San Francisco 49ers Coaching Staff To Undergo Some Dramatic Changes

The San Francisco 49ers are just over a week removed from a blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game.

A lot of things have changed since kickoff from Philadelphia on Jan. 29. Rookie quarterback Brock Purdy was pretty much guaranteed to be the Week 1 starter in 2023 after an historic start to his career. The seventh-round pick then went down to an elbow injury on San Francisco’s first possession and will be out at least the next six months.

Just a couple days after San Francisco lost to Philadelphia, defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans opted to accept the Houston Texans’ head coaching job, leaving a major hole for head coach Kyle Shanahan to fill.

Ryans is a finalist for the NFL Assistant Coach of the Year award. He led the league’s top overall and scoring defense this past regular season. Not only is the loss of Ryans huge in a vacuum it will also undoubtedly lead to other departures from Shanahan’s coaching staff.

Current passing-game coordinator Bobby Slowik is a legitimate candidate for Houston’s offensive coordinator position. Defensive line coach Kris Kocurek is also getting play as Houston’s next defensive coordinator. These two have been key cogs for Shanahan over the years.

If this weren’t enough, assistant head coach Anthony Lynn is a top candidate to replace Scott Turner as the Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator. Lynn, a former head coach with the Los Angeles Chargers, was brought on ahead of last season to help make up for the loss of Mike McDaniel to the Miami Dolphins.

I am not going to sit back and say that this is necessarily a bad thing. Whenever other organizations want to poach your assistants for higher roles, it says that you’re doing something right. With three NFC Championship Game appearances in four seasons, it’s safe to say that the 49ers are. Unfortunately, there’s now going to be multiple holes to fill on San Francisco’s coaching staff this offseason. Below, I check in on how it might work.

San Francisco 49ers Want Continuity At Defensive Coordinator

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Shanahan pointed out the need to remain true to Ryans’ scheme in the head coach’s season-ending press conference. That gives some internal candidates a potential upper hand.

“I love our defensive staff, I love our defense. I’m trying to get something where we don’t have to turn much over. I would love to keep our same staff, so I’m going to talk to some guys on our staff,” Shanahan told reporters recently.

The aforementioned Kocurek becomes a real possibility. He’s worked wonders with the likes of Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead on the 49ers’ defensive line. The only issue here is that he’s only been a position coach throughout his career and doesn’t have defensive play-calling experience. The same thing could be said for Ryans when he took over as defensive coordinator from Robert Saleh in 2021. But this should be a factor.

Current Washington Commanders defensive backs coach Chris Harris interviewed for the 49ers’ defensive coordinator job on Tuesday. He’s considered a rising star in the coaching ranks and is also drawing interest from the Tennessee Titans for an assistant coach role.

As for the bigger names on the list of external candidates, former Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Steve Wilks will interview for the job on Monday.

Wilks took over as the Panthers’ interim head coach from Matt Rhule five games into the 2022 season, leading the team to a surprise 6-6 record and playoff contention.

The 53-year-old longtime assistant was surprisingly passed over for Carolina’s full-time job in favor of Frank Reich. Remember, Wilks had previously joined for Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL and its teams claiming racial discrimination within the hiring process of coaches and front office personnel.

From an on-field standpoint, Wilks is considered one of the most-respected defensive minds in the game.

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San Francisco 49ers’ Internal Candidates For Promotions

I focused on Slowik being a candidate for the Texans’ offensive coordinator position above. Like we’ve seen under Shanahan in San Francisco throughout his tenure, the head coach likes to promote from within. If Slowik does land in Houston, offensive quality control coaches Deuce Schwartz and Asauni Rufus become options to take over as passing-game coordinator.

On the other side of the ball, San Francisco could seamlessly transition from Kocurek to Darryl Tapp on the defensive line. The former NFL player has been the 49ers’ assistant defensive line coach for the past two seasons and is seen as an up-and-coming coach.

Replacing Anthony Lynn would be a different story. Shanahan brought the former head coach on when he opted against hiring an offensive coordinator to replace McDaniel ahead of the 2022 season.

Longtime running backs coach Bobby Turner returned to the 49ers back in September after taking a health-related absence. Turner has served in that role for a variety of teams dating back to his stint with the Denver Broncos from 1995-2009. Working with Shanahan’s father, Kyle, and other head coaches, he led some of the game’s best rushing attacks. That including seeing Terrell Davis morph from undrafted free agent to Pro Football Hall of Famer.

Assuming Lynn lands the Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator job, Turner makes sense as San Francisco’ assistant head coach. He served in that role with Washington from 2010-13.

None of this means that San Francisco is not going to bring in some outside candidates to fill out its coaching staff. Rather, continuity is important for Shanahan. It has worked out with several of his assistants now receiving head coach jobs and promotions with other teams.