With his extensive background as an NFL player and coach, Anthony Lynn is the San Francisco 49ers’ assistant head coach and running backs coach. After playing running back for the 49ers and Broncos among other teams in the 1990s, Lynn moved into coaching and held positions with a number of organizations before joining Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers.
Shanahan is the play-caller for the 49ers and is well respected and liked by Lynn. During a recent NFL Insider podcast interview with Adam Schefter, Lynn talked on Kyle Shanahan’s remarkable play-calling abilities and made a comparison between Kyle and his father, former NFL head coach Mike Shanahan.
“I played for Mike Shanahan as a player, but also coached for him, too, when I retired,” Lynn stated to Schefter. I’ve had the chance to train both Kyle and Mike, and there are many parallels between the two. There exist. First and foremost, Kyle Shanahan is the greatest play-caller I have ever encountered. Since his father, I can’t recall meeting anyone like this. He only has his father as a rival, in my opinion.
“Watching him grow up—from a ball boy to a collegiate player at Texas, and now as a coach—has been incredibly cool. We used to call his father a genius. That is, the media did at the time. Kyle is incredibly original and innovative. Never before have I been around someone who schemes guys as transparently as Kyle has this year. He’s simply done an incredible job implementing our plans.”
After clarifying that he wasn’t claiming that his father was a greater play-caller than Kyle, Lynn said that Kyle is the best “since his dad.”
“I’m not going there, brother,” he continued. (With Mike) I won two Super Bowls. I refuse to go there.
Lynn voiced confidence about the 49ers’ health heading into the playoffs, saying that the squad is about as healthy as you can anticipate, which will help them prepare for a Super Bowl run.
“I think, at this point in the season, we’re about as healthy as we can be,” Lynn said. “You’re always going to have some people with some bumps and bruises late in the year.”
Key players like tight end George Kittle, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, and running back Christian McCaffrey have profited from the extra rest that comes with a first-round playoff bye, according to the coach. Sustaining the team’s health will be essential to winning in the postseason.
Lynn went on, “And now that we’re heading outside, we’ve been training for the past few days, and folks are rushing around to keep up our timing and avoid getting rusty and other stuff like that. However, it will play a significant role. We are dangerous when we are well. Naturally, anyone in this league can defeat anybody in three and a half hours, but I like our chances when we’re fit.”
One amusing bit from the podcast conversation comes when Lynn finds out via Schefter that, as of last week’s recording, the Washington Commanders have recruited Adam Peters as their new general manager. Lynn was shocked by Schefter’s lightning-fast access to breaking news and was looking forward to congratulating Peters on his new position.
The whole audio of our talk with Lynn is available here. About 19 minutes in, it starts.
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