After facing the Patriots on Sunday, the next daunting task for Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan will be to fix the 49ers, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com writes. It won’t be easy, but plenty of people say he’s up for the task.
“He’s an excellent player evaluator, and I think he can evaluate any position,” said Atlanta quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur, who has worked on Shanahan’s staff eight of the past nine years in three different cities. “He as a vision for what he wants, and he knows how to find those players to fit exactly what that vision is. He can recognize what players do well and put them in position to be successful. I think that’s one of his best attributes.”
Shanahan will be blocked from taking many of his assistant coaches with him to San Francisco, but Graziano says that a few of his current players could follow. Falcons backup quarterback Matt Schaub played for Shanahan in Houston and will be a free agent. Same goes for Falcons starting right guard Chris Chester, who played for him in Washington.
Here’s more out of the West divisions:
- Cardinals linebacker Daryl Washington “anticipates the team wanting him back,” a source tells Joe Pequeno of CBS5 (on Twitter). Furthermore, Washington expects to be reinstated in March. This item should be taken with a kosher grain of salt since Arizona’s level of interest is unknown. Washington’s own assessment of his reinstatement process also doesn’t mean a great deal. The former Pro Bowler hasn’t played since Week 17 of the 2013 season thanks to a substance abuse ban that has yet to be lifted.
- Chargers wide receiver Travis Benjamin had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee last week, a source tells Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Benjamin was dealing with a grade-2 PCL sprain for several weeks last season. There’s no mention of Benjamin potentially missing an extended period of time, so he should be good to go this summer.
- The Chargers officially terminated their lease with City of San Diego today, paying a $12.575MM termination fee in the process, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets. It remains to be seen whether SD might redirect those funds towards an effort to lure the Raiders to town. As the Raiders’ planned move to Las Vegas hit some roadblocks this week, mayor Kevin Faulconer reached out to see if the Raiders might be willing to move ~500 miles south.
If the Raiders moved to SD it would be such an embarrassment for the league and I think that some new relocation policies would need to be looked at
Heard they’re is a slim chance that the Raiders may move to SD. Depends on the financial structure of San Diego getting a MSL team, and its prospective owners who want to build a new stadium to house the soccer franchise, and getting San Diego St. on board. It also depends on the city getting a honest negotiation from the NFL and the Raiders owner. Plus getting the city and the future possible soccer franchise owners to expand the new stadium to at least 50,000 instead of the 30,000 that the MSL wants.