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Major Takeaways from Kyle Shanahan's Press Conference about Injuries

Shanahan spoke to the press Wednesday for the first time since Tarvarius Moore and Justin Skule suffered serious injuries during Monday's practice.
Major Takeaways from Kyle Shanahan's Press Conference about Injuries
Major Takeaways from Kyle Shanahan's Press Conference about Injuries

Kyle Shanahan spoke to the press Wednesday for the first time since Tarvarius Moore and Justin Skule suffered serious injuries during Monday's practice. 

Here are three major takeaways from what Shanahan said.

1. Shanahan has cancelled the rest of OTAs and all of mini-camp.

The 49ers were supposed to have three days of OTAs this week followed by three days of mini-camp next week. Instead, Shanahan has sent the players home early for summer vacation. He said the schedule change has nothing to do with injuries, but I'm skeptical, considering the changes came after the injuries, not before.

Cancelling the final two weeks of spring practices seems like an overreaction. Instead of sending players home early, coaches could have worked with them in class rooms. Could have installed the entire offense, defense and special teams. Could have watched tape of the 49ers first two opponents and their divisional rivals.

Missed opportunity.

2. Shanahan should have shut down Monday's practice after the first major injury.

When Tarvarius Moore ruptured his Achilles during warmups, that's when Shanahan should have ended practice for the day. That's when he should have sent everyone back to the class room or the weight room. Instead, Shanahan let practice continue, and then Skule tore his ACL.

Both injuries were preventable, but the second especially so. 

When asked about ending practice early, Shanahan said that would have been "weird," and that he'd only do that if a player broke his knee. So instead of cutting one practice short, he cancelled the next two weeks entirely.

Go figure.

3. Shanahan did not reassure fans about the 49ers' injury issues.

Fans know the 49ers have been among the most-injured teams in the league eight years in a row. Fans want to hear Shanahan say he has identified the root of the cause and is working to fix it.

Instead, he told fans that their is no pattern, no common thread, each injury is random and unpreventable and he will continue going about business as usual. He will make zero changes to his training camp regiment. He really said that.

Way to read the room, Kyle.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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