When you’re watching practice, the goal of the media member is to provide as much information as possible to those who are unable to attend. Throughout the years, charting and sharing practice statistics have become increasingly prevalent.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan believes these stats are messing with his player’s heads. Just like in real, meaningful games, stats rarely tell the whole story. A receiver can impact a game without having 10 catches. A quarterback having a completion percentage north of 70 doesn’t necessarily mean he made a difference.

For example, Jalen Hurts completed 15 of his 20 passes in the NFC Divisional round, but he only threw for 128 yards. Shanahan shared why he’d rather see his quarterbacks let it rip in practice and explained why.

Kyle was explicitly talking about Mac Jones and rebuilding his confidence after Jones said he needed to relearn a few things when it comes to playing quarterback in Shanahan’s system. “Trying to get them to trust what they do and let it rip. That’s all I want in practice,” Shanahan said. “You go through all these practices, and you never throw a pick; you’re probably not getting better.”

We all remember when Jimmy Garoppolo threw five interceptions during training camp in 2019. Garoppolo’s job was never in jeopardy. Trey Lance made several mistakes. Shoot, Brock Purdy threw multiple interceptions during Tuesday’s mandatory minicamp practice.

Practice is about the process. It’s the ideal time to make mistakes and test what you can and can’t get away with. Unfortunately, in the eyes of Shanahan, having media members around to share those perceived mistakes is a detriment to the progress a quarterback can make.

“I think that’s one of the biggest challenges having you guys around, no offense to you guys,” Shanahan said. “But they used to not report people’s stats every day and say who’s ahead, who’s back, who’s whatever. You could just practice. And when guys play to practice that way, they don’t get better at anything.”

You can see where Shanahan is coming from. You would also think that a professional football player wouldn’t let social media influence how he plays. They’re the ones in these meetings daily. They know that quarterback coach Mick Lombardi isn’t talking about being 14-for-24. Lombardi cares about quarterbacks making the correct decision, playing on time, going through his reads, etc.

Still, it was interesting to hear Shanahan reference practice stats. It’s a sign that perhaps social media does matter, regardless of what we think.