Kyle Shanahan ‘very grateful’ for contract extension with 49ers

In the aftermath of the 49ers’ Week 3 win over the New York Giants last Thursday, news dropped that left Kyle Shanahan was “extremely grateful and blessed.”

The 49ers head coach, alongside general manager John Lynch, received contract extensions that were announced Friday afternoon. While both deals had been done for quite some time, the team hid the exact lengths of the multi-year extensions. Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area reported that Lynch will be with the team through 2026, while Shanahan’s deal is through 2027.

And while there’s no guarantee that either will make it through the full extension, getting a new deal is equally exciting for the players and the coaching staff.

“It means we’re in good hands for as long as the extensions are for.”
— #49ers All-Pro LT Trent Williams.

John Lynch is signed through at least 2026, and Kyle Shanahan is signed through at least 2027. https://t.co/LbDT5QwDlD

— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) September 27, 2023

“I mean, we did it before the Pittsburgh game, so I’d already celebrated with my family and stuff like that, which is huge. I feel very grateful,” Kyle Shanahan told the media Wednesday. “Just being a coach anywhere for a long time, I know what that means and [I’m] extremely grateful for that, to have that opportunity and mainly for my family to be somewhere for so long, which is cool. But, doing it before this season even started, I think meant a lot to me. Just shows you the people that we’re with, that we believe in each other, despite what could happen whether we were 0-3 or 3-0, we’d still be in the same situation. I really like where we live and really like the people we work with, and they’re committed to giving us a chance to go for it every single year and that’s all I could ever ask for.”

The path to sustained success hasn’t been easy though, taking a 49ers franchise left in desolation by their predecessors.

In the two years prior to Shanahan’s arrival, San Francisco had gone a combined 7-25, finishing at the bottom of the NFC West. Since then, the 49ers have only done that twice, with both seasons riddled with injuries across the board.

Shanahan and Lynch have built a well-oiled machine in The Bay, starting this season 3-0, a feat only done twice in the past 25 years (2019 as well). The success didn’t come without faith from ownership, with Shanahan thanking Jed York for his commitment to building the team the right way.

“It’s tough because you don’t know the people until you get in those situations. So sometimes when you come into a situation that looks really hard to win in the first couple years you’re nervous about it because you know how the pressure goes when you lose, no matter what people say. It gets tough to stick with the plan and that’s what made it so exciting the first time, meeting with Jed and the commitment he gave us and what he said,” Shanahan explained.

“I really feel like that made us make the right decisions for those first couple years and helped build it the right way. And that’s really what got us to come here, allowed us to be patient, do it right, and he hasn’t changed ever since. I love being in a building where you trust each other, you can always try to do what’s right, might not always be right, but the intent of what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, how we’re doing it, we all believe in each other in that way. To me that’s the most important thing in giving you a chance.”

The 49ers coach also felt it was more important to have Lynch along with him to finish this chapter in their professional careers together.

The pair joined the Red & Gold at the same time in 2017, on a mission to restore the 49ers’ pedigree across the NFL. That they have done already, becoming a perennial playoff contender every year. But there is still one thing missing to finish the story for both men: A championship.

That’s the only thing that matters to everyone in the franchise, with Shanahan and Lynch hell-bent on getting a Lombardi trophy before the clock strikes midnight on their partnership.

“I think it’s huge. I think it’s all part of it, just from the ownership, to John, to the coaching staff, to our players, to the whole building. We feel very connected and we like what we’ve established here, but more importantly, we believe we’re doing it the right way and that’ll allow us to have a higher percentage of doing it the right way going forward,” Kyle Shanahan stated.

Upcoming San Francisco 49ers Schedule

• Sunday, October 1st vs. Arizona Cardinals – 1:25 PM PST
• Sunday, October 8th vs. Dallas Cowboys – 5:20 PM PST
• Sunday, October 15th @ Cleveland Browns – 10:00 AM PST
• Sunday, October 23rd @ Minnesota Vikings – 5:15 PM PST

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