Is Kyle Shanahan “pass happy” as a playcaller?
The San Francisco 49ers offense is a top-efficient group led by head coach and playcaller Kyle Shanahan. 2023 was a banner season for the offense as the team put up a ton of points and yardage on its way to a Super Bowl berth. Last season, Shanahan and the offense impressed; despite the massive injuries, the unit was top-ranked in the NFL. Even with Mac Jones taking significant snaps, the 49ers offense ranked second in the NFL in passing DVOA, according to FTN Fantasy at 44.7%. Overall, the 49ers finished second with an offensive DVOA of 18.2%. The offense finished tenth in the NFL with 25.7 points per game. The team finished with 12 wins and a playoff victory despite allowing 342 yards per game (20th in the NFL) and 21.8 points per game (13th in the league). A new stat might point to Shanahan’s tendencies as a playcaller. Football Insights has put together a chart for playcallers and their pass rate over expected (PROE). Overall, Shanahan is near the bottom of the league in calling pass plays. At -19.%, Shanahan is behind Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll, and Joe Brady. Finishing second in passing DVOA despite being at the bottom of the league in passing play calls speaks to the efficiency of the 49ers’ offense and how they create chunk plays without a high volume of pass plays. The trends continue as the 49ers’ offense gets into the red zone, as you can see from the graph above. Inside the 20, Shanahan’s pass rate drops to -4.2%, and in the red zone, it sits at -4.7%, which is actually closer to league average. Even on third down and five-plus yards, Shanahan is in the negative at -0.7%. In 2026, the 49ers’ running game has to get efficient. It’s clear Shanahan isn’t abandoning the run, but he may be more inclined to throw the football with the additions of Mike Evans , Christian Kirk , De’Zhaun Stribling to the room of Ricky Pearsall , DeMarcus Robinson , Jacob Cowing , Jordan Watkins , and George Kittle returning from injury. Christian McCaffrey benefited the most from the passing offense in 2025, and that should continue in 2026. It’s interesting to go through these numbers knowing how efficient the 49ers offense has been under Shanahan. These numbers include his playcalling in Cleveland , Houston , and Atlanta . Is it time for Shanahan to work in some more drop-back passing game?
