Kyle Shanahan took over as the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers before the 2017 season.
He has already taken what was a bad team and turned them into Super Bowl contenders.
Shanahan is the son of a legendary coach, so the expectations are quite high for him.
However, he has already proven to be one of the best offensive minds throughout the league.
Shanahan deserves plenty of the credit for what he has accomplished, but he wasn’t always this brilliant of a coach.
Shanahan and Jon Gruden
Legendary head coach Jon Gruden actually gave Shanahan his first job on a coaching staff.
He was hired as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offensive quality control coach from 2004 to 2005.
At first glance, that doesn’t seem like a very important job, but Shanahan actually learned a ton from Gruden.
“I had to draw all his plays, and Jon had more plays than anybody in football,” Shanahan told NBC Sports’ Chris Simms.
It’s common knowledge at this point that Gruden has a ridiculous playbook and is one of the best offensive minds in the game.
“So I actually got to draw and have experience with every play that was being run in the NFL,” says Shanahan.
Shanahan credited Gruden for a lot of success in the league.
“I got everything from Jon, which was great for my mind at the time because it just put a lot of stuff into my head that I needed to learn,” Shanahan said.
The two of them actually played each other in 2018, but it didn’t go well for Gruden.
"He beat my brains in during the regular season, at least I won the @seniorbowl." – @Raiders' Jon Gruden on defeating Kyle Shanahan's team today 😂
(via @TomPelissero) pic.twitter.com/lSR2tk1B5T
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) January 26, 2019
Neither team at that point was very good, so they will need to rematch with their new and improved squads.
Maybe this time Gruden can show Shanahan a few new tricks and pull off a win.
Gruden’s Accomplishments
Shanahan is not the only coach that has benefited with Gruden.
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay also got his start with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Gruden.
Clearly, Gruden is a great teacher since both his young coaches have already been to the Super Bowl recently.
Sadly, Gruden has not been able to get there himself in quite some time, but the Raiders are getting better.
Last season, the Raiders were 11th in yards per game throughout the league.
However, they were 24th in points per game, but have some young new weapons on offense.
It’ll be interesting to see if Gruden decides to adjust his old school approach and prove that his playbook is not dated.
Thus far, Gruden’s return has not been what people imagined, but the Raiders were not too strong when he took over.
It might not be too long before the offensive guru takes over again and shows everyone he is the best in the league.
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