Chip Kelly on support from Yorks: ‘They were godsends’

Chip Kelly hasn’t received assurance from Jed York that he’ll be back with the 49ers in 2017, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t receiving support.

On Thursday, Kelly, who is 1-11 in his first season with the team, said the York family members were “unbelievable” in the way they responded after his father, Paul, died Friday night.

Kelly said the York family arranged for a plane to take him from Chicago to New Hampshire that night. They did the same for Kelly to return for Sunday’s game in Chicago and return home for his dad’s funeral in Portland, Maine, on Tuesday. In addition, they arranged for Kelly’s girlfriend, Jill Cohen, to travel from the Bay Area to Chicago to meet Kelly.

“They were godsends, to be honest with you,” Kelly said.

In terms of his job, Kelly said he hasn’t discussed 2017 with York, but he doesn’t find that unusual. He speaks with York weekly, and their most recent conversation occurred Thursday morning.

“I haven’t had anything, nor would I expect to have anybody come to me during the season to talk about what’s going to go on in the following year,” Kelly said. “Our sole focus once we get in-season is always week to week. This week, it’s the Jets. So the football discussions I had with Jed today is just our injuries, who is out. … Just a normal conversation that we do have on a weekly basis.”

Staley sits: Left tackle Joe Staley did not practice because of a hamstring injury he sustained in practice Wednesday, which puts his availability for Sunday’s game in question.

Staley has played in 92 straight regular-season games dating to 2011. If Staley can’t play against the Jets, left guard Zane Beadles would move to tackle and Andrew Tiller would presumably assume his spot.

Beadles, a seven-year veteran, played left tackle for three seasons at Utah and started six games at right tackle for the Broncos as a rookie in 2010.

“I feel comfortable with it,” Beadles said. “I played tackle for years in college and I really had to learn to become a guard in the NFL. So it’s kind of natural going back to the tackle position for me.”