A new book, "It's Better To Be Feared" by ESPN reporter Seth Wickersham, created a bit of a stir yesterday. It stated that, while looking into the possibility of adding Tom Brady last year, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan had very specific doubts about his own quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo.
"The 49ers' coaching staff had quiet doubts about Garoppolo, even before the Super Bowl, feeling that it took an inordinate amount of energy to get his head ready for game day and that he perhaps lacked Brady's extreme drive for excellence," Wickersham wrote, per Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. "Some in the building felt that Shanahan was too hard on Garoppolo, causing him to play tentatively. The coaches liked Garoppolo personally — so did his teammates, enough to elect him captain — but Shanahan was open to the idea of an upgrade."
Shanahan joined KNBR this morning and was asked if that report is accurate.
"No, it's not accurate," Shanahan answered on the Murph & Mac show. "I don't know which coaches, or who they're talking to, but lots of people have opinions. That's not our opinion.
"I talked about that a ton last year. Of course we looked into Brady. There were lots of conversations but to hear that stuff in a book through other people two years later, it's not worth me getting into [it] much more than I did right there."
Do reports like that impact the coach's relationship with his starting quarterback? Does he need to talk with Garoppolo about the statements in the book?
"Not at all," Shanahan responded. "Jimmy and I are much closer than that. We've been through that. ... Jimmy's been around this league long enough. He knows me as a person, and I know him very well. We really don't let stuff come between that."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.