S.I.’s Albert Breer on Kyle Shanahan’s Recovery & Deebo’s Return to the 49ers

Albert Breer was in San Francisco a couple of days after Kyle Shanahan's accident, and the visual he brought back to the show was not the one anybody expected.

Shanahan was at practice. He was not coaching it.

"The best way to describe it is he almost looked like a personnel man would at practice," the Sports Illustrated reporter told Rich. "You know how you get those guys and they're sort of standing back and observing the big picture. That's sort of what he looked like."

He stood with John Lynch. Raheem Morris came over and talked with him for a while. That was the extent of it.

The body, Breer said, is healing. "It looks like he was in a car accident, but it's not like he's disfigured." Shanahan has credited his plastic surgeon, and Breer's eyes agreed with the assessment.

The concussion is the problem.

"The concussion is coming slower," Breer said. "He has ups and downs and is really feeling the effects of that."

What Breer said next is the part that lands. Coaching is not a job Shanahan does. It is the entire architecture of his life, going back to how he grew up. Being handed a chair and told to observe is a specific kind of difficult for a person built that way.

The 49ers, to their credit, have depth in the room. Chris Foerster, the de facto interim, is steeped in the system and goes back to Washington with Shanahan. Morris is a former head coach working as the defensive coordinator. Matt Eberflus, another former head coach, is on the staff. Klay Kubiak, who like Shanahan grew up inside this offense, runs the offense.

Breer still isn't buying that it won't matter.

"We'd be discounting how freaking good this guy is if we're saying they wouldn't miss him," he said. "I think he's like Belichick in this way, in that I don't think there's another coach in the NFL who has his hands on every lever of the operation the way that Kyle does."

The one bright spot in a bad month is what the response has revealed. Breer has always found Shanahan to be a good regular guy who simply doesn't let everybody in, "as regular a 46-year-old guy as an NFL head coach can be." Most people never see that version because he has no interest in showing it. The reaction inside the building since the accident has made it visible.

The receiver room is its own emergency, and Breer connected the dots directly. Ricky Pearsall's PCL issue lingered all of last season, and PCLs are slow to heal. He had seven or eight months after the season to get right. The knee swelled almost immediately once he got back out there.

"That is not a great sign," Breer said. "I think it's totally fair to tie the signing of Deebo to their concerns on Ricky Pearsall."

Deebo Samuel is back, in other words, because the alternative was thin. Mike Evans is on the roster and, in Breer's words, isn't what he was but can be a steady presence. Christian Kirk is already banged up.

Which leaves the kids. Breer likes what he has seen from the 33rd pick in the draft, the one San Francisco got killed a little for taking, calling him a strong, sure-handed guy. Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins are going to get leaned on too.

"So much of where they go at that position is actually going to depend on the development of the young guys," Breer said.

That is a lot of weight to put on a rookie receiver room, for a team whose head coach is currently watching practice from the back.