49ers' Kyle Shanahan Reveals His Scouting Process for the Draft

So this is how Kyle Shanahan familiarizes himself with draft prospects.

Dec 22, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan leaves the field after the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Ever wonder how the San Francisco 49ers create their list of prospects they like for the NFL draft?

Well, you're in luck. While appearing on The Rich Eisen Show, Kyle Shanahan pulled the curtain back to reveal what his scouting process is like for the draft.

"I pick up that tape for the first time in February," Shanahan said. "You've got to depend on a lot of other people. One way we do it here is we give all the position coaches a responsibility to make highlight tapes on everybody. I tell them they got to watch a lot of game tape to make those highlight tapes. Then I study their highlight tapes so I can study 200 people.

"I always tell them if I don't like their highlight tape, then I'm not going to watch anything after. Those guys have got to put a lot of work into their highlight tape because if they can't impress you with that, I always say, what's the point of watching more? Which I would love to watch more, but that's the way you can get it done in a two-month time frame."

What to make of Shanahan's scouting

Feb 8, 2026; Santa Clara, CA, USA; NBC Sports analyst Kyle Shanahan prior to the New England Patriots game against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Now, it may seem crazy that Shanahan is putting a thumbs up or down on a prospect based solely on highlight tapes. He's no better than a fan at that point.

However, the highlight tapes being put together from his position coaches aren't the same as the ones you'll pull up on YouTube or anywhere else.

Plus, Shanahan's position coaches know what he likes, so they can curtail the tape to that. And as Shanahan said, he only gets two months to really dig into the scouting process.

That's not a lot of time, especially when you consider the 49ers needed to conduct a defensive coordinator search for two weeks after the regular season. Not to mention free agency.

There's nothing significantly flawed about how Shanahan approaches the NFL draft. The only flaw he has, which leads the 49ers to reach, is when Shanahan finds a player he likes after the highlights.

"Sometimes you watch people, you fall in love with them, and it just breaks your heart because the more you watch them, you realize this guy's way too good. There's no chance we're going to be able to get this guy."

He's prone to falling in love with a player, which is what happened with receiver De'Zhaun Stribling and running back Kaelon Black. Rather than let them fall to better align with their value, the 49ers reached for them.

Stribling might be the only sensible reach since Shanahan swears he would've gone around 10 picks later than where they took him. But Black is the rough sell, no matter how you slice it.

Once Shanahan locks onto a player, he doesn't look back.