SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan stepped onto the practice field Sunday for the team’s first training camp session, standing beside general manager John Lynch and observing his squad for roughly half an hour — all of this coming fewer than two weeks after he was seriously hurt in a car accident.
Shanahan’s familiar presence has been a fixture for the organization over the past decade, making his appearance a welcome one for players who have grown accustomed to seeing him lead the way. He was involved in a crash on July 14 in nearby Palo Alto that left him with a concussion, broken ribs, a broken nose, and a broken hand.
Star linebacker Fred Warner took note of his coach’s determination to be around the team. “I know he can’t stay away,” Warner said. “I know he’s given up his duties for a little bit, but that guy’s obsessed with ball. I’m sure of course he’s going to be around.”
Despite the brief visit, Shanahan is not yet back in charge of day-to-day operations. He has handed over his responsibilities on a temporary basis to assistant head coach and offensive line coach Chris Foerster while he recovers. Shanahan won’t resume full control until his concussion symptoms clear up.
He arrived at practice wearing a cast on his left hand, sunglasses covering a black eye, and sporting a new mustache — a look that prompted Warner to joke about his coach’s “disguise.” Shanahan took a moment to interact with several players, including Warner, Kyle Juszczyk, Christian McCaffrey, and Dre Greenlaw, before heading off the field.
Star offensive tackle Trent Williams said he wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Shanahan show up. “I knew it would be tough to keep him away from there,” Williams said. “It’s going to be hard for him to get his rest. He’s not that type of person. It doesn’t surprise me at all to see him out there.”
Both Foerster and Williams described the team as being on something close to “auto pilot,” thanks to a roster full of veterans and a coaching staff with deep roots in the organization. The training camp schedule had been mapped out well before the crash occurred, with the early portion of camp largely mirroring what the team already covered during the offseason program.
Foerster said he has been leaning on his assistant coaches, particularly coordinators Klay Kubiak, Raheem Morris, and Brant Boyer. He noted that his expanded responsibilities have been relatively manageable — the biggest changes being that he now addresses the team after practice, handles media availability, and makes minor on-field calls such as whether to replay a down following a pre-snap penalty.
Foerster brings more than three decades of NFL experience to the role, having begun his coaching career as an assistant offensive line and tight ends coach in Minnesota back in 1993. Williams spoke warmly about seeing his longtime colleague step into the top job.
“He’s been doing this longer than everybody in that locker room been alive, probably except for me,” Williams said. “It’s like a hand-in-glove fit. Me personally, I’m so proud of him just watching him even just be a head coach for a day, or no matter how long it is. We go so far back, he’s family to me. Just seeing him in that position, I’m just really proud.”
Foerster previously worked alongside Shanahan during the latter’s time as offensive coordinator in Washington, where Mike Shanahan served as head coach. He joined the 49ers organization in 2019. In 2017, Foerster had resigned from his position as offensive line coach in Miami after a social media video appeared to show him snorting white powder at a desk. Shanahan gave him a second opportunity with San Francisco.
Foerster expressed deep gratitude for that chance and spoke emotionally about his relationship with the injured coach. “He’s one of my best friends in the world by far,” Foerster said. “There’s not many people that I call a friend for a lot of reasons, and Kyle’s one of them. He and his wife, Mandy, are like family to me. This organization did some things for me and pulled me in at a time in my life when nobody would really want to be with me. And Kyle, along with John and the whole York family have stood by me and that loyalty’s never going to be forgotten. He’s a close, close friend, and it scares the crap out of you when something like this happens to somebody so close.”
On the field, star defensive end Nick Bosa made his return to camp after tearing his ACL in Week 3 of last season. Bosa participated in individual drills but worked separately during team portions of practice. Williams was impressed by what he saw from Bosa’s recovery.
“I couldn’t even tell that he had an injury or he came back from anything,” Williams said. “Most people with a knee injury that catastrophic, you come back, you can see something. You can see it in the atrophy in the muscle and the leg. You can see something. Bosa looks better than he did before he got hurt.”
In other roster and injury news, offensive lineman Vederian Lowe left practice early due to an ankle injury. Cornerback Nate Hobbs was the only active player who did not participate in practice. The team signed defensive tackle Kevin Givens one day after releasing Evan Anderson — Givens has appeared in 70 games for San Francisco between 2019 and 2025. Foerster also announced that Connor Colby will get the first opportunity to earn the starting left guard position after starting six games as a seventh-round rookie last season.
