Tag: defensive coordinator

49ers showed interest in hiring Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo after Super Bowl LVIII

The San Francisco #49ers showed interest in hiring #Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo after Super Bowl LVIII.

Super Bowl LVIII’s results favored the Kansas City Chiefs securing their third title in five years. The San Francisco 49ers parted ways with their defensive coordinator, Steve Wilks, shortly after the game in pursuit of his replacement, reportedly on the other sideline.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was rumored to be the primary target, according to NFL Insider Dianna Russini of The Athletic. The statement was made on a recent episode of The Athletic Football Show podcast, discussing the latest news around the league.

“On the coaching side, which there is no cap, right? Steve Spagnuolo signs a couple of days after,” said Russini. “San Francisco was flirting with him and bringing him in as DC (Defensive Coordinator).”

Spagnuolo has garnered more appreciation around the league by leading another defense to a Super Bowl victory. He turned around a unit that struggled for seasons before taking the job in Kansas City in 2019.

The Chiefs wasted little time after the Super Bowl to retain Spagnuolo, signing him to a contract extension moments before the start of the championship parade on February 14th. The 49ers recently interviewed Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt before announcing the hiring of Nick Sorensen from the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday.

Updated list of all the coaches 49ers have interviewed for DC opening

Here’s an updated list of the coaches the #49ers have interviewed for defensive coordinator:

The 49ers’ defensive coordinator search took awhile to get rolling, at least publicly, but now the interview reports are rolling in with the team nearly clear of the NFL combine and with free agency less than two weeks away.

At first it appeared they’d go with an internal candidate based on interviews, but now their search is starting to spread to external candidates as well.

Here’s an updated list of all the defensive coordinator candidates the 49ers have interviewed so far:

49ers defensive coordinator candidate drags 49ers offense for Super Bowl performance

49ers DC candidate threw some haymakers at 49ers offense for Super Bowl performance.

The 49ers interviewed Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt for their defensive coordinator opening. If he winds up getting the job, Merritt may have some making up to do with some of the the 49ers’ offensive players.

In a radio interview with the Sports Shop in North Carolina, Merritt threw some haymakers at the 49ers’ offense while talking about Steve Wilks’ firing.

Merritt’s words may come across as harsh, but he was making the (correct) point that Wilks wouldn’t have been fired for just one game, and that his ouster had to have been part of a bigger picture problem.

“Their offense went 3-for-12 on third down,” Merritt said. “Our offense went 9-for-19, but if your offense is going 3-for-12 on third down, is that Wilks’ fault? If your tight end who’s All-Pro, Kittle, only has one catch for four yards, is that Wilks’ fault? Therefore, you can feed McCaffrey all you want to, but he needs help. And then number 11, who was trying to fight all game, Ako, whatever, I don’t know. He only had 40-something yards, was that Wilks’ fault?”

He used San Francisco’s rough offensive outing as evidence that their defense wasn’t the problem in the team’s Super Bowl loss. That’s a fine and fair argument to make, but it’s still not something the 49ers offensive players and staff will love to hear.

To make matters worse, Merritt didn’t know the name of 49ers leading receiver Brandon Aiyuk. That’s not uncommon among NFL coaches who typically refer to opposing players by number for clarity on tape and matchups, but still it’s just additional insult to injury after one of the most devastating losses in San Francisco history.

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Every potential 49ers internal candidate for defensive coordinator

The latest reporting on the #49ers defensive coordinator search says they’re leaning toward an internal candidate. Who might that be? We scoured the entire defensive coaching staff:

The 49ers offseason checklist gained a top priority after the Super Bowl when they let go of defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. Finding his replacement is paramount for San Francisco’s continued success on that side of the football, but there’ll also be immense pressure on the new DC given the success Wilks did have.

It appears head coach Kyle Shanahan has a specific type of coach in mind, and any search that didn’t go inside and outside the building wouldn’t have been adequate.

There are some huge names on the market, including former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. They’re two of the brightest defensive minds of all-time and both would quickly become the most over-qualified coordinator in the league. The same goes for former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, who was a DC in Houston for one year before taking the head job in Nashville.

Hard reporting on the 49ers’ DC search has been tough to come by, but the latest from Mike Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle indicates the team may be leaning toward an internal candidate.

We’ve run through a list of 10 possible candidates, both in and out of Santa Clara, but with this from Silver we decided to run through the 49ers’ entire defensive coaching staff listed on the team website to find out which internal candidates could conceivably be up for the top defensive job:

Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo thrilled by players looking forward to potential three-peat

Kansas City #Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is thrilled that his players are looking forward to a potential three-peat.

The Super Bowl champions are still the Kansas City Chiefs following another NFL season. The team came together to pull off the back-to-back title bid and further etch their names in league history as the next great dynasty.

The praises have been loud and frequent for Steve Spagnuolo’s impressive job as the Chiefs defensive coordinator. He took time on Sunday to share his thoughts on players voicing their excitement to try for a three-peat on Super Bowl titles during his appearance on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio with host Jake Asman.

“Are you kidding me, our guys? All they’re saying is three-peat. I mean, I love professional athletes,” said Spagnuolo. “They just bubble with confidence. And it’s amazing that the guys thought about that immediately.”

The talks of a three-peat were immediately discussed by players following their Super Bowl LVIII victory, most notably by quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

“I mean, Patrick Mahomes might have been his first thought in the locker room after we won, and that just shows you what they’re made of guys like that elite athletes that if you win one, you want to win more,” Spagnuolo explained. “I mean, it’s a love challenge. And so I guess the next challenge, we try to go back to back to back.”

The Chiefs players under contract beyond the Super Bowl will have that on their minds while the front office gets to work on retaining stars and building from within the upcoming draft.

Broncos might have a future defensive coordinator in Jim Leonhard

Either with the Broncos or another team, Jim Leonhard seems to be on track to eventually get a defensive coordinator job in the NFL.

The Denver Broncos made two additions to their coaching staff on Wednesday, officially hiring Pete Carmichael as senior offensive assistant and Jim Leonhard as defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach.

Leonhard, 41, is a huge hire for a positional coach.

The former NFL safety spent 2016-2022 coaching at his alma mater, Wisconsin. After starting out as a defensive backs coach, he was quickly promoted to defensive coordinator before later becoming the team’s interim head coach.

Leonhard spent last fall as a senior football analyst at Illinois. Before that, he interviewed for two defensive coordinator openings in the NFL (as our friend Joey Richards of “Let’s Talk Broncos” pointed out on Twitter/X).

Leonhard interviewed for — and was offered — the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator job in 2021, but he turned them down, opting to remain with the Badgers. Two years later, Leonhard interviewed for the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator opening, but they hired Sean Desai instead.

The fact that Leonhard has already interviewed for DC jobs in the NFL suggests that he will likely land a DC role at some point in the future, either with the Broncos or another team.

We know that current DC Vance Joseph would like to become a head coach again. Perhaps if Denver’s defense has a standout year in 2024, Joseph might be considered for head coach openings next January. If Joseph does leave the Broncos at some point (by his own choice or otherwise), Leonhard will be an obvious candidate to replace him.

Leonhard is overqualified for a defensive backs coach position (despite “pass game coordinator” being in the name). He will likely get a promotion before long, the only question is if that will happen in Denver or elsewhere.

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Cowboys, Mike Zimmer come to terms after 11th-hour drama

From @ToddBrock24f7: Despite some uncertainty over Super Bowl Weekend, the Cowboys have finally reached an agreement with their new defensive coordinator.

The Cowboys have come to terms with Mike Zimmer to be their new defensive coordinator, apparently ending a multi-day saga that had some wondering if the team was going to go a different direction after an eleventh-hour change of heart.

Zimmer confirmed the news Monday afternoon to longtime Cowboys reporter Ed Werder. Former Cowboys scout Bryan Broaddus also confirmed the development, saying on 105.3 The Fan that he had received a text from Zimmer. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero’s post to X (formerly Twitter) made it three rock-solid sources.

It shouldn’t have taken all that, but it is the never-ending circus otherwise known as the Dallas Cowboys, after all.

Word of Zimmer’s hire had originally been leaked on Thursday night, with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones admitting from the red carpet at NFL Honors that the team had decided on their man, though he didn’t name names at the time.

The team even posted news of Zimmer’s “expected” hiring to their official website that same evening, but with the eyes of the league on Las Vegas and Super Bowl LVIII, nothing else happened until Sunday.

That’s when ESPN analyst Rex Ryan, who had interviewed with Dallas for the same job earlier in the week, reminded a national audience that no official announcement had yet been made. He even seemed to make a last-minute sales pitch to the Cowboys for his own services, stating, “I figured I could make maybe even a little of an upgrade.”

By Monday morning, the lack of an actual deal- and the possibility of a dramatic flip-flop- had become the story. NFL insider Adam Schefter explained on The Pat McAfee Show that the Cowboys had reached back out to Ryan as late as Sunday to gauge his interest and even talk numbers.

“Rex could, conceivably, still be in play,” Schefter said.

Whether there was legitimate back-and-forth over contract details, a last bit of leveraging going on from one side or the other, or just a delay in doing the paperwork, the Cowboys and Zimmer now seem to have come to an actual agreement.

“I’m excited and honored to be back with a great organization,” Zimmer told Werder. “I’m thrilled to work with Mike McCarthy, for whom I have had a ton of respect in our NFC North days, and to do anything I can do to help the Joneses and the Cowboys.”

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Broncos expected to hire Jim Leonhard as DBs coach

After losing Christian Parker to the Eagles, the Broncos are expected to hire Jim Leonhard as their new defensive backs coach.

After losing defensive backs coach Christian Parker to the Philadelphia Eagles in a lateral move, the Denver Broncos are poised to replace him with a former NFL safety.

The Broncos are expected to hire Jim Leonhard as their new defensive backs coach, ESPN’s Dan Graziano first reported on Sunday. Leonhard, 41, played in the NFL from 2005-2014. He spent time with six teams, including one season with the Denver Broncos in 2012.

Leonhard hung up his cleats following the 2014 season with 428 career tackles, 14 interceptions and 4.5 sacks in 142 games (73 starts). He transitioned to coaching in 2016 when he returned to Wisconsin — his alma mater — as a defensive backs coach.

Leonhard was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2017 and he later served as the Badgers’ interim head coach in 2022. After leaving Wisconsin in 2023, Leonhard served as a senior football analyst at Illinois last fall. He’s now returning to the NFL as a coach as a member of defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s staff.

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Rex Ryan: Mike Zimmer doesn’t have DC job yet; Cowboys ‘so close’ to Super Bowl success

From @ToddBrock24f7: The ESPN host interviewed for the job last week but says the candidate who beat him out isn’t officially in the very attractive job yet.

Former NFL head coach Rex Ryan found himself- quite unexpectedly, for many observers- in the spotlight last week after it was revealed he had interviewed with the Cowboys for their defensive coordinator position.

On Super Bowl Sunday, he was back at ESPN’s pregame desk, sharing some insight as to why he threw his hat in the coaching ring after seven years away. He also dropped a mini-bombshell regarding the man reportedly taking that DC job in Dallas.

“First off, I’m not so sure that [Mike] Zimmer’s got that job right now. Not real sure about that,” Ryan said. “I can honestly say I don’t believe that’s a fact right now.”

Ryan paused as if he were expecting some dramatic reaction from his Postseason NFL Countdown cohosts, but in truth, it’s not an altogether shocking revelation. Word that Zimmer was Dallas’s choice first leaked out Thursday night just before the NFL Honors ceremony was set to begin. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones- while literally on the red carpet- even alluded to an imminent hire, saying he had “been on the phone all afternoon with our future defensive coach.”

Jones was said to be working the phones while in Las Vegas to firm up details with the 67-year-old Zimmer, but it’s not inconceivable to think that getting a contract drawn up and signed while the main movers and shakers of the entire league are all on-site for Super Bowl LVIII just wasn’t a top priority.

Especially if the two sides- who are very familiar with one another after Zimmer’s first stint with the Cowboys- have come to a gentleman’s agreement; finishing up the business once everyone gets back to The Star on Monday or Tuesday is just as good.

There’s no real indication that Zimmer is about to pull a Kliff Kingsbury move; the fact that pen hasn’t hit paper yet is a story that may not be worth watching.

But in addition to stirring up a controversy that likely doesn’t exist, Ryan also decided to shed some light on why he interviewed for the Dallas job in the first place.

“I’ve been out for seven years. I’ve never called another coach or anything like that. I called Mike McCarthy. And the reason I did is I want to be on this stage,” Ryan explained, gesturing to the field getting prepped for the championship game. “I want to be back on this stage, if I’m going to get back into coaching, have a chance at that. I think that with this roster, the way it is, offensively, special teams, and defense- I figured I could make maybe even a little of an upgrade- that they could be right here. That’s why I was interested.”

The 61-year-old Ryan hinted that he’s been approached about a return to the sidelines before, but never by a team he’d be interested in coaching.

“It’s funny how, ‘Well, should we get–?’ Ryan play-acted. “No. Your team has no chance at me, okay? That’s generally the case. I would only go at the right situation. And if it’s not completely right, then I’m not going. But this team, it is interesting, because they are so close to getting over that edge, and that’s why I think people would be interested in this job.”

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Of course, to someone like Ryan or even Zimmer, the fact that McCarthy will helm the team on the final year of his contract may be part of it. A coordinator with extensive head coaching experience would easily be seen as the top candidate to take over the Cowboys should McCarthy find himself on the outs.

Even if the Cowboys rattle off another 12 wins next season, all eyes will be on what the Joneses do at the head coaching position. So if you’re Ryan, why not make a subtle last-ditch plea for the on-deck circle on national TV?

Zimmer’s official announcement may be a mere formality. But for now anyway, everyone involved is talking about a very attractive job that is- technically- still vacant.

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Report: Cowboys DL coach Aden Durde to become Seahawks defensive coordinator

From @ToddBrock24f7: The English-born Durde has been an up-and-comer in the coaching ranks and interviewed for the Dallas DC position just filled by Mike Zimmer.

Mike Zimmer hasn’t even been formally announced yet as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator, but he’s already got a new spot on his staff to fill.

Defensive line coach Aden Durde will be leaving Dallas to become the next defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, according to a Friday afternoon report from NFL insider Tom Pelissero.

The 44-year-old had interviewed for a promotion to the defensive coordinator role in Dallas after Dan Quinn left to take over the Commanders.

The English-born Durde coached under Quinn for three seasons in Atlanta before joining his Cowboys staff in 2021.

He’ll now take over the defensive side of things for new Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald. The 36-year-old Macdonald has said that he plans to retain defensive play-calling duties on game day. Leslie Frazier, the longtime defensive-minded coaching veteran, is also on staff in Seattle as an assistant head coach.

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Durde has been considered an up-and-comer within the league’s coaching ranks, participating in both the Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellowship early in his career and the Coach Accelerator program last spring.

In Dallas, Zimmer will now look to install a new defensive line coach to replace Durde and a new defensive passing game coordinator to replace Joe Whitt Jr., who followed Quinn to Washington for the defensive coordinator role there.

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