Kyle Shanahan and Kirk Cousins will be forever linked. As the 49ers prepare face Cousins on Monday night, the questions about their time together expectedly returned.
Shanahan provided a detailed answer when asked before 49ers practice on Thursday about his time coaching Cousins in Washington.
“I mean, he just came in in a such a weird situation. We traded up, we got another quarterback with the second pick in the Draft. It was a good story that, I remember we had the sixth pick and I knew if we were going at six, my dad wanted to take Tannehill. I was hoping to get Kirk in the second round and go a different direction and we traded up to two and went with [former NFL QB] Robert [Griffin III] and I remember him telling me that, my dad really liked Russell Wilson and he said, ‘We're going to take Russell Wilson in the fourth and get two quarterbacks in there that year.’ And then we got to the fourth and Russell was gone, and I remember him coming to my room. He was like, ‘Hey, do you still want your guy Kirk?’ I was like, ‘I don't know about that dad, we've gone another direction.’ He was like, ‘No, the plan was we’re going to take two, we're still taking two.’ Then we ended up taking Kirk, which I was pumped about because that's who I wanted originally. Then to be able to get both of them. I know it was a weird situation for Kirk to go into a place where you know you're not going to have that opportunity, but he just kind of sat there and soaked everything in and learned a lot. It was a fun two years just working with him every day. But, didn’t get to coach him much in games, I think we had three games with him. But he was awesome in the office.”
One can't help but wonder what would have been had the 49ers not traded for Jimmy Garoppolo at the 2017 deadline and signed Cousins as a free-agent during the spring of 2018.
The 49ers made a Super Bowl and two NFC Championship games with Garoppolo and Brock Purdy at QB while drafting and subsequently trading Trey Lance.
Cousins is in his sixth season with the Vikings and is set to be a free-agent in March of 2024.