True or False: 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan is a Top 5 Head Coach in the NFL

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]All right. I'm going to ask you about Kyle.

[00:00:02]Would you say that Kyle definitely is a top-five play-caller in the NFL on offense? I think play-caller, yes. Like, offensive creator, offensive play-caller, I think he is.

[00:00:17]My issue with Kyle is more of the like head coaching things. Like, like, you know, like the passion, right? We always have to bring in a juice guy now. I think they realized that, right? They got Raheem, they got Solly back. Like, I think that's something your head coach should be a big part of. Um and I think Kyle gets nervous in the Super Bowl. That's rough.

[00:00:42]I think he's overrated as a play-caller, too, though. I feel like he he he deserves all the credit in the world for his system because I think even McVay is essentially using his system, although it's his dad's system. But, I think Kyle was the first one to sort of update it for the modern NFL back in, you know, 15 years ago when he was in Washington with the motions and stuff. So, I do think Kyle gets a ton of credit for this system, which is the most popular system, the most effective system, and, you know, look at all of his subordinates who have gone on to have success. Even Belichick couldn't say stuff like that. That's very Washian.

[00:01:15]So, he gets credit for that. But, in terms of play-calling, I feel like he's been frustrating as a play-caller the last few years. Like, it's been Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian the last four years. Yeah. And before they traded for Christian, when they had Mike McDaniel, I think they were one of the more They were They were one of the most like unpredictable teams in the league.

[00:01:38]They would call that, you know, the gadget stuff for Deebo like right at the right time, every time. And I feel like they've they've lost a lot of that element in their offense, they've lost the yak element in their offense. A lot of their offense is, frankly, just Brock Purdy improvising or giving the ball to Christian and getting out the way, which I mean I don't know.

[00:01:59]Like is Kyle still a better play-caller like in 2026 than Ben Johnson or Liam Coen or Clint Kubiak?

[00:02:07]I don't know.

[00:02:09]He was a few years ago. I don't know if he still is.

[00:02:12]Yeah, I mean you see a lot of questionable things like a fourth and one handoff to a fullback that lose you games.

[00:02:21]Um Okay, I'll say this. I think when Kyle like when Kyle's coaching like at his best, right? Like a Bears game. Like when Kyle's like hit his groove, I don't think there's a better play-caller in the NFL. Like I think when Kyle has a defense figured out, like there's nothing you can do. I think he calls so many unique plays, motions, and stuff like that that there's genuinely nothing you can do.

[00:02:45]But I will say yes. I think Kyle does have more like hard counters than a lot of other play-callers. Like I've never seen someone so like Like look at what McVay did to McDonald's defense. Like obviously yes, he has Stafford and better receivers, but I mean I'm not even saying match McVay's like match his scoring. Just get a touchdown.

[00:03:09]Show me you can do something.

[00:03:10]>> And the whole like three tight end offense thing was so innovative. Like let's see you do that, Kyle. Like what are you trying to do out there? You just checked out there. It's 10 years of this, man. It's not fooling anyone anymore. You got to have something else.

[00:03:21]Where's the changeup? Yeah, like I will say that it seems like it's the opposite. Like when Kyle's figured someone out, like it's over. Like you are just getting worked. But when Kyle's figured out, it's the same thing. It's like oh, this feel Like it makes the game feel impossible. Like Spagnuolo has his number. McDonald has his number.

[00:03:40]Flores has his number. There's a few guys that you know that you know are just going to put him through the wringer that day. Schwartz.

[00:03:45]>> Yeah. Like and that's the thing is like it's real like I will say he did a great job against Schwartz this year. Like he just kind of said do the simple Do the Jimmy stuff." And it worked, but yeah, I agree. Like, I I am worried about the game against the Chiefs.

[00:04:00]Um I'm worried about our games against Seattle, cuz dude, I don't know like it genuinely feels like Mike McDonald has a headset. And like, he's like, "Oh, Kyle's calling this on first down." And then he calls it. He's like, "This is it on second down."

[00:04:14]>> To me, I feel like Kyle's a bit of a a gimmick coach in the sense that like he figured out the NFL's gimmicks and like use their rules against them. Like, he's like, "All right, well, if I put Y U check on the field, you're going to put your base defense on the field, which is worse at pass coverage, and so I'm going to pass on your base defense all game as opposed to passing on your nickel defense, and that's going to give me an advantage, and I'm going to do all these motions and stuff, and that's going to confuse your defense." And it works against bad defenses, but against Seattle, it's like, "Well, we're never going to go to our base defense, so you could put Y U check on the field or not, doesn't matter. We're going to shut down your run game. We're going to take away your play action game by having our two safeties deep. So, we're going to take away all your little gimmicks and tricks, and you got to just actually beat us." And I feel like when you do that, like Kyle isn't so clever. Like, he's just good at exploiting bad coaches and bad defenses. Here are my prize picks for the 49ers 2026 season. Brock Purdy, 25 and 1/2 passing touchdowns, more or less.

[00:05:20]I'm going to say less. Christian McCaffrey, 974 and 1/2 rushing yards, more or less.

[00:05:28]I'm going to say less. Mike Evans, 924 and 1/2 receiving yards, more or less.

[00:05:34]Mm. That's a tough one. I'm going with less. Go to PrizePicks, use promo code HMA, play $5 and get 50 instantly in lineups. Again, that's code HMA.

[00:05:46]PrizePicks, it's good to be right. And like I will say like there were a lot of plays Brock left on the field. Like a lot of open receivers against Seattle where I'm like, how do we not throw this football?

[00:05:57]Um but at some point you got to put that on Kyle, too, man. Like move off of him.

[00:06:02]Like it's bench him. If he's like if he's costing you games, like bench him.

[00:06:07]>> seeing the field if he misreads. Yeah.

[00:06:10]>> we like some's got to give because, dude, McDonald straight-up owns him.

[00:06:15]Like I I don't know what else Yeah, does he own Kyle? Does he own Brock? Does he own both? I mean, it's good to know. I mean, dude, and that's the thing is like our two biggest like ass-whoopings have come at the hands of Mike McDonald. Like that Ravens game on Christmas and that playoff game were the same dude just like choke-slamming our offense. Like over It was like It literally that second game against uh Philly and then that or sorry, Philly, Seattle and then the Christmas game against Baltimore, it literally felt like there was nothing we could do. It was like every throw Brock makes is a is a pick. Every time we run the ball, we're getting a yard at best. Like Uh that's why it's like it genuinely felt like he had the headset and that's another thing I do agree with you on is I don't know for someone that offense flows so heavily through play action and like putting the ball on the ground, I don't know why Kyle doesn't invest so hard in offensive line. So, I feel like if he did, his offense would work flawlessly even with Deebo Samuel, Deebo Samuel, Deebo Samuel and Deebo Samuel. Like I mean, if you're a play-action offense, it seems like you don't need to have the best wide receivers in the world because what you're trying to do is to create openings for them with the play-fake.

[00:07:28]Yeah. You're not really asking them to just go in one-on-one. You're like, "No, we want you to like break over the middle into this void that I'm going to create with this play-fake because our running back is so good." Like that's what you're trying to do. So, shouldn't you have an offensive line and a running back that can really sell it?

[00:07:44]And like that's the thing, too, is like like Kyle's friendships, I think, really hurt him, right? Like like look at the Seahawks, right? Like Kenneth Walker just won Super Bowl MVP.

[00:07:54]He straight-up backpacked your offense, which I still think this is a mistake.

[00:07:58]But at least they're willing to say, "Listen, we could still do this. We're fine. Let's just let him go." Kyle would never is never going to let Christian go.

[00:08:06]And it's like and he's never letting Juice go for whatever weird reason. And he's probably going to keep George along no matter how poorly he plays this year.

[00:08:14]Like and that's the thing where it gets really hard. It's like, "Okay, but you need to know when to move away from your friends."

[00:08:22]Like you got to be like, "Okay, I need to give the ball more to Kaylin Black. Like he is faster. He is most likely a better runner than Christian right now. And we need to get this run game going."

[00:08:35]But I just That's what I'm saying, man. It's like Kaylin Black has the opportunity, but will Kyle actually give it to him and let him run the ball? He may have no choice though, right? Cuz if like Christian is going over here averaging 3.8 yards per carry again next year, which like why wouldn't he? Nothing else has changed. He hasn't gotten younger.

[00:08:53]There's going to be a lot of pressure to to to play the running back that you drafted so early when everyone else told you not to and you said, "No, no, no, trust me. We have a role for him."

[00:09:02]Yeah.

[00:09:04]It Right? I mean, I think he put the pressure on himself. Yeah, I agree. And I do think I will say I think since Christian McCaffrey has come to the 49ers, Kyle has become a worse play-caller.

[00:09:16]I think he was a much better play-caller when he didn't have that crutch to rely on. Like yes, I think that 2023 offense was phenomenal, but I think the system of 2019 was significantly better than the system of 2023. 2023 was just like get the ball to Christian McCaffrey.

[00:09:33]And again, I wonder if part of the reason he's become more predictable as a play-caller is because he doesn't have Mike McDaniel anymore. He doesn't have Clint Kubiak anymore. He had some really good play-callers on his staff, and I think again Kyle gets credit for the ultimate structure of the offense and the system, but play-calling is is different. You don't think Clay's good?

[00:09:57]I guess we'll find out.

[00:09:59]Wasn't he OC last year?

[00:10:01]He didn't call plays. Clint Kubiak called plays in in New Orleans, and then he called plays in Seattle before becoming a head coach. Clay Kubiak got a a head coaching interview with the Steelers in May and bombed it. I don't know.

[00:10:13]No, but that's what I'm saying. Like so like you know, the hindsight like McDaniel and Clint were good. Like how did we know they were good, but we don't know if Clay's good? Like that's kind of my question.

[00:10:24]>> It's true.

[00:10:25]Like I And that's what I think is like did they do a lot or did they learn a lot? And they kind of did what you did where they saw a lot of the holes and they're like this system's phenomenal if he does this and this and this more.

[00:10:38]>> to go do it this way over here. I'm going to go do it this way over here.

[00:10:41]Like look at Clint. It Last year looked like he took 2019's offense. He was like you're going to force it to your best receiver Emmanuel Sanders/George Kittle from 2019, and then we're going to two-back system like we did in 2019. No matter how good the first guy is in Kenneth Walker. We're just going to keep hammering fresh legs.

[00:11:02]Um So it's like and I think the same with McDaniel. Like he saw Kyle's system and I think McDaniel kind of went a little too far the speed side. He was like Kyle used a lot of size, but I want this with speed. And then he kind of went a little too crazy with it. But like I agree with you. I think they are great play-callers. I think Kyle maybe should trust these guys more. Like see what Clay sees and says. Like how do you think we should be improvising against my like McDonald? Like honestly, why wouldn't you ask him? Like he's obviously got you in a choke hold. Like, Clay, what do you see that I'm not seeing?" And Clay would probably be like, "Well, we should probably try out the jumbo package that was absolutely obliterating it."

[00:11:42]Issue is we don't have any tight ends.

[00:11:44]Joe Jacis says Brock's only going to get a Super Bowl if we luck into a generational wet clean X opponent like the Seahawks and Rams did. Here's the thing though. Everyone keeps saying like, "Well, it's not fair because the Niners had to face the Chiefs and the the Rams and Seahawks didn't." Yeah, but you know who the Rams and Seahawks did have to face?

[00:12:01]The Niners. Yeah.

[00:12:05]>> [laughter] >> Yeah.

[00:12:07]So guys, not fair. Yeah, well, you would you would have been in that position if you could have beaten the Seahawks or Rams. You didn't. It's your fault. It's 100% your fault. Too much sausage will you watch the NBA finals? Yeah, I will.

[00:12:17]I've been watching the I didn't watch the Eastern Conference finals. But I I'm watching the Western. Dude, the Knicks are insane right now. They're actually crazy.

[00:12:25]>> Brunson a top five player in the NBA?

[00:12:27]I think he is. I think he's cemented it.

[00:12:30]>> How else do you explain what they're doing? Bro, he is going And the crazy thing is their whole team is just It's like if one dude's not playing well, doesn't matter. The other four are great. Like they They've won 11 games in a row all by double digits.

[00:12:45]The narrative in history out here in the Bay is that Mike Brown was the genius behind the Warriors and that Stevie Steve Kerr was profiting off of his genius and now he's gone and the Warriors aren't good. I think Mike Brown is basically taking uh Thibodeau's system and just using it with a little bit more rest and they're just better rested.

[00:13:09]>> Is this Mike Brown's first year there? I think so, yeah, cuz I think last year was Thibodeau.

[00:13:14]Wolf guy says looking forward to the Cabo click being the future front office of [laughter] this team. Going to be them and all their friends. Man, he's going to be a lifetime member of this organization, isn't he?

[00:13:23]>> I think he will. I I George will as well.

[00:13:28]I could totally see Juice becoming GM.

[00:13:31]Oh my god, that's what they're going to do next year. He's going to retire, John's gone, and then Juice is going to take over.

[00:13:38]He's Harvard educated.

[00:13:42]>> [music]