The Tennessee Titans opened training camp Tuesday with Mike Borgonzi and Robert Saleh fielding questions, and the topic of Kyle Shanahan naturally came up.

The San Francisco 49ers head coach suffered serious injuries in a car accident on July 14. Shanahan, a close friend and former boss of Saleh’s, sustained broken ribs, multiple stitches in his face, and other injuries that are keeping him from fulfilling his head coaching duties during 49ers training camp for the time being.

Saleh spoke candidly about his conversations with Shanahan and the severity of the situation.

“I’ve talked to him, talked to him a couple of days after it. So he’s very fortunate. We’re all very fortunate that he’s still here,” Saleh said. “I know just talking to him and his wife, Mandy, that it was not, you know, you see now what you see now is nowhere near what it was about 2 weeks ago. So thank God he’s okay. Thank God his family is intact. But he’s doing great. He looks great. Saw him on FaceTime a couple of days ago. You know, the surgeon did a great job, but it’s not easy, not easy for him to go through what he went through. So I’ve talked to him. That was a tough one.”

Shanahan takes responsibility for the accident

Shanahan served as Saleh’s boss for half of the past decade during their shared time in San Francisco, and the two have maintained a close friendship since Saleh left the 49ers organization. That context made Tuesday’s comments feel less like a coach addressing the media and more like a friend expressing genuine relief.

Later on Tuesday, reporter Nick Wagoner tweeted that Shanahan spoke with members of the San Francisco media about the incident at length. Shanahan clarified that the accident was his fault, noting that the Highway Patrol database contained a clerical error attributing blame to the woman driving the other vehicle. He explained that he took his eyes off the road briefly to find his phone, which had fallen between the seats. When he looked up, he had crossed over the center line and collided head-on with the woman’s SUV.

What this means for the Titans’ preseason plans

The Titans are scheduled to travel to Santa Clara to face San Francisco in their Week 1 preseason game, with a joint practice planned beforehand. As of Tuesday, those plans remain unchanged despite Shanahan’s absence from the 49ers’ sideline. Other members of San Francisco’s coaching staff are handling duties while he recovers.

For Saleh to describe the difference between what Shanahan looked like shortly after the accident and what he saw on FaceTime a couple of weeks later speaks to how serious the situation was. The fact that Saleh praised the surgeon’s work on what appears to be a facial laceration, and emphasized that Shanahan looks “a lot better” now than he did initially, paints a picture of a recovery that still has a ways to go.