San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan continues his recovery from a serious car accident on July 14. Shanahan has been a limited participant in training camp as he is being treated under concussion protocol.
Shanahan led the 49ers to a 12-5 record in 2025, making the postseason for a fourth time in the last five years. Amid Shanahan’s recovery, NFL analyst John Middlekauff outlined his importance to the 49ers.
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During a conversation with Colin Cowherd on “The Volume Sports,” Middlekauff compared Shanahan’s impact to NBA icons LeBron James and Steph Curry.
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“Kyle Shanahan is the most important guy in the organization,” he said. “He is the equivalent of like an NBA star. He’s that important. If you have Nikola Jokić, your floor is still pretty high or LeBron James in his prime or Steph Curry. That’s what Kyle is. It’s rare and doesn’t really exist in the NFL.”
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49ers’ assistant coach Chris Foerster is running practice in Shanahan’s absence as the veteran coach remains a limited participant during training camp.
San Francisco general manager John Lynch shred update on Kyle Shanahan’s recovery
49ers general manager John Lynch revealed that Kyle Shanahan addressed the team for the first time since his injury on Saturday morning.
“He’s doing better, he’s doing better,” Lynch said. “He addressed the team for the first time this morning as a whole. And they were excited. He got a nice welcome. And it was good to have him up there.”
However, Lynch didn’t provide a potential return timeline for Shanahan, sharing that the team is taking a “phased approach” with his concussion.
“We’ll continue to do, kind of like, a phased approach,” Lynch said. “That was one threshold. He wanted to get up there. He was cleared to do so. So we’ll see where it goes from there. He’s doing well, though.”
Edited by Chaitanya Prakash