Golden Nuggets: Mike McDaniel could be the next star in the Shanahan coaching tree
3 min read
Your daily San Francisco 49ers links for Friday, June 17, 2021
Vox is observing Juneteenth as a holiday, so we’ll be off for the weekend. For you longtime Niners Nation readers, Jas is in Vegas. So, expect chaos this weekend.
Enjoy Father’s Day everyone. Also, Congrats to Javon Kinlaw, who is now a homeowner.
49ers’ Javon Kinlaw, who grew up homeless, buys his first house
The 49ers’ top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft announced Wednesday that he bought his first house after growing up homeless in Washington, D.C. after immigrating from Trinidad and Tobago.
Javon Kinlaw went from From homeless to homeowner
What an amazing story of success for the second year DL #49ers || #FTTB pic.twitter.com/y99LvOQnXh
— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers_) June 16, 2021
“But now that I look back at it, it was tough. It made me a man at a young age. I grew up early, definitely. Like I said man, I didn’t think that it was that bad. I was so used to it. … You just can’t give up on yourself. Times definitely get rough. I didn’t even expect myself to be here. I didn’t expect myself to be a collegiate athlete, but I stuck it out. I stuck with it.”
Photos: 49ers great Joe Montana trims price on Calistoga mansion to $24.5 million
The 9,700-square-foot estate was built in 2003 and has three bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths. The home was inspired by the Montanas’ travels through Italy and France, and includes many finishes and fixtures imported from France. These include antique marble floors, fireplace mantels and 16th-century iron gates. The home also boasts a wine cellar, gym and pool, among many other amenities.
2. Shanahan’s players play extremely hard for him.
LC: “Even when the 49ers have a losing record or it’s clear they’re not going to the playoffs, like last season, his players play hard for him. And there’s something to be said for that. Because Chip Kelly’s players gave up on him fast. They threw in the towel, and you could see it by how many times they’d be winning at halftime and still lose. I don’t see that in Shanahan. It really speaks well for him that his players always fight for him.”
3. Shanahan is excellent at identifying talented coaches and developing them.
Most of the coaches on his staff are people he has worked with since they were in their 20s. He has groomed them. And then there’s the former defensive coordinator — Robert Saleh. Shanahan discovered him in a sense. No one other head coach would have made Saleh a defensive coordinator in 2017. Shanahan gave him an interview anyway, and was smart enough to realize how special Saleh is. Which means Shanahan is developing a coach’s tree the way Bill Walsh did.
Simms says 49ers are the ‘best team in the NFC West,’ deserve to be betting favorites
“It’s not all about the quarterback,” Simms argues. “There’s more to the team than the quarterback. And, yeah, I think (if) the 49ers stay healthy, (with) Jimmy Garoppolo, even Trey Lance (playing), they’ll be fine. To me, it’s all about health. They are the best team in the NFC West, in my opinion. But we’ve seen [two of the last three years], they’ve had the injury bug a little bit. So, that will be big for their football team.”
49ers roster: Why Trey Sermon takes over as starting running back in 2021
The rookie Trey Sermon is threatening to take over as the 49ers starter in 2021 after injuries have started felling his teammates at the position.
Injuries are unfortunately an all too common occurrence for the San Francisco 49ers, and that’s certainly reared its head early with a disjointed running back corps.
Presumptive starter Raheem Mostert hasn’t been able to get onto the practice field yet, while receiving back Jeff Wilson will be out for several months.
But with crisis comes opportunity, and it’s been a breath of fresh air to see rookie Trey Sermon perform well in OTAs and have one eye on taking over the mantle as the Niners starting running back right out of the gate.
