San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Report: 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan, NFLPA director get into sideline spat

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 6/1/23

The details of what exactly transpired aren’t fully known, but multiple reports indicate that San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan got into an altercation with NFL Players Association player director Dwayne Allen during a team practice on Wednesday.

While local reporters are not permitted to directly quote anything during OTAs in their reporting, several members of the 49ers media had varying accounts of the dispute.

“Shanahan got into a tense confrontation with a sideline observer from the NFL Players Association who took exception to something in practice; it came after Lenoir’s incidental contact with Bell,” Cam Inman of the Mercury News wrote. “Shanahan repeatedly asked the guest — former NFL tight end Dwayne Allen, according to NBC Sports Bay Area — to get off the practice field as they stood toe to toe. Players quietly watched the unusual scene unfold.”

Allen was standing with the players and coaches on the actual practice field when Shanahan approached him. Allen watched the remainder of practice from the sideline.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) May 31, 2023

“I guess Kyle Shanahan felt he was standing a little too close to the action and he just got up in his face and started yelling at him,” Grant Cohn of Sports Illustrated said, via his YouTube channel. “And Dwayne Allen is way bigger than Kyle and just started yelling right back at him. Dwayne Allen doesn’t back down and Kyle Shanahan kind of like basically throws a fit and then walks away.”

According to Cohn, 49ers general manager John Lynch smoothed things over with Allen after the incident, and Allen reportedly patched things up with Shanahan once practice concluded.

Neither the 49ers nor the NFLPA have publicly commented on the matter.

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