San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was recently involved in a car accident. While the news at first came as a shock, the storylines that have since followed have been arguably just as head-scratching.
Some NFL reporters are even buying into various conspiracy theories about the incident. But folks on social media don’t want to hear it.
Kyle Shanahan’s Accident Ignites Controversy
Recently, ESPN NFL analyst Matt Miller was involved in a serious car accident that led to the amputation of his left arm. Conspiracies soon followed.
Now, it seems a couple of NFL reporters are looking for hidden dirt with Shanahan’s accident, too, but social media has quickly grown tired of that narrative.
It started with Tony Farmer questioning the fact that it took 11 days from the point of Shanahan’s accident to when the news broke, suggesting he and the 49ers received special treatment, and suggesting the 49ers’ head coach may have been driving recklessly.
Yet, one popular 49ers account on X, Coach Yac, didn’t want to hear it and called out Farmer by saying, “This guy is ridiculous”
This guy is ridiculous pic.twitter.com/n4WVsAAnhu
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) July 26, 2026
KOAColorado’s Benjamin Allbright was also quick to pile on Farmer, saying, “There’s a reason absolutely no one will hire Tony Farmer. I cannot stress enough that people should not get into business with that guy.”
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Another X user, ‘DylanIsADragon,’ called Shanahan’s incident a “private issue,” adding that anyone who’s upset about not knowing all the details earlier is “so weird.”
“Being upset that you didn’t know about Kyle Shanahan’s crash earlier is so weird to me. It’s a private issue and the 49ers owe you nothing.”
Being upset that you didn’t know about Kyle Shanahan’s crash earlier is so weird to me.
It’s a private issue and the 49ers owe you nothing. pic.twitter.com/RCb24Agp3R
— DylanIsADragon (@DylanIsADragon) July 25, 2026
David Lombardi of the SF Standard called those questioning the official narrative surrounding Shanahan’s crash and wrote, “It’s actually creepy… there are some people on here who really need to get a life”
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Meanwhile, one commenter is suggesting Farmer is now stretching for new angles and said, “That feeling when your last two ‘investigations’ didn’t land. Also, sliding the Russini angle in there is a great bit, if not nasty work.”
Jose Sanchez, deputy editor of OnSI’s 49ers branch, called Farmer “psychotic.”
Randy Wilkins questioned why anyone was questioning an accident and said, “There are too many weird people out here. He got into a car accident that didn’t involve drugs or alcohol. There was no wrongdoing on anyone’s part. Why is this a thing?”
There are too many weird people out here. He got into a car accident that didn’t involve drugs or alcohol. There was no wrongdoing on anyone’s part. Why is this a thing? https://t.co/96iYMFJu1B
— Randy Wilkins (@pamsson) July 26, 2026
One commenter even questioned Farmer’s antics and called him out by saying, “Because an actual journalist doesn’t speculate wildly in public. They will do that investigation and then if there is something substantiated by enough sources to report, they will. Otherwise, it’s just slop. What you did, sadly, is what social media/influencer culture rewards.”
Another suggested Farmer was trying to “get 15 seconds of fame out of someone else’s injury.
“You: trying to get 15 seconds of fame out of someone else’s injury.”
You: trying to get 15 seconds of fame out of someone else’s injury.
— Gregor Clegane (@GamecockNiner) July 26, 2026
One user urged Farmer to “Give it a rest dude.”
One X user suggested that Farmer’s posts are “sad to see.”
“Either delusional thinking that he needs to play detective to uncover an imagined coverup, or he wants the clicks/engagement. Sad to see.”
Either delusional thinking that he needs to play detective to uncover an imagined coverup, or he wants the clicks/engagement.
Sad to see.
— Game Agent ET (@GameAgentET) July 26, 2026
Social media users on X also piled on Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, who also questioned the timeline of events, from when the accident happened, and when the public learned about it.
One user wrote in response, “Typical Florio 🤡”
Typical Florio 🤡 https://t.co/RU7kWte7Bg
— ᴺʸ²ᵀʰᵃᴮᵃʸ (@Ny2ThaBay) July 26, 2026
Then, Farmer finally spoke up to defend himself by releasing a video response.
“Man, I woke up this morning to people calling me a conspiracy theorist,” Farmer said. “I got one person telling me he wants me to die in a fiery car crash. You’re not a conspiracy theorist if you’re requesting public records. I’m sorry, this is a basic tenet of journalism.”
Then, Farmer circled ESPN’s Adam Schefter into all of this.
“I am questioning how Adam Schefter was able to tweet this news one minute after the 49ers broke the news on their personal Twitter account,” Farmer said. “He would have had to be on the computer or phone at that exact moment, and had it come across his feed at that exact moment, and typed 73 words in less than a minute. To me, that sounds like a conspiracy theory. Schefter’s one of the fastest typers in the entire world?”
To Farmer, something smells fishy, and he thinks Schefter, plus The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami, had some inside information that they, for whatever reason, were withholding.
“Doesn’t it seem more likely that Adam Schefter probably had the news in advance?” Farmer asks. “Just like Tim Kawakami did 90 minutes in advance? Y’all saw Tim Kawakami’s tweet. To me, that seems more likely than this crazy theory that Schefter is one of the fastest typers in the world and was on his computer at the exact right moment.”
He added, “That theory is even crazier! I’m just asking why Schefter didn’t report this news earlier. It’s his job to report news, so he would have had to have some sort of incentive to not do his job and report that news, right?”
Farmer is asking a lot of questions, but social media just doesn’t want to hear them when it comes to Shanahan’s accident.
