The San Francisco 49ers coaching staff is continuing to take shape. Field Yates on Friday reported former Lions defensive coordinator Cory Undlin will join defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans’ staff as a pass game specialist and secondary coach.
Last season the defensive backs were coached by Tony Oden, and Mike Rutenberg was the pass game specialist. Now it appears Undlin will step in to fill both roles. There’s no word on Oden and Rutenberg’s status with the club.
Undlin got his start in the NFL with the Patriots in 2004 as a defensive assistant. He also spent time with the Browns where he moved from a quality control coach, to assistant special teams coach to defensive backs coach across four seasons.
He eventually moved on to the Jaguars, Broncos and Eagles where he held a variety of defensive coaching positions. His time as the Eagles’ defensive backs coach overlapped with Ryans’ tenure there as a player by one season. Undlin was the DB coach for Philadelphia starting in 2015, the year before Ryans retired. The Lions gave Undlin his first defensive coordinator job last season after he spent five years with the Eagles.
Detroit’s defense was statistically the worst in the NFL last season, with last place finishes in both total yards allowed and points allowed.
Undlin joins former Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher as 49ers coaches with previous defensive coordinator jobs. It appears San Francisco is aiming to surround Ryans, a first-time coordinator with just four seasons of NFL coaching under his belt, with veteran coaches who have several years of NFL experience and at least a little time as a defensive coordinator.