The departure of Mike McDaniel represents a substantial loss to the 49ers’ coaching staff. With McDaniel taking the top job in Miami, Kyle Shanahan is now without his most trusted assistant, a man he’s worked with for well over a decade.
There’s the obvious question of how this will affect Shanahan and the responsibilities on his staff. NBC Sports’ Matt Maiocco joined KNBR to break down the move and explain what it means for the 49ers.
Maiocco said that the change will put more on Shanahan’s plate until someone else on staff develops trust with him, with offensive quality control Bobby Slowik, just-hired assistant head coach Anthony Lynn and offensive line coach Chris Foerster among the possible names to step up in McDaniel’s stead.
Still, Maiocco said he doesn’t expect this to change the 49ers’ identity.
“I think it’s significant,” Maiocco said. “But I don’t think it’s going to be so significant that come next season we’ll to be like, ‘Hold it, what’s going on? This doesn’t even look like the 49ers.’ It won’t be anything like that, but Mike is so creative and so smart. There’s a reason Kyle Shanahan kept him around for as long as he did, basically every stop.”
But the 49ers will lose something in the process, and part of McDaniel’s skillset was his role as a quasi-historian, according to Maiocco.
“We all know he’s a smart guy, but every guy needs a guy that [answers], ‘Hey, what did we do back in the day when this happened?’ And Mike McDaniel’s recall was spot on,” Maiocco said. “He can tell you, ‘This is what we did, this is how the defense countered that, this is why we did it.’ His recall is uncanny when it comes to football situations and problem solving, so that’s probably where Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers will miss him the most.”
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