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MIAMI — Coach Kyle Shanahan was back on the mic Tuesday to answer reporters’ questions, some 14 hours after meeting the media on Super Bowl Opening Night. Here are the highlights from the 49ers’ media access at a downtown hotel across the street from their digs:
Shanahan did pre-draft analysis on both quarterbacks who’ll start this Super Bowl, the 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo (2014 second round, New England Patriots) and the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes (2017 first round).
Shanahan recalled attending Garoppolo’s pre-draft workout as he came out of Eastern Illinois. “They didn’t have a lot of receivers so I had to run routes,” Shanahan said. “It was frustrating because Jimmy threw too hard for me. I didn’t have gloves and my hands were purple.
“He was very simple, very humble. When you spend a night with someone like that through the draft process, ‘What’s the guy hiding?’ He’s so relaxed and a good dude. Three years later, nothing different. he’s the same guy.”
With eyes on pursuing Kirk Cousins in 2018 free agency, Shanahan did not seriously consider using the 2017 draft’s No. 2 overall pick on Patrick Mahomes; the 49ers instead drafted defensive tackle Solomon Thomas after trading down to No. 3, and Garoppolo arrived in an Oct. 31 trade with New England.
“He blew all our minds with the success he had out there,” Shanahan said of Garoppolo’s 5-0 December debut.
So why pass on Mahomes?
“I didn’t look into him, obviously, as much as I should have,” Shanahan said of Mahomes. “We definitely looked into him and studied his tape. He was a freak and could make any throw. He had the ability to do anything.
“We had the second pick and based on the intel, it didn’t seem he would go that high. … With the situation we were in, we didn’t want to be that risky, with the second player in the draft.”
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