Kyle Shanahan breaks 49ers silence on Jed York arrest, says he still has 'respect' for the club owner

The San Francisco 49ers said they weren't going to comment about owner Jed York getting caught up in a prostitution sting over the weekend because the legal matter is closed , but that policy collapsed in coach Kyle Shanahan's first press conference since the incident.

Shanahan became the first 49ers official to face questions, and he felt obliged to provide answers. (Dude is a saint).

Shanahan said York's arrest and ensuing no-contest plea to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and possessing criminal tools charges in a deal with an Ohio prosecutor has no effect on the Bay Area football team.

MORE DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT JED YORK'S ARREST IN PROSTITUTION STING "My view is, as the coach, does it have effect on us as a team?" Shanahan said.

"And that's what I continue to answer on from a football standpoint.

It has no effect on us.

I mean, as far as what we do day to day, what we talk about, it hasn't been mentioned in a meeting today.

It doesn't have to do with what happens on the field." Shanahan, who was involved in a head-on collision in July that affected how much he was on the field early in training camp, doesn't believe that or York's legal trouble will distract the football team in the upcoming season.

"Well, the one thing that went on yesterday I don't think pertained to our players much," Shanahan said.

"And if you guys talk about me getting in a car accident, I think that's kind of a joke that people think that's a distraction to our team.

"So I think it's been training camp as usual." 49ERS COACH KYLE SHANAHAN ADMITS HE CAUSED CAR CRASH AFTER TAKING EYES OFF ROAD TO FIND HIS PHONE This, of course, is a head coach's spin on an uncomfortable situation.

The majority owner of the team spent a day in jail and was splashed across national headlines because, police documents say, he went on a website in Ohio and tried to enlist the services of a prostitute on Sunday.

Three times.

And he got caught because what he was actually doing was connecting with an operation run by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, which arrested him with the help of East Palestine police.