The San Francisco 49ers believe they have their quarterback of the future in Trey Lance. But before they drafted Lance, they were trying to swing a trade for someone else.
Kyle Shanahan was a guest on “Flying Coach with Sean McVay and Peter Schrager.” During the interview (about 36 minutes in), McVay asked the 49ers head coach for his thoughts on the Rams’ big quarterback addition of Matthew Stafford. That led Shanahan to share how hyped up he was about acquiring Stafford, only for the Rams to swoop in and steal him.
Shanahan said he was actually in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at the same time that McVay and Stafford were.
“You don’t want to get me started, dude,” Shanahan responded. “That was frustrating. I was in Cabo. I was studying it all. … I remember looking through it because everybody was telling me it was a possibility.
“Stafford’s the man. I studied him hard coming out of college. And you always play against him, so you know how good he is. But to know he might be available and to spend two weeks really watching him, Sean, yeah, he’s better than I realized. He was the man. He’s actually underrated to me. I know how good of a guy you got. I know how good he is at play-action. I know how smart he is. Not only does he just have a big arm, but he’s got touch, and he knows where to go with the ball. So I was trying to get involved in it.
“I remember Saturday I was so stressed out and finally we talked to someone. It was like seven at night, and they’re like, ‘No, nothing’s happening (with a trade) at the earliest until tomorrow, so you can finish your night.’ So I’m like, alright, I’m done. I put my phone down, talk to Mandy. I’m like, alright, ‘Let’s go out to dinner, let’s have some drinks.’ Half an hour later, my buddy calls me and is like, ‘I’m just telling ya, if you want Stafford, you need to get a hold of him right now.’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean? We just talked to people. I can sleep on this. We’ll talk to them tomorrow.’ ‘I’m just telling you, you need to talk to him right now.’ And then 10 minutes later it was all over.”
“If it makes you feel any better, it came together faster than I thought, too, Kyle,” McVay replied.
“The fact I was in Cabo, man, I would have been there, and I would have made it really awkward on you two to enjoy it,” Shanahan bantered back. “You would have had to tell me to leave.”
Both coaches agreed that upon evaluating Stafford more closely, the quarterback impressed them even more.
Stafford was the No. 1 pick in 2009 and took the Lions to the playoffs three times. On the Rams, he will have more offensive weapons, a more complete team, and he will be playing for a coaching wizard in McVay. And now we have further confirmation that the 49ers were looking to upgrade the position from Jimmy Garoppolo.
