The San Francisco 49ers are going through an unexpectedly tough 2024 season. Coming into the year San Francisco was one of the heavy favorites to not only return to the Super Bowl this season, but win it. However, through their first 12 games they’re 5-7 and currently on the outside looking in of the NFC Playoffs.
If San Francisco and head coach Kyle Shanahan decide to part ways this off-season, there could be one place in mind he is already set to go.
“Are You Kidding Me?” 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan Sees Next Team Emerge In Widespread News Story
Several NFL insiders suggested the 49ers trade head coach Kyle Shanahan to a rival team in the NFC:
Last season, the 49ers handed Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch contract extensions through the 2027 campaign. But with the defending NFC champions likely to miss out on the postseason, some wonder if the 49ers will part ways with the 44-year-old head coach.
The 49ers are 69-58-0 under Shanahan, with four NFC Championship Game appearances and two Super Bowl berths. But the 49ers are about to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2020, and Shanahan still carries that whole “can’t win the big one” label.
Speaking on “The Rich Eisen Show”, NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk suggested that the 49ers trade Kyle Shanahan to the Chicago Bears, who relieved Matt Eberflus of his duties last week:
“I feel like Shanahan and the 49ers are getting close to the point where they would benefit mutually from a fresh start…If you can get Shanahan and join him at the hip with Caleb Williams, are you kidding me?…
This year just feels like it’s coming to an end from a standpoint of the nucleus of players that they have there. And you never know what’s happening behind the scenes. I mention the 49ers because it’s been 10 years or so since they had Jim Harbaugh going into what was the fourth year of his tenure there. The first three years had been very successful … We reported at the time that the 49ers were close to trading Harbaugh to the Cleveland Browns.”
An NFL team rarely trades a head coach, but there are two notable examples. Jon Gruden was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002 for two first-round picks and two second-round picks along with $8 million in cash.
After resigning in 2022 as head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Sean Payton was acquired from them in 2023 by the Denver Broncos along with a 2024 third-round pick in exchange for first-round picks and second-round picks in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
This would be shocking, but not the first time the league has seen something like this.
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