Six head coaches, eight offensive coordinators, and a plethora of playbooks. That's what has faced San Francisco 49ers left tackle Joe Staley over his 11-year NFL career.
As the longest tenured player on the roster, Staley has an eye for discerning qualities in players, coaches and executives. The veteran tackle believes that with John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan, there's credibility that suggests a turnaround is possible in San Francisco.
"You say that every year. Everybody comes in at this time of the year and is saying the exact same thing, 'this is the year that we're doing it'," Staley said. But I do feel different about this year. It's one thing to say it. But I do feel confident with the direction the teams going."
Shanahan has earned the admiration of the 49ers locker room, and his resume speaks for itself. It's a combination of Shanahan's transparency, experience and comprehensive football acumen that has players sold on their coach.
"A coach with Kyle Shanahan's knowledge, I think it was well documented the way I feel about playing in the system and how excited I am about it," Staley added. "His playbook is known as being very intricate. It's a challenge that I think we're all gladly accepting because of his track record and his overall knowledge of the game."
Shanahan brought over more than just X's and O's. It's an infectious culture being built in San Francisco that began at the start of free agency and continued throughout training camp.
Since the start of the offseason, the 49ers have been committed to acquiring "football guys". Staley has seen an immediate impact of the new faces on the overall culture in the locker room.
"I'd much rather play with the guys that have the work ethic and are all about football all the time. The guys we've brought in and getting to know them this offseason, that's their mentality," Staley said. "They're 100% football and that's all they care about. I'm excited to be playing football with guys like that.
"It's been very clear from day one about what the mindset should be for every player here. And it's up to us to go out there for training camp and build off of that."
