ProFootballTalk's Chris Simms has given an update on San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's car accident.
Shanahan was involved in a car accident on July 14; at the time, his injuries were described as "non-life-threatening." But Simms, Shanahan's longtime friend and former college teammate, said on "PFT Live" Monday that Shanahan's injuries were worse than the team originally let on.
Simms prefaced the discussion by pointing out to the audience and co-host Mike Florio that he is friends with both Shanahan and his wife, and they vacationed together in the South of France.
"All of a sudden one day I get a text from Kyle's wife, Mandy," he recounted. "She texts myself, and my wife, and it's like, 'oh no, Kyle's been a part of some horrible accident,' and she sent us some pictures right off the bat, and it was like, 'oh my gosh,'" Simms said.
"So ... just to paint the picture, you've seen the injury report, the broken ribs, 40 stitches in the face, the broken nose, broken left hand, of course the bad concussion, but when you first see it and it's fresh, and some of the cuts are still wide open, I mean, it's jarring. It's jarring."
Simms did not share any of the images.
"He was this close to maybe losing his right eye, right?" he continued. "The scar is so big right here [above his eyebrow]. And so all that stuff was just crazy to see. And of course I'm thinking of my friend, but it's tough. And he's still battling with this concussion. And it happened about what, 10 days ago now?"
Florio interjected that it had been 13 days since the accident; it occurred on July 14 and was disclosed on July 25.
Friends For Almost 3 Decades
Simms and Shanahan have been friends for more than 25 years; they played college football together at the University of Texas from 1999 to 2002.Both men are also the scions of NFL greats; Shanahan is the son of legendary NFL head coach Mike Shanahan, while Simms is the son of 2-time Super Bowl champion quarterback and New York Giants legend Phil Simms.
Simms played quarterback and went on to have an eight-year playing career with multiple teams before a brief stint in the coaching ranks, and then becoming an analyst.
Shanahan Recounts Accident
Shanahan himself spoke out about the accident in an interview with the San Francisco Standard on Tuesday.“I was driving. I was going 20 mph. I was not on my phone, but I dropped my phone, and it was stuck in my seat. I took my eyes off the road looking for my phone, and my car veered into someone,” Shanahan said. “It’s one of those roads where there’s no forgiveness. It’s one of those roads where I’ll teach my kids, you don’t drive in the left lane for no reason. You’re only allowed a foot. When I hit her, I’ll never forget how violent the impact was.”
Local news reports said the driver of the vehicle he hit was at fault, citing police reports. Palo Alto police said that he was actually the one at fault, but a clerical error with the State of California's accident database incorrectly listed the other driver. He told the outlet that the reports bothered him such that he had to speak up.
“It crushed me hearing [the other driver] getting blamed for it and to hear people think that people are hiding something for me,” Shanahan said. “I think people are good people and [recognize] it’s a personal thing.”
Shanahan confirmed that he almost lost his eye. He said he is still suffering from concussion symptoms, especially conflicting noise when more than one person speaks to him at once, and with the music that plays during practice.