Pick Six: Kyle Shanahan injury, NFL training camps

Hello football friends, and welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

The countdown is officially on. As of today, we’re just 10 days away from the first game of the NFL preseason. That comes Aug. 6 when the Cardinals face the Panthers in the Hall of Fame Game, and I have to say, this is easily the most excited I’ve ever been for a Cardinals-Panthers game. Sure, these two teams met in the 2015 NFC Championship Game, but that was a blowout, and it wasn’t played in Canton, Ohio.

Between now and the Hall of Fame Game, there’s going to be plenty of action on the field. By this time tomorrow, all 32 teams will have reported for training camp, and at that point, there will be so much football news coming out that your head will probably start to spin just trying to keep track of it. During the early days of training camp, there always seems to be some unexpected news, and that happened over the weekend with Kyle Shanahan. We’re going to start today with the details on his situation.

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1. Kyle Shanahan injured in car crash: What to know

Kyle Shanahan won’t be fulfilling his normal duties during training camp after suffering several serious injuries in a car crash earlier this month. The crash happened July 14, but the 49ers kept the situation under wraps until July 25, when they announced it just before the start of training camp.

Here’s what you need to know: 

Shanahan suffered multiple injuries. The 49ers coach broke his nose, his hand and three ribs, according to ESPN. Shanahan, who also suffered a serious concussion in the crash, needed more than 40 stitches on his face. The crash happened just after 6 p.m. PT on July 14 in Palo Alto, California, just a few miles from where Shanahan lives. Palo Alto Lt. Nicholas Martinez said drugs and alcohol were not factors in the crash.

49ers will put several assistant coaches in charge. With Shanahan sidelined for now, the 49ers announced that assistant head coach Chris Foerster will serve as the team’s de facto head coach alongside offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak and defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. Foerster got to run his first practice Sunday, and he sounded excited about the opportunity.

“I’m fired up,” Foerster said. “Not from the standpoint of Kyle’s down, this is my big chance. No, it’s just like, I love the opportunity to help. I think what I learned a long, long time ago, I believe you serve leadership. You help people by serving leadership as anybody I can help.”

There’s no timeline for Shanahan’s return. The 46-year-old Shanahan did attend the 49ers’ first training camp practice Sunday, but he was mostly an onlooker. The team isn’t in any rush to get him back on the field and will let doctors determine when he’s ready to return, according to general manager John Lynch.

“Kyle basically is going to be like in the protocol,” Lynch said. “And we’re going to let the doctors dictate how he comes back, when he comes back.”

Shanahan should be back for Week 1. The 49ers open the season against the Rams in Australia, and the team doesn’t expect him to miss the game.

“That’s not what we’re anticipating,” Lynch said. “That’s not what I’ve heard from the doctors. But just like we talked about with players, the timeline kind of takes care of itself. He’s got to meet certain markers. But I think the expectation is that long before that he’ll be better.”

Basically, the 49ers think Shanahan will be back by then, but there’s no guarantee.

If you want all the details on the Shanahan situation, we’ve got that here. 

2. Ranking the teams most likely to go from worst to first in 2026

One thing that makes the NFL so entertaining every year is that it’s one of the most unpredictable sports on the planet, and nothing proves that more than the league’s ability to produce at least one team every season that goes from worst to first.

Last year, we saw two teams pull off that feat. After finishing in last place in 2024, the Patriots bounced back by winning the AFC East and making it to the Super Bowl. The Bears also went from worst to first.

Since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, there have been 31 instances of a team going from worst to first, an average of 1.29 teams per year over that 24-season span. Basically, NFL history says at least one team will pull it off this year.

So which team will it be? 

Here are the rankings I came up with: 

1. Saints
2. Lions
3. Giants
4. Jets
5. Titans
6. Browns
7. Raiders
8. Cardinals

If you feel like yelling at me on Twitter about how bad the rankings are, feel free to do so here. 

Detroit is actually favored to win the NFC North, but I still think the Saints have a better shot of winning their division than the Lions have of winning theirs. 

If you’re wondering how I came up with these rankings, I’ve got the full explanation here. 

3. NFC training camp storylines: Keep your eyes on the Falcons QB battle and the Cowboys defense 

As of today, only six teams have their full roster in training camp, and five of them are in the NFC (Cardinals, Panthers, 49ers, Rams and Seahawks), so we thought it would be the perfect time to reveal some of the biggest training camp storylines in the conference.

Garrett Podell came up with one key storyline for each of the NFC’s 16 teams. Let’s check out what he had to say about three of them:

• Falcons: Who will win the QB battle? Michael Penix Jr. expects to be fully cleared for training camp and is aiming to be 100% for Week 1 after undergoing surgery in November for the third torn ACL of his collegiate and professional career. He hasn’t exactly shined since being selected eighth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, with only 12 career starts. Tua Tagovailoa, purely from a health standpoint, could be the favorite for the Week 1 starting job entering camp.
• Cowboys: How will the revamped defense look under new defensive coordinator Christian Parker? The Cowboys are undergoing a complete makeover after allowing an NFL-worst 30.1 points per game last season, a figure that ranked as the second-worst in the franchise’s 66 seasons. Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus is out, and 34-year-old Christian Parker has taken his place. Parker has revamped the Cowboys’ defensive play-call process, shortening calls from one or two sentences to two to five words. Dallas won seven games in 2025 despite fielding the NFL’s worst defense. If that unit can be merely average, the Cowboys could return to the playoffs for the first time since 2023.
• Giants: How will Malik Nabers look coming off a torn ACL? Nabers’ ACL injury wasn’t cut and dried. It also required a full meniscus repair and an additional procedure to remove inflamed scar tissue. However, the Giants did not place Nabers on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list to begin training camp, providing hope that he might be ready for Week 1. When he’s on the field, he’s dangerous: Nabers’ 127 career receptions through 19 games rank second-most in NFL history, behind only Giants teammate Odell Beckham Jr.’s 133.

If you want to check out the rest of our NFC storylines, we’ve got them here.  

4. Ranking the best running back duos in the NFL

Earlier this month, we ranked the NFL’s best receiving duos, and since we don’t want the running backs to feel left out, we decided to rank the best RB duos, too.

Jared Dubin was in charge of ranking the receiving duos, and he did such a good job that we decided to put him in charge of the running backs as well.

Let’s check out the top three: 

• Falcons: Bijan Robinson and Brian Robinson. Bijan Robinson is arguably the best running back in football. He can do everything there is to do on the field, and he seemingly does it with relative ease. Brian Robinson Jr. ran for at least 733 yards in each of his first three NFL seasons before landing in San Francisco last year, where he still managed to top 400 yards despite playing just 17% of the offensive snaps. In a larger role behind Bijan, he could do even more with his opportunities.
• Lions: Jahmyr Gibbs and Isiah Pacheco. This isn’t exactly the most balanced duo, considering Pacheco’s ineffectiveness since his 2024 leg injury, but Gibbs is just that good. If he’s not the best back in the league, it’s only because the guy in the No. 1 pairing on our list exists. Gibbs has topped 5.0 yards per carry in each of his three NFL seasons, racking up 49 total touchdowns along the way. He finally took over the lead role in the backfield last season and exploded as a receiver, finishing with more catches (77) than he had targets in either of his first two NFL seasons.
• Ravens: Derrick Henry and Justice Hill. This isn’t your typical thunder-and-lightning running back duo. Sure, Henry is a hulking back who can power through everyone in his path and stiff-arm anyone into the ground, but he’s also one of the fastest backs in the league once he hits a crease and can take it to the house from anywhere on the field. Hill might look like a jitterbug back who will make defenders miss in space, but his best skill is actually pass protection, where he’s one of the NFL’s best.

Dubin ranked the top 10 duos, and we’ve got his full list here. 

5. Ranking the best backup QB situations in the NFL: Three contenders on top

If you have a good backup QB on your roster, it can save your season. The 2017 Eagles will always be the best proof of that. After Carson Wentz went down with a torn ACL late in the season, Nick Foles stepped in and led the team on an improbable Super Bowl run.

The reason you need a good backup is because QB injuries happen all the time in the NFL. Just last year, we saw Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Brock Purdy and Jayden Daniels all miss time due to injury.

Having a good backup QB can make all the difference for a contending team, so Tyler Sullivan decided to rank the best backup QB situations in the NFL. Let’s check out his top three:

• 49ers: Mac Jones. Jones led the Niners to a 5-3 record as the starter while Purdy was out with an injury, keeping them in the division race and in the hunt for the No. 1 seed in the conference. In those starts, Jones was stellar, completing 69.6% of his passes for 2,151 yards, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions for a 97.4 passer rating.
• Texans: Davis Mills. Mills impressed in spot duty and really opened eyes over three starts last season. He led the Texans to a 3-0 record, completing 59.5% of his passes while averaging 239.7 passing yards per game. He also threw five touchdowns against just one interception for an 88.3 passer rating. That stretch helped keep Houston on track for a wild-card berth and served as the prototypical example of what teams hope to get when their starter is forced to miss multiple games.
• Bengals: Joe Flacco. The 41-year-old Flacco is still out there slinging it. After filling in for the injured Joe Burrow last season, the Bengals re-signed Flacco to a one-year, $6 million contract, and it’s not hard to see why. The veteran played at a high level and kept the offense moving at a solid clip.

Sullivan ranked the top 16 backup QB situations, and you can check out his full list here. 

6. Extra points: Bills unveil wild new alternate uniform

It’s been a busy few days around the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything, I put together a quick roundup for you.

• Bills to wear gray ‘Nickel City’ alternate uniform this year. The Bills have never worn a gray uniform or a blue helmet in franchise history, but they’ll do both this season. The team unveiled a new alternate uniform Monday that features a gray jersey paying homage to Buffalo’s “Nickel City” nickname. The Bills will also wear a blue-shell helmet featuring a single red stripe running down the middle. You can check out the new look here.
• Jacoby Brissett gets pay bump from Cardinals. The Cardinals QB skipped most of OTAs because he wanted a raise, and the team finally gave him one Sunday. Brissett, who had been scheduled to make just $4.88 million this year, will now make $15.5 million after the Cards reworked his contract. The deal could be worth as much as $21 million if he hits every incentive. Brissett will likely be the team’s Week 1 starter, which is why the Cardinals were willing to give him the pay bump, even if it was a decision that didn’t make much sense.
• Christian Gonzalez has a huge offer on the table from the Patriots. Gonzalez is one of the top corners in the NFL, and the Patriots are ready to pay him like one. Over the weekend, Robert Kraft said the team has a record-setting offer on the table. “We love Christian Gonzalez. We love him as a player, as a person, and that’s why we’ve made an offer to him to make him the highest-paid player to ever play that position in the NFL,” Kraft said Saturday, via ESPN. The highest-paid corner in the NFL is Trent McDuffie, who earns $31 million per year, so Gonzalez’s offer is north of that. Gonzalez, the 17th overall pick in 2023, still has two years left on his rookie deal, but the Patriots want to get an extension done now.
• Wife of Eric Bieniemy shot at home. Mia Bieniemy, the wife of Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, was shot Sunday at the couple’s home in Virginia, according to ESPN. Mia was shot by the couple’s son, Elijah Zion Bieniemy. Police said she is being treated for serious injuries. Eric was at training camp with the Chiefs in Missouri when the incident happened. He is in his first year back as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator after previously holding the job from 2018 through 2022. We have more on the situation here.