Does Kyle Shanahan even know if he wants to draft a QB in the first round yet?

Kyle Shanahan must have been bored yesterday, because he set 49ers Twitter on fire with his comments about the future of Jimmy Garoppolo in San Francisco. Instantly everyone went to their respective corners to explain how what Kyle said perfectly justified their preferred quarterback path this offseason. Lost in the shuffle may have been a key question that Niner Nate and Leo Luna addressed on this week’s Niner Nate-tion podcast with special guest Vish Kumaran: does Kyle Shanahan even know if this year’s incoming quarterbacks are worth a first round draft pick yet?

“Kyle Shanahan is focused on this football season and trying to win with CJ Beathard and Nick Mullens,” Kumaran said, “There’s no decision that has been made on Jimmy Garoppolo, positive or negative.”

Luna then added, “Shanahan has no idea as far as Zach Wilson and his evaluation on him. He’s spent zero time evaluating Zach Wilson. He’s spent zero time evaluating Trey Lance...so to say that he’s going to go ahead and move on from Jimmy right now, there’s no reason for him to say that.”

(Hear the full conversation in today’s Niner Nate-tion Podcast, embedded in the player below)

That’s a very fair point. Kyle Shanahan’s opinion matters more than anyone else in the entire organization other than Jed York, and there’s no way he’s spent enough time watching tape on Wilson, Lance, etc. to know for sure that he wants one of those guys in April.

While the clock is ticking on that decision because of how Jimmy Garoppolo’s contract is structured, we have a long, long way to go before we’ll know anything definitive on who will be under center in 2021.