The NFL world will be unpacking the ESPN report on the New England Patriots for a long time, and we’ve already discussed parts of it at length. One aspect we didn’t spend much time on is the fact that San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan sought out New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick at the NFL Combine.
The goal? Shanahan wanted to discuss the Patriots’ win over the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl, in an effort to improve himself as a coach. The Seth Wickersham report talks about this briefly, as a way to illustrate how quickly Belichick arrived at the decision to offer Jimmy Garoppolo to Shanahan and the 49ers for just a second-round pick, when the asking price had previously been something much more.