49ers HC Kyle Shanahan Explains Why He Won't Let QBs Call Plays

Maybe Shanahan should let go and ask Brock Purdy to call plays every once in a while.

Aug 10, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan paces the side lines during the second half at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports / Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports

SANTA CLARA -- In case you haven't noticed, Kyle Shanahan is a bit of a control freak.

To his credit, he's currently letting assistant quarterbacks coach Klay Kubiak call the offensive plays in preseason. But when the games count, Shanahan will call the plays. All of them. He won't even let his quarterbacks audible at the line of scrimmage.

So it's no surprise what Shanahan said when asked today if he ever would consider letting one of his quarterbacks call plays.

"I would hate to do that to somebody," Shanahan said. "If he really wanted to and stuff, I maybe would let him so he could learn how miserable it is. I couldn't imagine having to think of all that stuff, get people in the right spots, think of a play, spit it out, get to the line of scrimmage and actually think of how to play football. Playing the quarterback position as hard as anything in sports and to have to do other stuff to me would make it extremely hard. They better call a very simple game."

Shanahan was a bit disingenuous in his answer. Obviously, he doesn't find play calling to be a miserable activity -- he loves calling plays. It's his favorite thing to do. It's what he was born to do. If he didn't call plays, he'd feel useless.

And he's correct that quarterback is the most difficult position in sports. But all quarterbacks used to call their own plays. Jim Plunkett certainly did. So did Peyton Manning. And they both won Super Bowls.

Maybe Shanahan should let go and ask Brock Purdy to call plays every once in a while.

Why not?