New San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has been on the job for less than two weeks. But he knows perfectly well that this entire process started incredibly late after his former Atlanta Falcons team participated in Super Bowl LI earlier this month.
As a way to make up for lost time, Shanahan has already started the process of figuring out what do at the all-important quarterback position. At his introductory press conference, it was noted that the 49ers’ new brass, Shanahan and general manager John Lynch included, would meet with Colin Kaepernick at some point soon (more on that here).
With Kaepernick likely to opt out of his contract, figuring out what to do with the embattled former Super Bowl quarterback has to be the first order of business for Shanahan.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the first-year 49ers head coach indicated on Friday that he has already spoken with Kaepernick.
Kyle Shanahan on @KNBR said he's talked (presumably on the phone) and texted with Colin Kaepernick, but no meeting yet,
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) February 17, 2017
While Kaepernick is expected to become a free agent next month, he did make it clear that he’s open to returning to the 49ers. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Shanahan’s presence on the team is a primary reason for this. After all, the former Falcons offensive coordinator oversaw Matt Ryan’s MVP performance this past season.
There’s surely some hurt feelings between Kaepernick and the 49ers’ organization, but he has a clean slate with both Shanahan and Lynch. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.