Tag: 49ers interviews

All signs point to reunion between 49ers and their No. 1 option at DC

The 49ers appear to be in line to land Robert Saleh as their defensive coordinator … for now.

Things started breaking right for the San Francisco 49ers in their trek to land Robert Saleh as their next defensive coordinator.

It looked early Thursday as though the 49ers may need to wait until after the Super Bowl for an answer on Saleh’s future as the potential head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. It also at that time looked like he was the favorite to land the job.

Then reporting surfaced from ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday afternoon that Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who had pulled out of the running for the Jaguars job, was back in the running for the Jags job after the team fired general manager Trent Baalke.

It’s a wild turn that suddenly put Saleh in a position where he’s unlikely to land a head coaching job. For the entire process the 49ers have essentially been banking on Saleh not getting a lead job anywhere and re-joining San Francisco as their defensive coordinator.

While that was the expected outcome if he missed out on a head coach spot, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco reported a confirmation that Saleh told the 49ers he’d join their coaching staff barring an offer to be a head coach:

Nothing is finalized yet, and if the Jaguars have shown the NFL world anything over the last couple weeks it’s that anything is possible in their search for a head coach.

For now, all signs point toward Saleh missing out on that job, which would land him back leading the 49ers defense in 2025.

Update

Liam Coen is going to be the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach per the Athletic’s Jeff Howe.

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Fired 49ers DC won’t stay with team despite Kyle Shanahan’s wishes

Nick Sorensen isn’t staying on the 49ers coaching staff.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan won’t get his wish to retain fired defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen.

According to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco, Sorensen won’t be returning to the 49ers coaching staff after being fired as their defensive coordinator after the 2024 season. Shanahan told reporters at his end of season press conference that he hoped Sorensen would stay on the staff, possibly as the special teams coordinator.

Maiocco in that same report said the 49ers interviewed former New York Jets special teams coordinator Brant Boyer.

Boyer, 53, spent nine years as the Jets’ special teams coordinator, including the three seasons Robert Saleh was there as the head coach. Prior to joining the Jets, Boyer was an assistant special teams coach with the Indianapolis Colts from 2012-15.

Adding an experienced special teams coach should be a priority for San Francisco given their need for some stability at that spot after a rocky 2024 campaign. It says a lot about Boyer that he was on staff with three different head coaches in New York.

Boyer is also a former NFL player who was a sixth-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in 1994. He spent 10 years in the NFL with the Dolphins, Jaguars and Browns. The linebacker played in 130 games and posted 323 tackles, 13.0 sacks and six interceptions.

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49ers DC search quickly going sideways as other teams make hires

This could be a mess…

Finding a new defensive coordinator became the first offseason box the San Francisco 49ers needed to check once they parted ways with former DC Nick Sorensen.

While they acted quickly in interviewing former New York Jets head coach and 49ers DC Robert Saleh, and Detroit Lions defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend, their search appears to have stalled. Now they’re running out of options.

Saleh is the frontrunner for the job and the 49ers appear to be waiting for him to finish his spin through the head coaching interview cycle.

The problem is he already interviewed once for the head job with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and now he’s one of three people receiving a second interview with them per NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport. Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen and Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham will also have second interviews with the Jaguars.

Had the 49ers not been able to land Saleh, former Jets DC Jeff Ulbrich was another popular name in San Francisco’s DC search. They never interviewed him and he landed with the Atlanta Falcons.

Former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen was another name reported to be on the 49ers’ short list, and now he’s the frontrunner to become the next DC of the Chicago Bears under new head coach Ben Johnson according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Even a coach like former Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who was not reported to be on the 49ers’ list of preferred candidates, is now on track to be hired by the Indianapolis Colts per Rapoport.

Perhaps the 49ers really like Townsend, a former NFL defensive back with 11 years of NFL experience as primarily a defensive backs coach. However, his lack of experience as a defensive coordinator may be disqualifying given some of the growing pains Sorensen had in his first year as a DC.

49ers assistant head coach Brandon Staley is an internal candidate (and the only one, it appears).

Beyond that this may be the second consecutive offseason where the 49ers are trying to quickly patch up a massive hole in their coaching roster. If Saleh doesn’t get a head coaching job, they should be okay. If he does, they may be left empty handed and settling for someone incapable of getting their defense back to the level it needs to be for the 49ers to win a Super Bowl.

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49ers QB coach declined interview for major job change per report

Brian Griese declined to interview with the Jets. Smart man.

The San Francisco 49ers are already undergoing some significant changes to their coaching staff, but they appear to have avoided needing to make another.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan fired defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen and special teams coordinator Brian Schneider after San Francisco’s 6-11 finish to the 2024 season. The search to replace that duo is on, but there was a chance they’d also need a new quarterbacks coach.

QB coach Brian Griese was tapped by the New York Jets to interview for their head coach opening, but Brian Costello of the New York Post reported Griese declined the interview.

Via the NY Post:

The Jets have also asked to interview Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, who played for the Jets in 2017-18. McCown has not been a coordinator in the NFL yet but is seen as a coach on the rise. One coach the Jets requested who declined the request was 49ers quarterbacks coach Brian Griese.

It’s not a huge surprise Griese turned down the opportunity. He just got into the coaching ranks in 2022 and his chances of getting the job were slim in a massive pool of candidates. According to Costello, the Jets have completed 12 head coach interviews and have five others lined up.

For Griese it would have meant a ton of preparation to get in front of an ownership group that may or may not know what it wants in a coach. He may also simply not aspire to lead an NFL team. Regardless of his reasoning, the 49ers will surely be thankful that finding a QB coach isn’t added to their offseason to-do list.

Griese has done a nice job overseeing the development of QB Brock Purdy, and with Purdy due for a sizable extension that will make him the 49ers’ signal caller for the foreseeable future, having the only QB coach he’s had as a pro along for the ride is preferable.

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49ers chances of losing preferred DC candidate increase

Robert Saleh is interviewing with the Las Vegas Raiders tomorrow, and may interview with the Dallas Cowboys before the weekend.

The San Francisco 49ers may wind up losing out on their preferred candidate to fill their defensive coordinator opening.

Robert Saleh, who was fired as the head coach of the New York Jets after five games this season, is sitting atop the 49ers’ list of options to replace recently-fired DC Nick Sorensen. It appears a reunion between the 49ers and Saleh is in line barring a team hiring Saleh as their next head coach. Early in the coaching carousel it looked like the Jacksonville Jaguars might be San Francisco’s only competition. Now a report from Albert Breer indicates the list of competitors for Saleh’s services is growing.

Breer on Thursday reported Saleh was in Las Vegas to interview for the Las Vegas Raiders job Friday. He also indicated the Dallas Cowboys are ironing out a time to interview Saleh and that that interview could also be done over the weekend.

Saleh isn’t necessarily one of the hot names in this year’s head coaching cycle after going 20-36 at the helm for the Jets. Coaches like Ben Johnson, Mike McCarthy, and potentially Deion Sanders are all going to grab more headlines if they land with an NFL team. However, it’s easy to see a team turning to Saleh if they don’t get the coach they want.

This means the 49ers could be waiting around awhile for Saleh, and they’ll need to ensure they’re interviewing DC candidates in the meantime so they can act quickly if Saleh finds a head coaching job. They’ve interviewed Saleh and Detroit Lions defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend. ESPN’s Nick Wagoner signaled Dennis Allen is on San Francisco’s radar, although he hasn’t interviewed. 49ers assistant head coach/defense coach Brandon Staley is also a candidate for the job.

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49ers ST coordinator search continues with former Panthers interim HC

Another name emerges for the 49ers special teams coordinator opening.

The San Francisco 49ers search for a new special teams coordinator continued Tuesday when they interviewed former Carolina Panthers special teams coordinator and interim head coach Chris Tabor.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported the interview.

Tabor’s experience is the polar opposite of recent interviewee Chris Banjo. Banjo has only two years of coaching experience after spending the last two years as an assistant special teams coach with the Denver Broncos. Tabor has been a coach in the NFL for 16 years. He spent 13 of those years as a special teams coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears and Panthers.

It would make sense if the 49ers wanted a seasoned special teams veteran to help guide their group. That’s been their preference in the Kyle Shanahan era where Richard Hightower and Brian Schneider were the two ST coordinators. Schneider was let go following a disastrous 2024 campaign.

The Browns under Tabor’s guidance had an excellent special teams unit, and it’s noteworthy that in 2021 when Bears head coach Matt Nagy was out with COVID-19, Tabor was the person Chicago turned to as the interim head coach. Tabor lost that game to the 49ers. He also went 1-6 as the Panthers interim head coach.

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ESPN NFL head coach predictions are great news for 49ers

These head coach predictions would very likely mean a Robert Saleh reunion for the 49ers.

The San Francisco 49ers would love to see ESPN’s head coach predictions come true.

It appears that former 49ers defensive coordinator and New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh sits atop their list of preferred replacements for Nick Sorensen. He’s already interviewed for the job and he checks all the boxes the team is looking for in the new head of their defense, on top of his experience with the 49ers as their DC from 2017-2020.

While the 49ers would like to lock down a DC, they’ll have to wait on Saleh who is interviewing for head coaching jobs. A bit of good news on that front for San Francisco comes in via predictions on the six head coaching vacancies from ESPN’s Dan Graziano.

Saleh isn’t one of the people predicted to land a head coaching gig in this cycle. In fact, Graziano only has Saleh listed as a candidate for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders. He does describe Saleh as a “sleeper” for the Jags job.

Via ESPN:

A sleeper here could be Robert Saleh, whose interview with the team will happen Tuesday. Saleh, who was fired as the Jets’ head coach early in the 2024 season, spent three seasons as the Jaguars’ linebackers coach on Gus Bradley’s staff from 2014 to 2016.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Saleh is passed over in this cycle given some of the high-profile names on the open market and his lack of overall success with the Jets. Saleh was 20-36 while leading the Jets and was fired only five games into this season.

He should get another shot at being a head coach eventually, but the 49ers would love to see him get that chance in a different year so he can run their defense in 2025.

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ESPN offers intriguing name for 49ers in defensive coordinator search

The 49ers can’t leave their list of DC searches short.

The San Francisco 49ers appear to have their sites set on former defensive coordinator Robert Saleh as their No. 1 option in their search for a new defensive coordinator.

However, with Saleh interviewing for head coaching jobs, the 49ers can’t bank on landing him. San Francisco did interview Detroit Lions defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend, but it seems unlikely they’d want to hire a person with no previous defensive coordinator experience.

Former 49ers linebacker and New York Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich is another name that has been floated after San Francisco tried to poach him from New York last offseason.

The two former Jets coaches have gotten plenty of run in the 49ers DC rumor mill, but ESPN’s Nick Wagoner highlighted another name that fits the veteran DC mold San Francisco desires.

Via ESPN:

While Saleh and Ulbrich are considered top candidates, another name worth keeping a close eye on is former New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen. Allen has extensive experience, working eight years as a defensive coordinator in Denver and New Orleans, almost six seasons as a head coach with the Saints and Raiders and another year as the Saints senior defensive assistant.

Allen’s name may not carry the same heft as Ulbrich, Saleh, particularly in the Bay Area where he flamed out as the Oakland Raiders head coach. He went just 8-28 in 36 games guiding the Raiders from 2012-14. His coaching record was better, but still not spectacular as the head coach in New Orleans. The Saints went 18-25 with Allen at the helm.

What is important is his tenure as the Saints DC the seven years before being hired as their head coach.

Those New Orleans defenses were dreadful in Allen’s first two years as their coordinator, but they improved in both points and yards allowed virtually every year he was running that unit. By Allen’s penultimate season as their DC, the Saints finished No. 4 in yards allowed and No. 5 in points allowed. The following year they were No. 7 in yards and No. 4 in points.

This isn’t to say Allen should necessarily be the 49ers’ choice ahead of Saleh or Ulbrich. It is worth having as many experienced DCs on the short list as possible, and Allen’s years running a defense combined with his 4-3 base defensive scheme make him a logical fit in San Francisco even if he isn’t atop their list of preferred candidates.

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49ers interview 1 of Trey Lance’s college coaches for OC

The San Francisco 49ers interviewed one of Trey Lance’s college coaches for their offensive coordinator position.

San Francisco completed an interview with Iowa State receivers coach and passing game coordinator Noah Pauley for its offensive coordinator position.

Pauley has spent the past two seasons with the Cyclones and helped direct Iowa State to its winningest season in program history during the 2024 campaign. With Pauley assisting, Iowa State ranked 39th nationally in passing yards per game (255.7), 39th in total offense (416.2 yards per game) and 41st in scoring offense (31.1 points per game).

The Cyclones had a pair of 1,000-yard receivers during the 2024 season in seniors Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins. That duo combined for 17 touchdown grabs.

A Minnesota-Duluth alum, Pauley began his coaching career at his alma mater as a student assistant during the 2011 season. Pauley then served as a graduate assistant at Minnesota-Duluth during the 2013-14 seasons before being named the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Minnesota-Duluth from 2016-18.

During his coaching stint at Minnesota-Duluth, Pauley coached six all-conference wide receivers, including All-American receiver and return specialist Aaron Roth.

Pauley then joined North Dakota State as the program’s wide receivers coach from 2019-22. While coaching at North Dakota State, Pauley teamed with eventual 49ers first-round NFL draft selection Trey Lance to win the 2019 FCS national championship.

Though 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said in his recent end-of-season press conference that San Francisco was planning to promote passing game specialist Klay Kubiak as the team’s new offensive coordinator, NFL rules don’t permit teams to directly promote coaches to previously closed coordinator spots without an open search process.

As such, San Francisco has been required to undergo a full interview process in accordance with NFL rules. With Kubiak seemingly set to be the 49ers’ next offensive coordinator once the formal interview process is complete, Pauley’s interview could lay the groundwork for him to get hired into another position with the organization.

That was the path that Brandon Staley followed to his current role as San Francisco assistant head coach/defense.

If Kubiak is ultimately named as the 49ers’ next offensive coordinator, he would be the franchise’s first offensive coordinator since Mike McDaniel held the position in 2021. Kubiak called plays for San Francisco in the team’s 2024 regular season finale against the Arizona Cardinals as the 49ers totaled 436 yards of offense.

Kubiak also called plays in two preseason games ahead of the 2024 season. Shanahan said he will continue to call plays, but Kubiak will add the title of offensive coordinator.

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Is Brandon Staley really a strong candidate for 49ers DC opening?

Are the 49ers considering Brandon Staley as their DC like … for real?

For the second consecutive year the San Francisco 49ers search for a new defensive coordinator will include an interview with former Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley.

Staley interviewed for the 49ers DC opening in 2024 after the team fired its previous DC Steve Wilks. The fit with Staley never made a ton of sense because of the significant schematic shift San Francisco would have to undergo.

That schematic shift would logically be an obstacle again entering the 2025 season. However, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler noted in a piece for ESPN.com that Staley “is a strong in-house candidate and could also be in the mix on other NFL coordinator jobs.”

While the 49ers may be trying to prop up Staley as a DC candidate to reporters like Fowler, head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t seem enthusiastic about hiring internally for a second year in a row.

“The internal one, I’ll give Staley a shot,” said Shanahan. “Just talking to him, he’s been here. There will be a lot of guys outside the building too.”

That doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement for Staley out of the gates. Shanahan did say he’s open to any changes he believes would make the team better, so perhaps Staley’s interview creates some wholesale change in mindset for the 49ers head coach.

While that’s on the table, it also feels unlikely with coaches like Robert Saleh, Jeff Ulbrich, Dennis Allen and others on the market who have experience in the 4-3 base defense Shanahan has long preferred.

Staley is a big name who will get another interview, but it’s hard to imagine he’s atop the 49ers list of candidates as they move through the process of finding a long-term answer to run their defense.

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