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On the surface, Kyle Shanahan and Bill Belichick are similar only in the fact that they’re both intelligent head coaches. Shanahan wears Yeezys. Bill Belichick has likely never heard of Yeezys. Shanahan is outwardly sarcastic, while Belichick tends to have dour, to-the-point interactions with the media.
But both are probably more similar than they’re given credit for, especially as it pertains to innovation (and Belichick is apparently hilarious, but guarded and much drier in his humor). The two are set to face each other this season, assuming the 49ers and Patriots’ matchup isn’t canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shanahan and the 49ers reportedly pursued Austin Hooper this offseason, which would have been poised as a recreation of the Belichick-created combination of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Belichick looks like he’s trying to rekindle that flame in his drafting of two tight ends with consecutive Patriots picks this year in Devin Asiasi and Dalton Keene.
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein joined KNBR on Monday and made the comparison between the two, specifically in the way Shanahan has acquired Deebo Samuel and now Brandon Aiyuk:
“I think he is a fantastic addition. Here’s what I love: if Kyle Shanahan is part of a team and he does something where you go, ‘Hmm, what’s this about?’ That’s like when Bill Belichick is doing it,” Zierlein said. “For him to have Deebo and then to add Brandon Aiyuk, that should terrify NFC West teams and the entire NFC because he’s got a plan. He has a plan.
Because they do have some similarities in terms of what they do. There is some replication, but that just means that what he’s found, basically, is the new two tight-end set, only he’s doing it out of the slot. And that would really scare me because he’ got a plan. I don’t know what it is, but he’s the most impressive play-caller in pro football. He has been for about five or six years and I think you’re going to see a plan unfold that teams aren’t ready for that involves Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo on the field together, even though they do similar things.”
As for Javon Kinlaw, Zierlein said he viewed him as maybe more boom-or-bust than Aiyuk:
“If he figures it out, he’s going to be a monster, an absolute monster,” Zierlein said. “If he doesn’t, he’ll be solid, but not great.”
Listen to the full interview below: