Kyle Shanahan’s offenses haven’t all been the envy of the league like Atlanta’s was in 2016. In fact, some of his offenses really struggled. The interesting thing is that there’s a common denominator on all of the teams Shanahan has been the offensive coordinator for, and it isn’t the quarterback play.

Taking a look at the quarterback play in Shanahan offenses and the team surrounding them could provide some insight into how the 49ers might go about restructuring their offense under their new head coach.

The common denominator in Shanahan’s offenses is quarterback play was not the thing holding them back but rather the talent around the quarterback.

Matt Schaub, Houston Texans (2008-09)

Shanahan arrived in Houston in 2006 as the wide receivers coach and became the quarterback coach the following season. His first year as the offensive coordinator was 2008.

Heading into his first season with Shanahan as his OC, Schaub had just 13 NFL starts under his belt. In those, he managed 3,274 yards, with 15 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and a 61.3 percent completion rate.

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In his first year in Shanahan’s offense, Schaub made 11 starts, threw for 3,043 yards, 15 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and completed 66.1 percent of his passes. Houston’s offense ranked third in the NFL in yardage, averaging 382 yards per game.

The following season, Schaub enjoyed a career year. He started all 16 games for the Texans and led the league in completions (396), while completing 67.9 percent of his throws. He also led the league in yards (4,770) and connected on 29 touchdowns with 15 picks.

With Andre Johnson as the No. 1 receiver, Schaub had a go-to target. Johnson managed his only two All-Pro seasons in 2008 and 2009.

Wideout Kevin Walter also had his two best seasons under Shanahan’s guidance, amassing a career high 899 yards and a career high eight touchdowns in 2008.

In that 2008 season Schaub had career highs in completions, attempts, completion percentage, yards, touchdowns, yards-per-game and QB rating.

The talent level around Schaub reflected in Houston’s inability to ever quite break through in terms of scoring. The quarterback was able to pile up numbers with a bonafide No. 1 receiver like Johnson, but the offense never got over the hump and didn’t finish higher than 10th in scoring in either season, despite ranking third and fourth in yardage, respectively.

Donovan McNabb & Rex Grossman, Washington (2010-2011)

Shanahan’s first couple years in D.C. were rough from a quarterback perspective.

Donovan McNabb, at 34-years-old, was playing out his last days as an NFL quarterback. In 13 games in Shanahan’s offense, McNabb had arguably his worst season as a pro, throwing for 3,377 yards, 14 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

The following year, Rex Grossman got 13 starts and didn’t fare much better than McNabb. Grossman completed 57.9 percent of his throws for 3,151 yards, 16 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.

In those two years, Washington finished 25th and 26th in points, their lowest finishes with a Shanahan-led offense.

Those two seasons also speak to the importance of team-building. On the team quarterbacked by McNabb, Washington’s leading receivers were Santana Moss and a gentleman named Anthony Armstrong who made 13 starts in his three-year career.

On the Grossman-led squad, the team’s top wideout was 31-year-old Jabar Gaffney. Gaffney was a fine player throughout his career, but a No. 3 receiver at best.

Robert Griffin III, Washington (2012-13)

Washington forewent the complete rebuild idea during the 2012 draft and instead traded a slew of valuable draft picks for star Baylor quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III.

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They added Pierre Garcon at wide receiver and found a diamond in the rough when they drafted running back Alfred Morris in the sixth round. The onus was on Shanahan to make it work with a rookie quarterback and a patchwork offense, and the young OC made it happen.

Washington went 10-6, won their division, and had the NFL’s fourth-highest scoring offense.

It looked like things were finally falling into place for Washington, but Griffin injured his knee during the team’s Wild Card matchup against the Seahawks and was never quite the same afterwards.

In 13 games the following year he still completed 60.1 percent of his passes and threw for 3,203 yards, but he managed only 16 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. His knee injury decreased a lot of the mobility that made him dangerous an Washington’s offense couldn’t get back into the groove it had in 2012. They finished the season 23rd in scoring.

Brian Hoyer, Cleveland Browns (2014)

Hoyer’s 13 starts in 2014 are the most he’s made in an NFL season. While his season wasn’t very good, (55.3 percent completion rate, 3,326 yards, 12 TDs and 13 INTs), it was a small miracle he was able to compile any numbers of significance.

Not only was he a first-time starter, he was working with Andrew Hawkins and Miles Austin as his two leading receivers. This is another example of Shanahan squeezing the very most out of a relatively underwhelming batch of talent.

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Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons (2015-16)

What Shanahan did with Ryan is a prime example of what his offense can do when it’s properly equipped.

In 2015, Ryan had a year we were accustomed to seeing from him. He threw for over 4,000 yards, completing over 60 percent of his passes with 21 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

But in 2016, with Ryan in his season in the system, Atlanta stockpiled talent around the quarterback that elevated him to a nearly omnipotent level. With Julio Jones, Taylor Gabriel, Mohamed Sanu, Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman, Shanahan was able to take a perpetually very good offense and make it great.

Ryan set career highs in completion percentage (69.9), yards (4,944), touchdowns (38), yards-per-attempt (10.1), yards-per-completion (13.3) and quarterback rating (117.1). Those numbers made him the NFL MVP while the Falcons scored the seventh-most points in league history (540).

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So how does this affect the 49ers? It means they may want to exercise patience when trying to find that MVP-caliber quarterback. Shanahan’s track record would indicate his offenses’ success is derived from the weapons at a quarterback’s disposal, not only the quarterback himself.

If the 49ers can manage to use free agency and the draft to bring in an extra running back to go alongside Carlos Hyde, while also bringing in a top-tier perimeter talent, the need for an elite quarterback becomes less dire.

Yes, they’ll need one eventually, and maybe that player is in the 2017 NFL draft, but the point is they don’t have to dive at the opportunity right away. They can afford to sit back and let the team develop before settling on their signal-caller.

Finding a franchise quarterback is the hardest thing to do in the NFL, but with Kyle Shanahan at the helm, the 49ers have put themselves in a great position to do so.