
Coach Kyle Shanahan will not be scouring the stat sheet after the 49ers’ exhibition opener in Kansas City on Friday night.
Game statistics will play no role in his player evaluations, he said, as many factors are considered, including the talent level and execution of the opposition.
“I look at how good they are,” Shanahan explained on "The 49ers Insider Podcast" for how he evaluates his 90-man roster during the exhibition season. “I can get home at night and I promise you that my wife is going to have a much better idea of how good the guy’s stats were. I look at each play for what it is.
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“If a bunch of guys fall down in a hole and the running back hits that hole and gets a 60-yard gain. He’s probably going to finish that day averaging 7 yards a carry, which everyone is going to read and that’s going to look very impressive. But the 60-yard play was bad defense. What did he do on the other plays?”
Shanahan said he and general manager John Lynch have tried to exercise patience when discussing the state of the roster and who are making an impression -- good or bad -- that could impact spots on the 53-man roster.
“When you get excited about someone, it’s hard not to talk about it,” Shanahan said. “But you quickly learn, I can be very excited about someone in a practice and then three days later I’m completely the opposite. I understand that going through this for a number of years, especially in training camp. There are a lot of highs and lows.
“John and I don’t sit and talk after every single practice. At the beginning, we tried to and we quickly realized we need to chill out a little, and wait and see how this plays out.”