Joe Staley advocated to Jed York to make Kyle Shanahan next 49ers coach in 2017

The San Francisco 49ers have seen their fortunes change from four consecutive losing seasons from 2015-18 to three NFC Championships over the last four seasons, acquiring and developing talent through the draft, while making key transactions to land star players like left tackle Trent Williams.

However, a leading charge of that change has been the arrival of head coach Kyle Shanahan, who took a disastrous team to perennial playoff success after a few years of rebuilding, taking the league by storm with his creative play design and play calling.

But, Shanahan wasn't the only candidate that San Francisco was looking at following a 2-14 campaign during Chip Kelly's lone season as the head coach, instead going through various candidates before settling on their top choice.

During that process, CEO Jed York earned advice from a surprising source: offensive tackle Joe Staley, who advocated for the 49ers to hire Kyle Shanahan as their next head coach.

"I was like, 'You have to make this happen,' " Staley said during an appearance on the Mojobreak Media podcast last week, via NBC Sports Bay Area. " 'Everything I've heard about from a player's side, management side, he is the next big thing . He is an unbelievable coach, the way that he sees the game. You need to -- whatever you can do -- try to make this happen.' "

Six seasons later, Staley's choice has proven to be a good one, as the 49ers have seen success over the past few seasons with Shanahan and his offensive system at the helm.

"That's why I was so behind Shanahan, because I saw the system, saw what he was trying to build, him and [49ers General Manager] John [Lynch]," Staley said. "And it was the first time in my career, since probably before [Trent] Baalke and [Jim] Harbaugh, that I felt a connect from the top level down -- ownership, General Manager, head coach, support staff -- everything was on the same page, and I knew what they were going to build from that point on."

Staley played three seasons under Shanahan from 2017-19, earning a Pro Bowl nod in their first year together, while sticking around for the 49ers' lone Super Bowl appearance under the new regime in 2019 prior to retiring.