Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Kyle Shanahan is tough on his wide receivers. That’s a little tidbit that San Francisco 49ers wideout
Deebo Samuel revealed on Wednesday night
during his interview on 95.7 The Game’s
Damon, Ratto & Kolsky show. In fact, as a rookie in 2019, the receiver was downright frightened of his then-new head coach.
Samuel was asked if he’s ever been on Shanahan’s bad side.
“I wouldn’t say bad side, but as a rookie, though, I was kind of terrified of Kyle,” Samuel admitted. “As a rookie, trying to learn this offense, and he expects you to be top-tier, and you’re not actually there, and it was kind of getting frustrating. But me and Kyle had our days in games where we kind of bumped heads a little bit, and it’s just coaching, really, so I take coaching very well. We never had an altercation or anything along those lines. He just wants what’s best for every player that he has.”
The topic, of course, led to Samuel’s teammate, Brandon Aiyuk. Some have wondered if the second-year player might be in Shanahan’s doghouse, which the head coach has repeatedly refuted.
Expectations were high for Aiyuk heading into the season after a productive rookie campaign last year. However, the 23-year-old receiver has just one catch for six yards through two games.
“Like Kyle stated in the media, he had an injury here and there, and I think they didn’t want to kind of like throw him out there in the water due to [him] not practicing so much,” Samuel explained. “But as you can see, he played a pretty good [number of snaps] last week, just getting back in the flow of games.
“One thing about Kyle, he’s our head coach, and he’s also the hardest on the wideouts. So we’ve got to go 10 times harder than most groups out here. And he’s harping on the little things that we do, so we have to just be more detailed and just more locked in as a group.”
Needless to say that Shanahan probably isn’t being too hard on Samuel this season. The wideout is on pace for a big season and leads the NFL in receiving yards with 282 on 15 catches, including a touchdown.
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