The San Francisco 49ers have seen their fortunes change from four consecutive losing seasons from 2015-18 to three NFC Championships over the last four seasons, acquiring and developing talent through the draft, while making key transactions to land star players like left tackle Trent Williams.
However, a leading charge of that change has been the arrival of head coach Kyle Shanahan, who took a disastrous team to perennial playoff success after a few years of rebuilding, taking the league by storm with his creative play design and play calling.
But, Shanahan wasn't the only candidate that San Francisco was looking at following a 2-14 campaign during Chip Kelly's lone season as the head coach, instead going through various candidates before settling on their top choice.
During that process, CEO Jed York earned advice from a surprising source: offensive tackle Joe Staley, who advocated for the 49ers to hire Kyle Shanahan as their next head coach.
"I was like, 'You have to make this happen,' " Staley said during an appearance on the Mojobreak Media podcast last week, via NBC Sports Bay Area. " 'Everything I've heard about from a player's side, management side, he is the next big thing . He is an unbelievable coach, the way that he sees the game. You need to -- whatever you can do -- try to make this happen.' "
Six seasons later, Staley's choice has proven to be a good one, as the 49ers have seen success over the past few seasons with Shanahan and his offensive system at the helm.
"That's why I was so behind Shanahan, because I saw the system, saw what he was trying to build, him and [49ers General Manager] John [Lynch]," Staley said. "And it was the first time in my career, since probably before [Trent] Baalke and [Jim] Harbaugh, that I felt a connect from the top level down -- ownership, General Manager, head coach, support staff -- everything was on the same page, and I knew what they were going to build from that point on."
Staley played three seasons under Shanahan from 2017-19, earning a Pro Bowl nod in their first year together, while sticking around for the 49ers' lone Super Bowl appearance under the new regime in 2019 prior to retiring.
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