Kyle Shanahan will have Andy Reid-like coach arc, per former assistant

Kyle Shanahan isn't going anywhere, even after the 49ers' disastrous 2024 NFL season.

San Francisco's CEO, Jed York, made that clear as the regular season came to a close, and heading into a pivotal offseason for the 49ers, Shanahan and president of football operations/general manager John Lynch's jobs are safe.

However, if that were to change, one former Super Bowl-winning Patriots assistant coach told The Athletic's Jeff Howe why parting ways with Shanahan wouldn't make sense.

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“Within the coaches in the league, no one thinks any less of Kyle Shanahan,” the coach said. “It’s ludicrous to think they should get rid of him. [Andy] Reid had these same criticisms early in his career, and now he’s clearly in the conversation for best coach ever. Kyle Shanahan’s criticisms are that he’s lost a couple of Super Bowls? OK, do you know how hard it is to get to the Super Bowl?

The unnamed assistant also believes Shanahan will be coaching in the NFL for many years to come, and the coach is confident he will experience a similar career arc as Reid did with the Chiefs, who are vying for their third straight Super Bowl victory and fourth overall since Reid took over in 2013.

“If you throw rocks at Kyle Shanahan and want him fired, he’s going to have a job in 30 seconds," the coach added. "Reid, it was that he couldn’t win the big one, and now he’s on the verge of winning three in a row. Kyle is going to be coaching for a long time. He’s going to have another chapter in his career where he’s going for three (Super Bowls) in a row.”

Shanahan, similar to Reid earlier in his career, has not been able to win the Super Bowl, but came close on multiple occasions in 2019 and 2023, and has appeared in four NFC Championship Games over the last six seasons.