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Kyle Shananan didn’t want to lose any of his assistants.

But after blocking one initially, he let him go while retaining a pair of his staffers who were wanted elsewhere.

Shanahan initially blocked the Broncos from interviewing quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello for their offensive coordinator job, but ultimately changed his mind and let them go. He also lost assistant offensive line coach Adam Stenavich to Matt LaFleur’s staff with the Packers as offensive line coach, but he prevented passing game coordinator Mike LaFleur (Matt’s brother) and run game coordinator Mike McDaniel opportunities to be coordinators who didn’t get to call plays.

The Packers and Vikings wanted to talk to LaFleur, while the Cardinals were interested in McDaniel.

“I needed more time to talk about it,” Shanahan said of the initial denial on Scangarello, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area.

Shanahan said he talked to Broncos coach Vic Fangio and General Manager John Elway to make sure it was an actual promotion for his assistant before letting Scangarello go.

“The initial reaction [was] I don’t want to lose good coaches, at all, and you don’t have to,” Shanahan said. But it’s very tough to keep a coach back when he’s getting a huge promotion. It’s a tough position that we’re in because I want to do right by people, always. But my No. 1 job is to do what’s best for the 49ers. That’s what you got to always think about, and losing good coaches is not what’s best for the 49ers.”

LaFleur and McDaniel have a year left on their contracts, and Shanahan said they were being offered one-year extensions.

But they’d also have to weigh the financial security against the possibility of moving onto other jobs after next season.