Things got a bit spicy at the end of Kyle Shanahan’s press conference (11:48 mark on YouTube) Wednesday, as the 49ers coach responded to questions about Jimmy Garoppolo’s eyebrow-raising comments about San Francisco’s quarterback situation.
Earlier this week, Jimmy G told Sports Illustrated’s Robin Lundberg that the Niners have dealt with a lot of “weird” quarterback situations over the past few years, agreeing that it has been something of a “messy” ordeal.
It sounds like Shanahan heard those comments loud and clear. In an exchange with veteran Bay Area sports journalists Tim Kawakami of The Athletic and Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, Shanahan couldn’t help but defend the 49ers position in the Jimmy G and Trey Lance sagas that have unfolded since 2017.
“I try not to pay attention to outside of here,” Shanahan said. “I try to deal with the people in here that I have to deal with. I have felt very good about that. I did see Trey. I was actually watching him while I was eating lunch with his press conference in Dallas (after his trade). Trey is as real as it gets. That’s how he talks everyday and that’s how he is in here. It was cool to see him handle that the right way. He did seem genuinely kinda happy and feel like he’s in a better position to move on and do better there.”
Then Kawakami asked Shanahan if the Niners feel like the quarterback position is done with an “era of changing” under Shanahan’s regime. The coach used that question to lay out his case for the Niners and how they handled Garoppolo’s tenure with the team.
“The era of changing is … when we got here, we waited 10 weeks to trade for a quarterback who played five games and then we made him the highest-paid quarterback of all-time, at the time,” Shanahan said. “Then he played two of the next five years. He did really good in those two years. Those injuries those other three years were legit, they were rough on him, rough on us. And then we made a move to go to a younger quarterback, and that’s what we did. We thought he’d be ready in two years but he wasn’t. Now we have a different younger quarterback. That’s the situation.”
Shanahan is known to rub some folks the wrong way with his brash confidence, something he’s reportedly carried since he first broke into the league as a coach while following his father’s footsteps. He probably didn’t like to be called out like that by Jimmy G, who also recently admitted that 2021 was “real awkward” after the team traded up to get Lance to be his successor.
It seems like Shanahan took a couple of snipes with Garoppolo, noting the five-year, $137.5 million contract Jimmy G signed in 2017, along with his propensity to get hurt. Garoppolo suffered serious injuries in 2018 (ACL), 2020 (ankle) and 2022 (foot/ankle) but led the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2019 and the NFC title game in 2021.
“Jimmy – the comments are the comments,” Shanahan said. “I’m not really concerned about his comments.”
His actions said otherwise.
At that point, Maiocco asked Shanahan if he agreed with Garoppolo’s assessment that the 49ers QB situations have been “weird” over the years. Shanahan bristled at the question and fired back with one of his own. Here’s the full exchange:
SHANAHAN: Yeah, I think anytime you trade up to the third pick in the draft and it doesn’t work out, it’s a weird situation. But that is the situation. It’s what happened. I don’t think it’s that weird. It’s unusual that it doesn’t work out. I wouldn’t think that’s weird. I think it’s unusual. What do you think?
MAIOCCO: Well the fact he said goodbye after that one season’s over (in 2021). All the things that happened with him physically, he comes back and on the side field and ends up re-signing and starting (in 2022). It’s been unique.
SHANAHAN: Do you remember why that happened?
MAIOCCO: I remember why everything happened, I’m just saying it’s been a unique situation.
SHANAHAN: (Points at Maiocco and smiles) I agree it’s been unique.
End scene.
Judging from the reaction from Shanahan, Jimmy G definitely touched a nerve on the coach.
So long as Brock Purdy can keep the 49ers in the hunt for the Super Bowl, it won’t matter in the end. But it seems the Garoppolo-Lance-49ers chatter will continue for the near future, whether Shanahan likes it or not.
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