How the 49ers' Run Game Changes With Mike McDaniel Gone

Mike McDaniel played a heavy hand in the 49ers' run game for years, but Kyle Shanahan doesn't see too much of a change with him gone.

Losing key players in free agency stings for a team.

But what gets overlooked often is losing certain coaches. When it comes to the San Francisco 49ers, one key departure from the coaching staff is former offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel. 

Kyle Shanahan has had McDaniel as his right-hand man when it came to the running game. That was McDaniel's "baby" in the offense. It wouldn't surprise me if using Deebo Samuel in his role wasn't McDaniel's idea in the first place. Losing him is something I believe will sting the 49ers once the season rolls along. 

However, Shanahan doesn't envision much change in the run game process. At his press conference on Tuesday following Day 2 of OTAs, Shanahan was asked how the process with the run game changes with McDaniel gone.

“Not much. Him and Chris [Foerster] would work together most of the time and me and Bobby [Slowik] worked together most of the time in the pass game and then we'd always meet in the middle and change stuff up as a group. We just have one less guy there, so there's certain parts that I'll always miss with Mike. Mike had been around me for a long time. There was lots of stuff that he could do for me, which was awesome. It kind of sucks not having him now because sometimes I have to do it and not always do I want to. 

"And you ask someone else to do it and they do a great job, but then you realize, oh he wasn't here seven years ago when we learned not to do it because of that or 12 years ago when we did it. So there's a process with that stuff. But that's what's good for the offseason. That's what's good for OTA, so you can ask guys to do stuff, you expect it a certain way and then you come in and you learn what that guy doesn't know and he learns what you want. And hopefully you get that stuff right for the season, so it’s smooth throughout the year.” 

Doesn't sound like it is going to be a crazy adjustment to McDaniel being gone. And Shanahan is right on all accounts. Now until the regular season is the time to figure out the right process with new coaches. This is the learning period and it is better to get all of that sorted out within the next few months than to do it when the season is actually here. 

I just have some reservations because the 49ers' offense looked stalled for the first half of last season. A factor that I believe played a part in it is that Shanahan didn't have his left-hand man Mike LaFleur. Losing a coach who Shanahan has worked with for the vast majority of his career definitely had to have made it a feeling out process for Shanahan. 

And just as he cited, Shanahan has to do a job that he relied on another coach for. I think there's going to be a bit of struggle at some stretch in the season where McDaniel's departure will be felt just like with LaFleur. Perhaps Shanahan will be able to get over that hump after going through this similar situation already.