I’d ask about the 2021 rookie quarterback
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has been one of the most successful head coaches since the Super Bowl run in 2019. As with any organization, Shanahan has pressed the right buttons and had some hiccups.
The last time we heard from Shanahan was after the NFL Draft. In most media sessions, Shanahan isn’t providing any ground-breaking information. Let’s act as if you had a 1-on-1 interview with Shanahan and were allowed to ask him one question. What would that be? That’s the question of the day.
What question would you ask Kyle Shanahan right now?
My answer: There are 100s of questions likely running through your mind. Some might be scheme-related, while others personnel-related. I’d consider leaning into his ego by asking if Shanahan felt he “deserved” a head coaching job prior to the 49ers.
I’m going with Captain Hindsight. I’d ask Kyle, “If you had to do it all over again, would you have started Trey Lance right away and gone through the growing pains that come with playing a rookie quarterback?”
Lance came in during the first game of the season as a rookie against the Detroit Lions in a red zone series and ended up throwing a touchdown. However, that would be the last we’d see of Lance in any “packages” that season.
My question could be centered on teams in today’s NFL going through those same struggles and seeing quarterbacks emerge, mainly for the better, from those situations. San Francisco was unwilling to sacrifice missing the playoffs in favor of Lance — who proved he wasn’t ready at various points.
After all these years, I have a hard time believing those rosters wouldn’t have made the playoffs, regardless of who was under center. There was that much talent on the roster, and it’s not as if Jimmy G was the driving force for the offense’s success. If anything, the opposite was true, and the passing game was limited with a lower ceiling.
In an ideal scenario, early season struggles would have slowly but surely progressed as the season went along, and Trey would have gained enough confidence that he’d be competitive come playoff time and a team leader who found his voice in Year 2.
Brock Purdy makes this hypothetical irrelevant, as that’s who he became. Still, Shanahan was responsible for sacrificing an excessive amount of draft capital for a perceived franchise quarterback for which he never truly had a plan. So, I’d ask him why that was.
What would you ask Shanahan? Scroll down below to the comments and let us know.