San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan sees both good and bad in Jalen Hurd's two scuffles during practice on Sunday. It was reported that the rookie wide receiver took swings at cornerback Dontae Johnson after one play and then had a heated exchange with safety Antone Exum after another.
Shanahan didn't see the fights start from the sideline but had an opportunity to watch the film from that practice by the time he spoke with reporters on Monday. He provided an update after finally having a chance to analyze what occurred.
The 49ers head coach said the situation was a good teaching moment. For that reason, he was glad it happened. Shanahan took an opportunity to discuss his expectations with the team on Monday. It may be old information for the players returning to the 49ers this season, but for the first-year players, it was worth repeating.
"It led to a lot of good teaching points in our meeting today," Shanahan said.
As for the Hurd's role in the scuffles…
"For the beginning part, I was proud of how Jalen handled himself," Shanahan continued. "That's why we brought him here. We want him to be physical. We want him to irritate the heck out of every player in that secondary. And I hope he pisses people off and I hope a lot of guys throw punches at him, and that's what happened.
"I looked hard to see if he was doing anything cheap in the play. I didn't see it on tape. But someone took a shot at him, and then that's where I got upset with Jalen because he's going to piss a lot of people off. I hope a lot of people take shots at him, and I hope he sits there with his helmet on, and smiles at them, and waves to them as they get ejected, and gets us a free 15 yards."
Shanahan notes that he failed to do that during practice when he responded to a player taking a swing at him.
"We want physical guys," Shanahan added. "We want guys to get after it and compete. We want them on the tip of fighting but football is not fighting. Football is football. You get as close as you can to fighting, and then you remember it's football, and the play's over, and you go back to the huddle. If you don't, it's a selfish act, and it's fake toughness to me. All you're doing is hurting the team."
