I like to not think Kyle Shanahan is an arrogant person with a huge ego. I don’t want to make the assumption he is without knowing him. However, the thought is out there that he can be so I’m not sure.
However, I think we will get our answer for that and other things about Shanahan after the name of the player the 49ers take at 3 is called. This pick will give us a big glimpse into the kind of person Shanahan very well could be.
Let’s not waste time. I’ll say it. If Kyle Shanahan selects Alabama QB Mac Jones at 3, it’ll be the most arrogant draft pick in the history of the league. That’s not hyperbole. Let me explain.
If he drafts Jones, who has the same physical limitations as Jimmy Garoppolo, he’s pretty much saying he still wants to be the one and only reason the offense works. It’ll show that he essentially wants to quarterback the offense from the sidelines and that his system is what makes it work, not the quarterback. And spending three first rounders and a third rounder to try to prove that point is even more arrogant than it would be if he just spent a natural 3rd overall pick on doing that. Still would be arrogant then. Trading a ton of do it would be arrogance to a whole new level.
The other part of that is that we don’t even have to think about who everyone wants them to draft. The league would breathe a sigh of joint relief if one of the best offensive minds in the sport passed on Fields or Lance that can elevate his offense to a whole dimension in favor of just trying to show he can win a certain way. Bet some people would laugh too. The minute he does that is essentially the time he, figuratively speaking, stands on top of the table in front of everyone else in the league and says he thinks he’s smarter than all of them and he’ll prove it. That would be the most arrogant and egotistical thing I can think of doing in this league. To make this move, you’d have to back it up by being more right about a move than anyone has ever been right about a move before. That guy would have to be a Hall of Famer with many Super Bowls to justify it. He can’t just be as good as Cousins or Ryan to be right. It’d have to be very right. A ton of pressure on everyone involved.
The other thing is that the narrative that he only wants a certain type of quarterback would be true. People will think he never escaped the Cousins thing and eventually grew desperate enough to pay a premium to get his version since he couldn’t get the actual guy. It would paint Shanahan in a poor light for a guy who is widely seen as an innovator on offense that has repeatedly said in the last year his evaluations on QBs changed. All those things would be seen as a total lie and his trust level goes way down at that point as well. And an offensive genius never being able to escape his past over sentimental feelings for a guy he coached for just a tiny bit of time almost a decade ago would be so sad. Like having a chance to date a model but still having feelings for a girl you liked as a freshman in college that you kinda dated for six months but nothing too serious. It would just be awful for Shanahan and his player evaluation skills will come into serious question as well. And he would seen as a guy who will always be the same way. Despite not being even 50, he would be seen as a football dinosaur.
Shanahan has a big chance to totally erase so many narratives and thoughts about him. But he could just as easily confirm them all to be true. The pick will be made within 10 minutes and the announcement will only be 5 seconds or so, but that little amount of time will define Shanahan the rest of his career.
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