All signs are pointing to Kyle Shanahan to be the next head coach of the 49ers. With Josh McDaniels and Tom Cable taking themselves out of the running, Shanahan – the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons – is reported to be the 49ers’ target.
And, certainly, Shanahan has done plenty in his NFL coaching career to merit the attention.
This year’s Falcons offense is among the most effective in the NFL and veteran quarterback Matt Ryan is having his best year. Ryan has set career bests in completion percentage, touchdown passes, interception rate and yardage. Meanwhile, the Falcons running game is equally effective, the fifth best in the NFL in 2016.
One of the reasons is Shanahan’s creativity. In Atlanta, Shanahan hasn’t been afraid to use outside-the-box plays. According to Mark Bradley, a longtime columnist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Shanahan this year has used his top two running backs in multiple formations and melded them into varied running-receiving roles, with shovel passes and inside handoffs from wingback positions. Sometimes, the plays don’t work. At others, the Falcons gain huge chunks of yardage. Between them, running backs Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman caught 85 passes for more than 1,000 yards, while combining to rush for nearly 1,600.
Because the 49ers go into 2017 with a thin roster after a 2-14 season, San Francisco will need all the creativity it can get to enliven a dull offense and restore some fan interest.
Plus, it’s likely the 49ers will have a new starting quarterback in 2017 – either through the draft, with the No. 2 overall pick, or free agency – and Shanahan has shown in multiple stops in the league he can aid in the development and efficiency of quarterbacks, whether it’s Matt Schaub in Houston, Kirk Cousins in Washington or Ryan in Atlanta.
No doubt, there will be growing pains if Shanahan comes on board. He’ll bring new systems and ways of communicating. In his first season in Atlanta, he and Ryan often weren’t on the same page, according to multiple reports. He threw 16 interceptions, nine more than this season, as the Falcons went 8-8.
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But this year, Shanahan’s impact has been huge, said Ryan, and the Falcons offense flourished.
“I think both of us are much further along in terms of myself, understanding the system, understanding what Kyle expects from our position (and) how to get in and out of plays,” Ryan said this season. “I think we’re way further along at this point than we were (in 2015).”
Then again, Chip Kelly also was an innovator, and the 49ers offense -- with no playmakers -- was horribly overmatched in many games. While Shanahan appears headed for San Francisco, he'll need to be matched with a new GM to upgrade this roster or he could suffer the same fate as Kelly.
