As Kyle Shanahan prepared for the first day of the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine, he quickly came to one conclusion:
Thank goodness the players will be wearing numbers, because he has no idea who most of these guys are.
“The combine is where we start this process,” the new 49ers coach said of draft-class evaluations. “I usually am about a week ahead in tape with college guys than I am right now.”
Shanahan, hired Feb. 6 to replace Chip Kelly as 49ers coach, labeled his first four weeks on the job a “whirlwind.”
Priority has been evaluating the talent that contributed to a 2-14 record last season, the second-worst in the league.
“We started way behind,” admitted Shanahan, the former Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator who couldn’t be hired until after the Super Bowl. “It took us a while to get our staff together. Feel pretty good about that now. And we spent the last few weeks just studying our own personnel. So feel good with everyone we’ve got on tape.”
One player it appears Shanahan wasted his time studying was quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started 58 of the 49ers’ 80 games the last five seasons. Kaepernick’s agent informed all 32 NFL teams on the eve of the Combine that his client will opt out of his $16.9 million deal with the 49ers for the 2017 season and become a free agent.
The disclosure came less than a week after new 49ers general manager John Lynch had a meeting with Kaepernick and seemed encouraged about the prospects of having the veteran back in some capacity.
All of a sudden, that draft class of quarterbacks became a little more important to Shanahan.
“We don’t have anybody on our roster,” he noted of his current quarterback situation. “I’ve thrown (all available quarterbacks) into the category of everybody else who’s free agents and possibilities going into the draft. So those are the guys we’re comparing.”
The good news with inheriting the team with the second-worst record is you get the second-best pick. And that’s what makes Shanahan’s pending observations at the Combine so important.
Asked if he came to the Indianapolis with any sort of quarterback rankings, Shanahan assured he hadn’t.
“I’m really not there yet,” he insisted.
Shanahan explained there’ll be more to evaluating next season’s rookie quarterbacks than how they measure out at the Combine.
North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky might be the tallest, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson the fastest and Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer the best combination of the two when all the poking and prodding is done in Indianapolis. But Shanahan insisted that’s not necessarily going to convince the 49ers to invest the No. 2 pick in the draft on any of them.
“The tape’s by far the most important (thing),” he said. “If you don’t like what you see on the tape, then nothing else matters. So it’s a little backward because we’re coming to Indy first. I get to know the guys a little bit better first. I wish I could do it differently, but there’s just not enough time.”
–The 49ers currently own 10 slots, including No. 2 overall, in the seven-round draft.
They also will pick 34th, 66th, 109th, 143rd (compensatory pick), 146th, 161st (acquired from Washington), 188th, 202nd (acquired from Denver) and 219th (acquired from Cleveland).
–Shanahan has recruited an almost entirely new staff of 49ers assistants for the 2017 season.
Shanahan will serve as his own offensive coordinator. His defensive coordinator will be Robert Saleh, who coached linebackers for the Jacksonville Jaguars the past three seasons.
Also signed as offensive assistants were: Rich Scangarello (quarterbacks), Bobby Turner (running backs), Mike McDaniel (run game specialist), Jon Embree (assistant head coach/tight ends), Mike LaFleur (wide receivers), John Benton (offensive line), Adam Stenavich (offensive line assistant), Taylor Embree (offensive quality control) and T.C. McCartney (offensive assistant).
Jeff Hafley, who was Chip Kelly’s defensive backs coach last season, has been retained, as has Jason Tarver, who has a new title (senior defensive assistant) after having coached the outside linebackers last year.
Added as defensive assistants were: Jeff Zgonina (defensive line), Vince Oghobaase (defensive line assistant), Johnny Holland (linebackers), Daniel Bullocks (defensive backs assistant), DeMeco Ryans (defensive quality control) and Bobby Slowik (defensive quality control).
Richard Hightower, who served as a special teams assistant last season, has been promoted to special teams coordinator. His assistant will be Stan Kwan.
Also named to Shanahan’s staff were: Ray Wright (strength and condition coordinator), Michael Clay (strength and conditioning assistant), Marquis Johnson (strength and conditioning assistant), Dustin Perry (strength and conditioning assistant) and Nick Kray (administrative assistant to the head coach).
Clay was a special teams assistant last season.
–Having inherited first-round picks Arik Armstead and DeForest Buckner on the flanks, the 49ers’ new decision-makers wasted no time solidifying the middle of the defensive line with the signing of free-agent defensive tackle Earl Mitchell.
“As soon as he hit the open market, he became a priority for us to sign,” 49ers general manager John Lynch insisted of the 6-foot-3, 310-pounder who played for Miami last season.
A seven-year veteran, Mitchell has made 38 career starts for the Houston Texans and Dolphins.
The 49ers also announced the signing of two other free agents in February: wide receiver DeAndre Carter and corner K’Waun Williams.
Carter was in training camp with the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots the last two seasons. Williams played 26 games for the Cleveland Browns after initially signing with them in 2014.
The 49ers’ new regime also tendered one-year contracts to nose tackle Mike Purcell and inside linebacker Carl Bradford, making them exclusive-rights free agents.
Purcell made five starts for the 49ers last season. Bradford, claimed off waivers from the Green Bay Packers in December, appeared in two games.