With Tom Cable out, it seems the 49ers' new head coach will be Kyle Shanahan

Considering Kyle Shanahan is the last San Francisco 49ers head-coaching candidate who hasn’t dropped out of the running, it’s probably safe to assume he’ll be San Francisco’s next head coach.

Doug Hendrickson, the agent for Seattle Seahawks offensive line coach Tom Cable, said his client has withdrawn his name from consideration for the 49ers job. New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels also withdrew his name from consideration. That leaves Shanahan, the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator who can’t officially be hired until the Falcons are eliminated from the playoffs.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter said the 49ers, who are the last NFL team with a vacancy at head coach, are going to offer Shanahan the job and are willing to wait for him.

Unless there’s some last-minute snafu, Shanahan will be a fine hire for the 49ers. San Francisco kind of stumbled into hiring one of the NFL’s best candidates in this cycle, who coordinated a terrific Falcons offense and has grown up around football. Shanahan’s father Mike won two Super Bowls as head coach of the Denver Broncos. Shanahan did a great job with quarterback Matt Ryan, who is the favorite to win this season’s MVP award, as well as a running game that ranked fifth in the NFL in rushing yards per game. Shanahan has been an offensive coordinator in the NFL since 2008, serving that role with the Houston Texans, Washington Redskins, Cleveland Browns and Falcons.

The 49ers job wasn’t a coveted one, because they have had three coaches the past three seasons, an ownership situation that isn’t seen as favorable and not much talent on the roster. San Francisco is 7-25 the last two seasons. But other teams with head-coaching openings were apparently concerned about waiting for assistants who are still in the playoffs, so the 49ers were the last team to have an opening. If Shanahan, who just turned 37, wanted a head-coaching job in 2017, he had only one option left.

It seems that’s how the 49ers will land Shanahan, one of the hottest assistants in the NFL.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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