Shanahan rules out stopgap QB
Nine more assistants confirmed, including Saleh as ’D coordinator
SANTA CLARA — Kyle Shanahan’s coaching staff is nearly complete, and soon his full attention can turn to identifying the players those assistants will instruct, most notably at quarterback.
Shanahan revealed Friday he is not looking for a stopgap quarterback.
“When you make a decision on a quarterback, you don’t want that to just be a short-term fix,” Shanahan said on KNBR-680. “You want to make a commitment to somebody.
“In order to do that, you’d better make sure you’re on the same page with everyone else, and you put the time in, (and) you talk to people who’ve been with these guys.”
Shanahan said he’s been staying late at work to watch film not just by himself but with general manager John Lynch and fellow personnel staff members Adam Peters and Martin Mayhew.
“In order to feel good about a quarterback, I need to spend a lot of time on them,” Shanahan said. “It’s not always the first time you watch them. You might come back the next day, see the same stuff and feel a little different . ... It’s too important a decision to just make an impulsive move.”
Shanahan has been studying potential options through free agency, trades, the draft and/or retaining players such as incumbent starter Colin Kaepernick, with whom he has exchanged text messages but has yet to meet.
Kaepernick can opt out of his contract March 2-7, while Shanahan and team officials are at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. The 49ers can also release him to avoid his $14.5 million base salary. Last season’s other three quarterbacks — Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder and Thad Lewis — are pending free agents.
Nine more assistants were confirmed Friday, including defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, a key pair of hires reported earlier in the week.
“Robert Saleh is as smart as anyone I’ve been around. He studies everything,” Shanahan said. “He knows a lot of different systems. But he knows the true Seattle/Atlanta/Jacksonville system inside and out, as much as anyone I’ve been with.”
The 49ers’ last system dissolved into the most generous unit in franchise history, allowing its most points, touchdowns and rushing yards. The new scheme typically will feature four down linemen and three linebackers, rather than vice versa, although Shanahan cautioned about reading too much into that.
“All that is such semantics, to tell you the truth,” he said. “Seattle has a linebacker on the ball every single play. So does Atlanta. And that’s five guys on the line of scrimmage. So, whether you call it a 4-3 or a 3-4 — for the most part we call it a 4-3.”
Saleh became an expert in that scheme while working as a defensive assistant at Seattle (2011-13) and Jacksonville (2014-16) after serving on Houston’s staff, where Shanahan also was an assistant from 2006-09.
“You want violent people,” Shanahan said of his ideal defenders. “You want to run and hit people to make that field smaller for everybody, especially the receivers. That starts with the safeties and corners being able to hit. It’s not just about hitting. You’ve got to be able to cover. You’ve got to be smart. You’re trying to get everything.”
The 49ers confirmed the retention of Jason Tarver as a senior defensive assistant and Jeff Hafley as defensive backs coach. Also working under Saleh, a first-time coordinator, will be Jeff Zgonina (defensive line), Johnny Holland (linebackers) and Bobby Slowik (quality control).
Finding an offensive line coach remains Shanahan’s last major move to his staff. That job could go to longtime NFL assistant John Benton, who the Denver Broncos hired as their assistant offensive line coach last month but are allowing to interview with the 49ers, as first reported by the Sacramento Bee.
Benton was Houston’s offensive line coach from 2006-13 — overlapping with Shanahan — before moving on to Miami from 2014-15. He was Jacksonville’s assistant offensive line coach last season.