Players up and down the San Francisco 49ers roster have been effusive in their praise of the organization since the turnover to John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan. And I don’t know if any player has appeared more excited than Joe Staley.

Entering the 12th season of his career, Staley has seen the highs and lows of the organization. He’s been part of the rebuilding process, and he has taken part in the Super Bowl. Throughout that time, he’s dealt with an assortment of coaches of varying skill levels. When it comes to play-calling, he puts Kyle Shanahan at the top of the list by a big margin.

Staley was on the Rich Eisen Show Thursday morning, and he described Shanahan as “next-level genius stuff.” Staley was effusive in praising Shanahan’s Xs and Os understanding, as well as the bigger picture. Here’s the full comment from Staley:

“I’ve never been around a play caller like him as far the Xs and Os, and just completely understanding how every single piece fits together. It’s not just, with him it’s not just, he doesn’t have just a mastery of the run game or the passing game or the screen or the draw. I mean, he’s got a complete understanding of everything. Not only just like what we’re trying to do schematically, but how it fits, and how every single person on the football field has a job, and that the play has to be set up in a certain way, and the way he calls a play in the game to kind of set up something in maybe the third, fourth quarter down the road, and maybe how the defense is kind of attacking. He’s like next-level genius stuff that I’ve never really been around.

”As far as that, it’s really, really exciting as a player to be around a guy like that, that you just have full, full confidence every single time you’re on the field that this is the exact right play call that we need in a situation. It’s just up to us as players to go out and execute it. Because you’re never confused or thinking that maybe, ‘Man, I don’t know why he’s calling this.’ It’s never that situation with him right now.

”And then also, just in front of the team, he’s been unbelievable. He’s been a great communicator, keeps it very honest, keeps guys accountable. You kind of worry — not worry – but you have questions — the guy’s been a coordinator his whole entire career and just how he’s gonna step into that head coaching role. And last year, just seeing how he was with the team, in front of the team, and communicating with the guys, this has been, I’ve been nothing but pleased with him as a head coach.”