MOBILE, Ala., — 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan delivered a fiery, expletive-filled post practice speech at the Senior Bowl on Tuesday. It may have caused the sound to get cut off of the NFL Network broadcast, but it went over well with the young players on the South team.
Shanahan was obviously not informed that the sound from the huddle would be broadcast live. Regardless of the censoring implications, several players explained how Shanahan’s attitude has been a motivating factor for them at practice.
“Coach Shanahan, from the moment he first spoke with us,” LSU tight end Foster Moreau said, “has been awesome. You can kind of tell he carries himself with this passion, this burning fire he has going. He just loves football and he said it was a great practice.”
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SIGN UP HERE Moreau continued by saying that Shanahan was impressed with the players, especially for their first day. The practice concluded without any botched snaps or missed assignments, which was great for everyone learning a new system.
Though he's known for working with the offense more, Shanahan even had the defense pumped with his speech.
“It gets me fired up,” Mississippi State safety Jonathan Abram said. “For me, I don’t need rah-rah speeches, I’m kind of self motivated, but when you see a coach out there, he’s got passion, he loves what he’s doing, he’s glad to be here.
“It’s more exciting than anything because he didn’t have to come here. He took the time out of his day, his week. He took time away from his team to be here, so I’m just appreciative of that.”
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Alabama State offensive lineman Tytus Howard said he thought the speech came from more of a disciplinary direction.
“He’s just being real,” Howard said. “Had a couple guys who were late to meetings and stuff, doing stuff they weren’t supposed to be doing. That’s coaching. He’s a great coach, it was a great message to the team, great message that will help motivate us today.”
Shanahan’s speech caught Utah State tight end Dax Raymond off guard, but for a good reason.
“It was awesome,” Raymond said. “I kind of had to sit back for a second and take it in and say ‘This is an NFL coach right now, giving me a post-practice speech.’ It was a moment to remember for sure.”
As far as the expletives go, Raymond said it didn’t phase him one bit.
“It’s a pretty common thing in the football world," Raymond said. “You kind of just get used to them, or numb to it, so it didn’t really affect me much.”
Raymond is very aware of how the 49ers used Pro-Bowl tight end George Kittle in 2018 and is taking advantage of the opportunity to learn how to add those elements to his game.
“I’ve loved every second,” Raymond said. “I’m trying to suck in as much information as I can while I have them here.”