Niners coach Kyle Shanahan sees similarities between Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, John Elway
San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was a high school senior in Colorado when the Broncos won their first Super Bowl title in 1998.
Shanahan got to know the Broncos players well because his father, Mike, was Denver’s head coach for Super Bowl XXXII.
As Shanahan prepares for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs, he sees similarities between Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes and a player from that Broncos team nearly 25 years ago: John Elway.
During a news conference this week, Shanahan was asked how watching film of Mahomes and the Chiefs was different compared with other teams.
“Just because you don’t ever see people play like that, really,” Shanahan said of Mahomes. “There’s not many people in the history of football as good as him. Reminds me of Elway a ton watching him.
“Just how he’s a top thrower on the planet and the way he can move. He’s not always doing it just with a flat out 40 just running away from people, but the way he feels space and can create time, and as he does it, his vision down the field with that arm talent is tough to deal with.”
Many Chiefs fans don’t like Elway, but any comparison to a Hall of Famer is not a bad thing, right?
Shanahan also talked about the things the Chiefs do in the red zone and the difficulty of stopping the Mahomes/tight end Travis Kelce connection.
“I think Kelce is probably one of the best separators in this league, with the best hands in this league,” Shanahan said. “So whether he separates or not, he can catch that ball on guys but usually does separate and he’s got a quarterback that’s good to throw to him, so that’s always a problem.
“They do a good job getting down there and when you do stop stuff, that’s usually just when the play gets started too, so that’s why they’ve been pretty consistently good.”
