Kyle Shanahan tends to be in a less than stellar mood after losses, and after a third-straight loss on Sunday, he took aim at a surprising target.
Shanahan, who said earlier in his postgame press conference that the 49ers’ quarterback hierarchy had not changed — confirming that Garoppolo, when healthy, is still the starter — was later asked about a report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Rapoport said that Trey Lance wouldn’t have the chance to compete for the starting job.
“Trey Lance, is not, from what I understand, expected to hold onto the job, regardless of what happens today,” Rapoport said. “If Jimmy Garoppolo is healthy next week, it is going to be his job.”
Shanahan said Rapoport had “made something up,” saying the report was not accurate unless it came from him or general manager John Lynch.
Rapoport joined Murph and Mac on KNBR on Monday morning to discuss the criticism, saying that he was taken aback. His defense of his report was that it wasn’t much of a report.
“I was surprised with this one, though, because what I said in my report was essentially what he had said earlier in the week,” Rapoport said. “It wasn’t even much of a report. It was basically echoing what Kyle Shanahan said publicly, which is that Jimmy Garoppolo is the starter, and he’s going to remain the starter after his injury. That’s basically what my report said.”
He said he believes that Shanahan likely misunderstood the question from the press conference.
“I actually backed up what Kyle said, so then when I saw that he had disputed it, I was like, he must not have understood what somebody was asking, because my report was consistent with everything that he had said publicly,” Rapoport said. “Right?”
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Listen to the full interview here: