Shanahan on why he hasn’t named a starting QB: What do you gain by naming it?

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan answered questions ahead of Wednesday’s practice, and, naturally, he was flooded with questions about how will be the quarterback. But, first, Shanahan was asked what the advantages of not naming a starting quarterback are:

“It would help end those questions. If you could give me another reason that’s a big advantage that helps our team and has anything to do with us, I’ll name him. I don’t think it does.

Why tell people? I know you guys want an answer and stuff, which is fine. I get the suspense of it. I’m not going to answer it just to end you guys’ suspense.”

Here’s the full video:

“I’ve got a pretty good idea, but as you can see with everything, I don’t know our schedule. There’s lots of days between now and then, at every position. You all have a pretty good idea, and our team does, also.”

Shanahan isn’t the only person who has a good idea about who the starter would be. Jimmy Garoppolo was asked the same question, and his smile says it all:

Both Shanahan and Garoppolo cited the Saints quarterback situation where two quarterbacks were playing.

Here’s Shanahan:

“Watching New Orleans doing it with Drew and Taysom, it’s been pretty cool the last three years. I’m sure that took some time to kind of get the flow of… but you don’t know until you go through it.”

Last week after the final joint practice against the Chargers, Garoppolo was seen speaking with former Saints QB Drew Brees. Garoppolo said they spoke about the dynamic coming off the field with Taysom Hill. Jimmy declined to go into detail about their conversation other than Brees telling Jimmy to “stay ready.”

We’re asking the wrong questions. The 49ers roster is good enough, with a healthy QB, to beat the Lions or Eagles, no matter if it’s Garoppolo or Lance. Who starts Week 1 or 2 is great to speculate about in the preseason, but it misses the big picture.

We should be asking how long Garoppolo’s leash is or who will start once the divisional games happen. But, even then, what matters is who has the keys to the offense once the team is rolling come the middle of the season.