{"id":36189,"date":"2025-05-09T10:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T10:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/36189\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T10:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T10:55:10","slug":"klay-kubiak-49ers-new-oc-talks-mccaffrey-purdy-and-wrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/36189\/","title":{"rendered":"Klay Kubiak, 49ers’ new OC, talks McCaffrey, Purdy and WRs"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA CLARA \u2014 Klay Kubiak says \u201cnot much\u201d has changed with his promotion to 49ers offensive coordinator<\/a> from pass-game specialist this season.<\/p>\n

However, by taking on that title, he\u2019ll speak weekly this season about an offense that remains under coach Kyle Shanahan\u2019s control<\/a>. just as he did Thursday on the eve of the 49ers\u2019 rookie camp<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome things naturally change when you get a new title,\u201d Kubiak said. \u201cBut for the most part I\u2019ll be doing the same work: putting game plans together and getting our guys ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s done \u201ccoordinator-esque\u201d work the past couple years, and that included play-calling duties in the preseason and regular-season finale, the first two times Shanahan delegated that job in his eight years leading the 49ers.<\/p>\n

Three weeks into the voluntary offseason program, Kubiak shared insights Thursday on three key aspects of the offense:<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Francisco 49ers\u2019 Christian McCaffrey (23) leaves the field following their 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group<\/p>\n

McCAFFREY\u2019S IMPORTANCE<\/p>\n

Running back Christian McCaffrey<\/a> is looking spry after injuries kept him out of all but four games last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys saw in 2023 how important he is to what we want to be as an offense. He\u2019s an elite player and we\u2019re going to do everything we can to get him the ball as much as we can,\u201d Kubiak said. \u201c\u2026 We\u2019re going to hand him the ball, we\u2019re going to throw him the ball. How he changes defenses when he\u2019s on the field, for how they have to play us in certain coverages, in putting more guys in the box to stop the run, it has an effect on the opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n

After playing 81 percent of the snaps en route to 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors, McCaffrey missed the first two months last season with Achilles tendinitis, then a knee injury sidelined him the final five games.<\/p>\n

Added Kubiak: \u201cChristian is a guy who\u2019s really hard to take off the field for a lot of reasons: One, because he\u2019s a great player, but, two, because he does not want to come out. Sometimes it\u2019s a battle. You have to be aware of it. Sometimes you have to pull him off the field every now and then. But that\u2019s what makes him a great player: He\u2019s so competitive and he wants to be out there. It\u2019s on us as coaches to do our best to balance that out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy (13) looks to throw against the Detroit Lions in the first quarter at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group<\/p>\n

QUARTERBACK OUTLOOK\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brock Purdy continues to take ownership of the offense, albeit he\u2019s now having to block out ongoing contract negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrock\u2019s had almost 2 \u00bd seasons of tape where he can look at his cutups and look at his games over that time to study himself, to see where he\u2019s gotten better, where he needs to continue to get better,\u201d Kubiak said. \u201cHe\u2019s a great student of himself. He wants to study himself. He wants to see where he can improve. He wants to be told the truth about what we think about how he can improve. He\u2019s had a great offseason so far. It\u2019s kind of what we expect from Brock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kubiak joined the 49ers\u2019 staff in 2021 as a defensive quality control coach, and he recalls how the organization looked favorably back then on Mac Jones, who was passed over with the No. 3 overall pick in favor of Trey Lance but now joins the team as Purdy\u2019s backup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMac\u2019s a really good thrower, he stands in the pocket, he\u2019s a strong guy, he\u2019s really smart. He has a lot of traits we like for a starting quarterback,\u201d Kubiak said. \u201cHis career has kind of gone up and down the past couple of years, but we saw the same things in Jacksonville that we loved about him as a college prospect and that really excites us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Tanner Mordecai is in line to move from the practice squad to the QB3 role, this offseason\u2019s other quarterback addition is seventh-round pick Kurtis Rourke<\/a>, of whom Kubiak said: \u201cThe physical tools, the toughness, the leadership \u2013 he\u2019s a winner, and we think we got a really good player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Francisco 49ers\u2019 Ricky Pearsall (14) is congratulated on a catch by San Francisco 49ers\u2019 George Kittle (85) against the Detroit Lions in the third quarter at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

WIDE RECEIVER ROOM<\/p>\n

While veteran Demarcus Robinson and fourth-round pick Jordan Watkins join the wide receiver mix, Kubiak doled out compliments for the leading incumbents.<\/p>\n

Kubiak offered no timeline on Aiyuk\u2019s return from knee reconstruction but did say: \u201cHe\u2019s doing everything he can do to give himself a chance to get back on the field. I know when we get back for (training) camp, he\u2019s going to be working every day and busting his butt to get ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jauan Jennings, last year\u2019s leading wide receiver: \u201cYou ask Jauan and he says, \u2018I\u2019m No. 1.\u2019 That\u2019s his mindset and why we love Jauan. That\u2019s how he sees himself. He sees himself as a dominant player. You all saw last year that when he got more chances, he played really well. I\u2019m really fired up about Jauan.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Ricky Pearsall, whose rookie season was delayed by a gunshot wound through his chest: \u201cI think Ricky sees himself as a starter. He wants to be a starting receiver. Whether B.A. is out there or not, Ricky has that same expectation of himself. We wouldn\u2019t want it any other way. That\u2019s how he saw himself last year and that\u2019s just how he is naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jacob Cowing, whose rookie season was mostly confined to punt return duties: \u201cWe\u2019ll get Jake as much involved as he shows his growth and development, what kind of camp he\u2019s had. Jake has done an outstanding job showing up to our offseason in great shape and getting better. \u2026\u00a0 He\u2019s given himself a chance to get to camp and compete and to really contribute on offense.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA \u2014 Klay Kubiak says \u201cnot much\u201d has changed with his promotion to 49ers offensive coordinator from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,2947,7,1921,929,6,1161,252,2624,2623,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-36189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-49ers-hq","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-inside-sports","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-san-francisco","15":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","16":"tag-sanfrancisco","17":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114477513117245795","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}