San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is recovering from a car accident that left him with severe injuries.
The Athletic’s 49ers writer Matt Barrows recently recalled a photo of Shanahan after the crash, saying the coach appeared as if he’d gone toe-to-toe with a boxing legend.
Matt Barrows Says Kyle Shanahan Looked Like He’d Fought Mike Tyson
Recently, on “Willard & Dibs,” Mark Willard asked Barrows how Shanahan looks after his devastating car crash. Barrows responded that “physically he looks fine,” before adding that wasn’t always the case.
“He showed us all a picture of him, his face, shortly after the accident, and it’s brutal,” Barrows said. “I mean, swollen up, beyond recognition brutal.”
He added that Shanahan had a deep gash over his right eye that required 40 stitches to close.
“He looked like he was in a 16-round bout with Mike Tyson,” Barrows said. “[He] was, like I said, unrecognizable.”
“He showed us a picture of him — his face — shortly after the accident and it’s brutal. Swollen up beyond recognition. Looked like he was in a 16-round bout with Mike Tyson. He was unrecognizable.”@mattbarrows on meeting with Kyle Shanahan after his crash | @WillardAndDibs pic.twitter.com/dUSf6xvsfw
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) July 28, 2026
Shanahan is also dealing with a broken hand, broken ribs, and a concussion. But according to Barrows, you’d have to look closely at his face these days to spot any lingering damage from the crash.
Shanahan addressed the crash publicly for the first time on Tuesday, meeting with Bay Area reporters for about 30 minutes. His main goal was to set the record straight on who was responsible.
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“I hit her,” Shanahan said, pushing back on an official collision report that had incorrectly placed blame on the other driver, a 21-year-old woman.
According to Shanahan, he was driving his Tesla Model S at roughly 20 miles per hour near Alma Street and Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto on July 14 when his phone slipped off his lap.
He glanced down to find it, taking his eyes off the road for a couple of seconds. When he looked up, he’d already drifted into the other driver’s SUV.
The impact triggered his airbags, breaking his nose, while the visor caused the gash above his eye. He also suffered a concussion and three broken ribs in the crash.
Palo Alto Police Lieutenant Nicolas Martinez confirmed Shanahan’s version of events, saying a clerical error had caused the state database to misreport fault.
Shanahan was, in fact, found responsible for the collision, and no citation was issued to either driver, which police say isn’t unusual.
Shanahan told reporters the concussion has been the toughest part of his recovery, though he clarified he never lost consciousness or experienced memory loss. Fatigue remains an ongoing issue, and he has no firm timetable for a full return to coaching.
