Kyle Shanahan Explains His Love For Kirk Cousins in 49ers Press Conference

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Mar 29, 2021

The San Francisco 49ers moved heaven and earth to climb up nine positions into the #3 overall pick in next month’s NFL Draft. The trade included their 1st rounder this year (#12 overall) and two more future 1st’s. But when asked about the trade and Kyle Shanahan’s ongoing search for his “prototypical” QB, Kirk Cousins’ name came up (again).

Shanahan has been linked to Kirk Cousins since he coached him in Washington and then tried to woo him to San Francisco before his GM, John Lynch, completing a trade with the Patriots for Jimmy Garoppolo instead. Then, Cousins landed with the Vikings the next offseason and the rest is history from there. So is Kirk Kyle Shanahan’s “prototypical QB”?

Shanahan laughed at the thought, knowing how far Kirk falls short of what anyone would paint as a “prototypical QB”, if allowed to assemble one in a QB factory. But the 49er head coach did admit his affection for Cousins. He also confirme his once-upon-a-time plan to pursue Kirk back in 2018. In fact, Shanahan went as far to say he “loves Kirk”, just before turning to Lynch and mumbling “I know I’m not supposed to talk about other players”.

Here’s the entire exchange with the important part transcribed below.

Kyle Shanahan Still Dealing w/ Kirk Cousins Envy

Kyle’s *full* comments on Kirk pic.twitter.com/hU9gdcgZlz
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) March 29, 2021

“To say that my prototypical guy is someone like Kirk Cousins.. I mean, that’s just… everyone knows my history with Kirk. We drafted him in the 4th round in Washington. I got to coach him for three games. Umm, we were fired, I left, I thought we’d have a chance to get him here in free agency and I would have loved to have him in free agency until Jimmy came along the year before. Because I thought we could have won with him, just like Minnesota has.
I think Kirk does a good job for every team he plays for every year. There’s a number of quarterbacks like that. That’s the only one I’ve been associated with and people thought that I was trying to bring him here, which I was at the time. It’s not because that’s how you draw it up. If you’re going to draw it up, you’re going to draw the biggest, fastest, strongest and best quarterback in the pocket. So, I think that’s pretty ridiculous to say that [Kirk is my prototypical QB] but I’ll also tell you I love Kirk…
[Turns to GM John Lynch]
…I know I’m not allowed to talk about other players but hey, Kirk’s a hell of a player and a lot of people would be lucky to have a player like that.”
Kyle Shanahan answering a question on Kirk Cousins being his “prototypical QB”

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan