Social media had some fun with San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who admitted he doesn’t watch college prospects until February. While the personnel and scouts are traveling and watching players year-round, Shanahan is, and you might want to sit down for this, coaching.
He explained his process on the Rich Eisen Show:
That’s not surprising. College football is played on Saturday. That’s either a travel day or the 49ers have a final walkthrough plus a meeting at night. Their focus is on their job and the game taking place the next day.
Kyle Shanahan saying he watches highlight tapes is where the internet brought out its jokes:
Naturally, some ran with that and thought Shanahan was typing in a name on YouTube, and that’s how he’s making decisions to run an NFL team.
If we’re being rational, and this isn’t even defending the 49ers draft or Shanahan, just using logic, the coaching staff is putting together clips of NFL-worthy plays that are probably reels of three to five minutes. They aren’t highlights as much as they are plays that are transferable to what the 49ers do.
The premise makes sense. If a player doesn’t jump off the screen or impress you in a 30-to-50-play cut-up, he’s probably underwhelming overall.
Shanahan clearly watched the college football playoffs. Most of their draft picks were on playoff teams — at least the first few were. It was another draft where the 49ers weren’t thinking upside-down; they were thinking about prospects who have been in college for 5 years, who played, and are NFL-ready. That’s been a theme since 2024.
Did you have any issues with Shanahan’s scouting process? Scroll down and let us know in the comments.
