Nevius: 49ers' Kyle Shanahan sheds unwarranted criticism

Kyle Shanahan came to the 49ers with a reputation.

Not that one. Not the offensive savant, the play-calling genius.

The other reputation.

That he was cocky. Arrogant. Refused to listen to suggestions. Difficult to get along with.

Of course, you say, it’s the NFL. There are always jealous snipers. Did anyone credible say that?

As a matter of fact, one did - Shanahan’s current boss, John Lynch. NBC Sports Bay Area reporter Matt Maiocco uncovered quotes from back in the day when Lynch was doing TV commentary.

“His personality may rub people the wrong way,” Lynch said. “He may come across as cocky.”

Which, as Shanahan prepares for Sunday’s huge game with Seattle, I find amazing.

Since he’s been here, Shanahan has not only been cooperative with the media, he’s gone above and beyond the call. He takes questions seriously and digs into the answers.

He’s willing to explore a topic in depth, giving lengthy answers that would be known as a “triple Belichick” in New England, compared to the famously terse and testy replies from coach Bill Belichick.

The Warriors’ Steve Kerr is the gold standard in the Bay Area for handling himself in public, but Shanahan is head, shoulders and trendy red hat above most NFL coaches.

He is even showing a little dry wit. Before the game in New Orleans, he said he was glad kickoff was early because the fan noise “only gets worse the later it gets.”

A reporter, attempting to lure the coach into saying the fans are drunk, asked his “philosophy” on why the noise increased.

“They’re more rested,” Shanahan deadpanned. “They play cornhole a lot longer.”

So where did this arrogant and aloof persona come from? Let’s look back.

It began with Washington, where he was an assistant for his father, Mike Shanahan. Kyle has often spoken of how close he is with his father, calling him his best friend.

And that team, with its famously meddlesome and inept owner Dan Snyder, was a nightmare. For starters, they gave up four draft picks, three firsts and one second, to choose flashy Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III.

Snyder, typical of fanboy owners, was enamored of Griffin. He gave him full control. In a widely reported story, Griffin called a meeting with Mike and Kyle Shanahan and announced a list of offensive plays he wouldn’t be running any more. It must have been humiliating.

Griffin was a sensation for a while. He then followed the sad, predictable path of slender running quarterbacks. He blew out a knee and is now a backup in Baltimore.

After three miserable years at Washington, the Shanahans were fired in 2013. There were whispers that Kyle, in particular, was resistant to suggestions. Yeah, like the one where the quarterback runs the franchise.

The next February, Shanahan was hired by Cleveland, another ?dysfunctional landmine. In the 2014 draft, on orders from above - the Browns insist it wasn’t owner Jimmy Haslam - the team took another flashy Heisman winner Johnny Manziel.

Shanahan, and others on the staff, thought it was a terrible choice. Manziel was exciting in college, but the NFL demands a lot more. Manziel eventually partied himself out of the NFL, but Shanahan tried to explain why he wasn’t a good fit in football terms.

He said people kept telling him to simply plug Manziel into the RGIII playbook. The problem he said at the time, is that while Griffin ran a 4.3 40, “Johnny runs a 4.68.”

Meaning that while Griffin could get around the corner and get to the safety of the sideline, Manziel was going to have to depend on his shiftiness in the middle of the field, where all the big thumpers are. And in the NFL, you may make the first guy miss, but the next one won’t.

Ownership didn’t want to hear it. Manziel was the future of the franchise. Shanahan disagreed. Eleven months after he took the job, Shanahan made the surprising - and pretty cheeky - decision to resign.

So, that’s two places where Shanahan was convinced he was right and they were wrong. He was the brash kid who wouldn’t listen to older, more mature voices.

The flaw in that narrative is that they really were wrong and he really was right. Eight days after leaving Cleveland, Shanahan signed with Atlanta as offensive coordinator. A year later, the Falcons were the highest-scoring offense in the NFL and went to the Super Bowl.

And yes, you can second-guess Shanahan’s clock management and play-calling in that game. But he was there. Do you know how many offensive coordinators ?would love the chance to be second-guessed at the Super Bowl?

Anyhow, he’s here now. And if there are any signs that he’s channeling cranky former coach Jim Harbaugh, I haven’t seen them.

And it is worth saying, it isn’t terribly difficult to be cooperative when your team is playoff bound.

But he was also very good, and didn’t get defensive, last year when he went 4-12.

In fact, you almost never see any sign of that edgy guy we heard about. Except maybe this year, when the 49ers went back to Washington in October and beat the team that fired the Shanahans.

And after that game, in front of everyone, Kyle handed the game ball to his dad. Take that.

Cocky.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cw.nevius@pressdemocrat.com. Twitter: @cwnevius