Kyle Shanahan Explains Why the 49ers Don't Invest in Offensive Linemen

Kyle Shanahan explains his thinking on the offensive line and building the league’s best roster. Does it hold up to scrutiny? Yes and no.

Feb 8, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan during a press conference before Super Bowl LVIII at Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Shanahan sat down to talk with The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami recently, covering a number of topics including the primary concern for The Faithful, Shanahan’s philosophy on the offensive line.

Drafting an offensive lineman

“I’m not too concerned about the ceiling. I want to know if he’s going to be a starting left tackle, a starting left guard, whatever, a starting NFL player. And if you are a starting NFL lineman, I think we can have a good team with you”

TAKEAWAY: The draft focus at OL is on the floor, with the floor set at NFL starter, leading to drafting offensive linemen in the later rounds.

PROBLEM: When the floor starter goes up against a star defensive lineman in the playoffs he’s going to lose the matchup over the course of the game and will be vulnerable on the plays when it counts most. This philosophy creates mismatches that lose championships.

Picking weapons over linemen

“If we have a bunch of starting NFL linemen (and) there’s no one who can score points, we’re not going to have that good of an offense.”

TAKEAWAY: Shanahan is taking chess pieces not linemen. To be expected when the true GM is also the offensive coordinator. That aspect has worked for Shanahan, the weapons are stacked.

PROBLEM: When you already have an all-star collection of chess pieces and still draft weapons over offensive linemen. My mantra in pro team sports: balance wins championships. There is no balance to Shanahan’s philosophy, it leads to overloading on weapons and underinvesting on the line. And that’s exactly how it has played out.

This approach leads to league-best rosters

“I’ve never been on a team that was favored to win every game the whole year before the season started. And we’ve been (listed as) that two years in a row. So what that tells me is people think we’ve got a really good roster. Well, if we were drafting only O-linemen, we wouldn’t have as good of a roster.”

TAKEAWAY: The rosters are stacked, no argument there. However, note the use of “drafting only o-linemen.” No one is saying that’s the path. The concern is the lack of balance.

PROBLEM: League-best roster…and no rings.  Based on these quotes, there’s no consideration of how the offensive line philosophy plays into no rings.

Drafting weapons and DL over OL wins games

“Taking offensive linemen in the early rounds is the safe NFL play. You don’t get criticized if you can shuffle off a mediocre tackle to guard or some other variation. Taking wide receivers or defensive linemen could be riskier. But those are the players that probably can do more to help win games.”

TAKEAWAY: Regular season, yes.

PROBLEM: Super Bowls. Four of the last five losing teams had the inferior offensive line. Not a coincidence.

Our run game is untraditional

“We don’t have a philosophy to avoid O-linemen. We just don’t have a philosophy that says we’re always going to build inside-out because you’ve got to establish that for the run game.”

TAKEAWAY: The Niners are an outside zone running team, yes. However, they are also a left-dominant running team due to the lack of elite talent on the right side of the line. Lack of balance in a different context.

PROBLEM: The running game is unique, fair enough, but you also need to pass protect. Shanahan is being clever here, there is absolutely a philosophy – the offensive line is at the center of his cap philosophy. You have to save somewhere, Shanahan targets the offensive line to the right of Trent Williams as his cap savings center, going as cheap as possible there to enable the expensive top-heavy roster everywhere else.

Does Shanahan’s cap philosophy work?

Nope. Ringless.

His philosophy is the gift and the curse. It contributes to getting to the Super Bowl and once there it is a primary cause of defeat.

Shanahan keeps speaking in the Kawakami interview about having one of the league’s best rosters. That thinking does not separate regular season and playoffs. Matchups drive playoff results, the floor-driven OL to the right of Williams is overmatched and that played a key role in both Super Bowl losses.

Round 1, Jimmy Garoppolo under pressure was 1-9 with two back breaking interceptions. In combination that decided the game. Drives stalled, the defense got gassed, and the turnovers were disastrous. In round 2, Kansas City had nine unblocked pass rushers on blitzes, many on plays where the Niners were in position to win the game and failed due to OL breakdowns.

Will Shanahan get that? Based on these responses, no. He’s taking pride in his junkpile approach to the offensive line right of Williams. Yes, your roster is damn good but it hasn’t won championships.

If the goal is going cheap to the right of Williams then the smart play is to invest in Day 2 draft picks to distribute talent across the roster and address weaknesses. His floor approach to the OL works in the regular season, but the low ceiling is exposed in the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

If Shanahan keeps pointing to a league-best roster and changes nothing then his team is fated to be Sisyphus. Push the rock up the hill only to watch it fall down the other side. Shanahan has to change his roster philosophy. Otherwise, the lack of balance creates the playoff mismatches on the offensive line that have lost and will continue to lose championships.