San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is very fussy when it comes to his quarterbacks, and it has not always worked out well for him. However, things could have been drastically different had he successfully landed this top target six years ago, so claims his father.
Mike Shanahan revealed that Kyle had sought to trade the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft to Washington to land quarterback Kirk Cousins. Kyle Shanahan was entering his first season as 49ers coach at that point.
“He knew Kirk knew his system, and he knew the type of guy Kirk was,” Mike Shanahan said of his son, via Alec Lewis of The Athletic. “But [Washington] wouldn’t even return the phone call.”
The 49ers wound up trading down one spot and drafting defensive lineman Solomon Thomas, which did not really pay off for them. Mitchell Trubisky wound up going second overall to the Chicago Bears, while Cousins spent one more year in Washington before joining the Minnesota Vikings as a free agent. The 49ers would ultimately trade for Jimmy Garoppolo roughly six months later.
Cousins and Shanahan had plenty of shared history in Washington, but it is still surprising to hear that the 49ers coach valued Cousins that highly. No wonder the two were linked together around that time.
Garoppolo made it to the Super Bowl with the 49ers, while Cousins has been much-maligned for his perceived underachievement. It would be interesting to know how much those stories would have changed if things had been different.
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