't got to yet.' And I was like, 'I'm just joking, dude.' I was like, like, 'We've ran out of time. We'll see how it goes this week.' That fade they threw in Australia that they scored on, I think we had done that full speed once live and that's just a different drop and different stuff that we hadn't done. So those guys didn't get a ton of reps out of it, but it just shows how natural Mike is, how natural Brock is, and that it seems like they've been working on that stuff for a long time."

For somebody that has to be concerned about everything, what does it do for your confidence to have a punter elevate his game like P Corliss Waitman did?


"It's huge. I'm almost as excited talking about our punter as you are asking that question because I don't get it much. Actually, I apologized to him because he came in the locker room two weeks ago with a hoodie on and I couldn't see the back of him and I thought it was [WR] Malik [Turner] who we had just signed who hadn't been here for a few weeks. I went up to him to tell Malik welcome back and then Corliss turned around and just stunned me. I'm like, 'You're not Malik.' I just froze and walked away. I turned around, came right back and I could hear Weeks saying, 'Man, he doesn't even know who you are.' And I was like, 'Corliss, I know exactly who you are. I just froze. I thought you were Malik.' And then I told Weeks, 'Don't worry, I thought he was Purdy.' So, it evened out (laughter)."

Is that going to be a tradition now? Are you going to do that every week?

"Well, he's been unbelievable those two weeks in a row, so I'm calling him Malik for the rest of the year."

Take notes from Evans on checking the names on the back of the jersey.

"Yeah, exactly. I need to do that. But because I worry about everything, like you said, names are the last on my list."

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