Gus Bradley’s Son Joins 49ers, Creating Unique Father-Son Dynamic

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As a longtime NFL coach, Gus Bradley rarely got the opportunity to watch his son, Carter, play football in person during his career in high school and college. 

Fall weekends were spent preparing his teams for games as either an assistant or head coach, while Carter played quarterback in high school in Florida and then college at Toledo and South Alabama.

Now the two are part of the same team after Carter Bradley signed a contract last week with San Francisco, where Gus is in his first season as a defensive assistant.

“He’s really excited,” Gus said Sunday. “I can tell you that. We haven’t had much conversation. It [has] kind of been a whirlwind when that happened, but I know he’s really excited to be here.”

Gus Bradley said his relationship with Carter has always been more father-son than coach-player, with the focus being more on life lessons such as how to respond to being cut than how to decipher a quarters defense.

They had those types of conversations just after Carter was waived by the Raiders before the start of training camp. Gus got a heads-up that the 49ers planned to bring Carter in for a tryout last week, asking if he would be OK with it.

“I said, ‘Yeah, but as far as you know, that’s Carter Bradley and I’m Gus Bradley and we’re separate,'” Gus said. “You never want to put the organization in a tough position and that’s not how this organization operates. It’s too competitive. You only have so many roster spots.”

Carter Bradley took part in the tryout with several other players last Wednesday. Gus and Carter talked briefly after the workout and Gus said goodbye before he headed into a meeting, figuring that Carter would be sent on a plane home right away.

Gus came out of the meeting later that day and Carter was still at the facility waiting for word of what would come next. Carter got the news later that day that he had made the team. Coach Kyle Shanahan said Carter looked so good in the tryout and on a few dozen plays last preseason with Las Vegas that he earned the spot as the team’s fourth quarterback.

“That’s what I appreciate about them,” Gus said. “It wasn’t like ‘Gus, hey we’ll give you a heads-up. Here’s what we’re going to do.’ It was truly he’s Carter Bradley. I’m over on the defensive side, and we’ll handle it that way.”

Gus Bradley acknowledges he has more interest in Carter’s performance than other offensive players but is able to compartmentalize it during practices when he is focused so intently on the defensive side of the ball.

Sometimes it will take until film review later for him to see what Carter did on a certain play.

“I’m not going to lie — I’m still a parent, and he’s here,” Gus said. “But I thought it would be where you would be constantly looking. How’s he doing? It really is not that. It’s Gus, where did that play hit. You can’t watch what’s happening on the offense and watch the whole defensive and do that.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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