Kyle Shanahan ‘Anxious’ to get the Season Underway

Going into Week 1 of an NFL season, it’s expected to feel butterflies in your stomach or a bit of nerves walking out onto the field for the first time.

Not 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.

He’s more anxious to get the 2022 season underway than anyone in the Bay Area organization.

“It all feel the same,” Shanahan stated Friday after practice.” Everyone’s anxious before the first game just wanted to get here, can’t get here fast enough.”

A coach driven by success, he knows that any great playoff team is made in the regular season, taking each of the 17-allocated games with the upmost detail.

“But there’s nothing to talk about until you play the game. You’re only allowed 17 of them, unless you earn more. So can’t wait to get to this first one, get this year going and first one is always fun. But it’s the beginning of a long, long run and that’s what I’m excited for,” Shanahan said.

The red & gold aren’t entering the season 100% healthy however, after falling victim to a slew of soft-tissue injuries leading to to Week 1. Captain of the secondary, safety Jimmie Ward, suffered a nasty hamstring injury that has landed him on the short-term IR, missing the first four games of the regular season.

Shanahan confirmed more injuries news Friday, with backup center Daniel Brunskill out with a hamstring injury, and pro bowl tight end George Kittle is also questionable with a groin issue.

Kittle would be the biggest loss for the 49ers, sustaining the injury during Monday’s practice. He was unable to get back out on the field for the remainder of week, but did leave the door open for some game-time this weekend.

George Kittle (groin) is not present at the start of #49ers practice. The final injury report of the week will come out later today, but it seems unlikely Kittle will play vs. the #Bears.

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) September 9, 2022

He told The Athletic’s David Lombardi that he’s “feeling significantly better” with his groin injury than he did earlier in the week and “will do everything [he] can” to play against the Bears Sunday.

As for his backups, Shanahan and the front office decided to keep four tight ends on the 53-man roster this season, a notion that may prove invaluable if Kittle misses time.

“I’m glad we kept four,” Shanahan told me. “Just with Kittle getting banged up this week, we rarely carry four into the game, so we’ll see how that goes. But if Kittle can’t make it, I’m glad that we kept an extra one on our roster.”

The Red & Gold also doubled down on the running back postion in 2022, housing four ballcarriers (five if you count fullback Kyle Juszczyk) currently on the active roster.

Second-year RB Elijah Mitchell should see the bulk of the work in the Windy City, bursting onto the scene in 2021 with 1100 scrimmage yards and six total TDs. Mitchell had been held out of the preseason after suffering a hamstring injury (kind of the theme for the 49ers so far) in the first week of training camp.

Returning to the practice field last week, Mitchell looks all set to go for Sunday’s opener agains the Bears.

“I hope so,” Shanahan exclaimed. “You hope a running back always can handle a full workload. He’s looked good these two weeks in these practices we’ve had, and he’s 100%, we’ll see how the game goes with that though.”

But even if the former Lousiana RB can’t give his full workload of 15 to 20 carries, the 49ers have a trove of gems at the position, with rookies Ty Davis-Price and Jordan Mason rounding out the backfield group.

The running backs are working on their catching with third-string QB Brock Purdy, including undrafted rookie Jordan Mason. Expect to see most of, if not all of the 49ers RBs in action this weekend. pic.twitter.com/g01bK36sZK

— Amiliano “Amil” Fragoso (@AmilianoFragoso) September 9, 2022

“Those two guys are battling right now. Those guys are battling. We could possibly get four up, but a lot goes into this stuff. It’s not just about carrying the ball. Rarely do three guys always get the ball in the game, but we usually use three somehow…So we’ll see what final guys are up on Sunday, but those guys have been battling all week and doing a good job in the run game and both getting better on special teams,” the head coach said.

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