Tag: Tony Oden

4 things to know about new Jets cornerbacks coach Tony Oden

Jets Wire takes a look at what Tony Oden brings to Robert Saleh’s staff as the Jets’ cornerbacks coach.

Robert Saleh continued to add to his first Jets coaching staff this week, hiring three defensive assistant coaches. That includes Tony Oden, who will serve as a senior defensive assistant and the team’s cornerbacks coach.

Oden has a great deal of coaching experience, spending significant time in the collegiate ranks before moving to the NFL in 2004. Oden is the latest former 49ers defensive assistant to follow Saleh to New York.

Let’s get to know a little bit more about New York’s newest cornerbacks coach.

2 more former 49ers defensive coaches hired by Robert Saleh, Jets

Two more 49ers defensive coaches are joining Robert Saleh’s coaching staff with the New York Jets.

The migration of coaches from the San Francisco 49ers’ staff to the New York Jets’ staff didn’t end with Robert Saleh and Mike LaFleur heading east. Two more coaches who were with the 49ers last season, Tony Oden and Mike Ruttenberg, will both join Saleh’s defensive staff with the Jets according to reports.

NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reported Oden would take over as a senior assistant and cornerbacks coach in New York. Oden joined the 49ers’ staff last season as the defensive backs and cornerbacks coach, so his role will be similar with his new club.

Ruttenberg was the passing game coordinator for San Francisco last season in his only year on the staff. He’ll be taking on a new role with the Jets and coaching their linebackers according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport.

The 49ers in late January added former Lions defensive coordinator Cory Undlin to their staff. He’ll absorb both the roles vacated by Oden and Ruttenberg. ESPN’s Field Yates reported Undlin would be the passing game coordinator and coach the defensive backs.

Report: Jets add 2 more defensive coaches to Robert Saleh’s staff

The Jets have hired Marquand Manuel as their safeties coach and Tony Oden as their senior defensive assistant and cornerbacks coach.

Robert Saleh has made two new hires to his coaching staff.

According to the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Jets have added Marquand Manuel as their safeties coach and Tony Oden as their senior defensive assistant and cornerbacks coach.

Manuel and Saleh were together in Seattle from 2012-2013. Manuel served as the assistant special teams coach in the first year before transitioning to defensive assistant. Saleh was the defensive quality control coach.

Manuel also has ties to Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. The two were in Atlanta from 2015-2018. Manuel was the secondary coach and was then promoted to defensive coordinator for two seasons. Ulbrich, meanwhile, was the linebackers coach.

Manuel was the defensive backs coach with the Eagles in 2020. Before coaching in the NFL, he had an eight-year playing career with the Bengals, Seahawks, Packers, Panthers, Broncos and Lions. Manuel recorded 368 total tackles, 16 pass defenses, two interceptions, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one sack in 116 games as a safety.

As for Oden, he worked under Saleh as the 49ers’ defensive backs coach last season. They were also together in Houston in 2005 when Oden was a defensive assistant and Saleh was a defensive intern.

Oden has held numerous positions in his 25-year coaching career. He started as an assistant defensive backs coach with Millersville University of Pennsylvania in 1996. The next year, Oden became a graduate assistant at Boston College. He then worked at the United States Military Academy as a defensive backs coach and then as the head JV coach.

In 2000, Oden joined East Carolina’s coaching staff as an outside linebackers coach and was named the secondary coach in 2001. After two years at East Carolina, Oden became the defensive backs coach at Eastern Michigan from 2004-2005.

In 2006, Oden got his shot at the NFL as the assistant secondary coach with the Saints from 2006-2010. He earned the full-time position as the Saints secondary coach in 2011. The following two years, Oden served as the defensive backs coach with the Jaguars and Buccaneers, respectively. From 2014-2017, Oden was the cornerbacks’ coach with the Lions. In 2018, Oden was the Lions’ defensive backs coach and was named their safeties coach in 2019.

Former Dolphins safeties coach signs with 49ers

Former Miami Dolphins defensive backs coach Tony Oden has signed on with the San Francisco 49ers.

The Miami Dolphins’ coaching upheaval of 2020 left several prominent coaches on the team’s roster out in the cold to start the winter — including defensive backs coach Tony Oden. Oden was a part of the Dolphins’ coaching staff for the 2018 and 2019 seasons — once with Adam Gase and then again in year one of the Brian Flores era.

But, as we saw at the end of the season, Miami’s late start to hiring Brian Flores — which was prompted by the Patriots’ run to the Super Bowl in early 2019 — caused Miami to deal with a pretty barren landscape for assistants. And so Oden stayed on board. And while the Dolphins’ secondary, which was pieced together on a weekly basis with undrafted free agents throughout the second half of the season, performed well enough, it wasn’t enough to keep Oden on the staff beyond this season.

The good news for Coach Oden? He’s officially landed on his feet — he’s signing on with the San Francisco 49ers.

Oden will step into the role vacated by former 49ers coach Joe Woods — who signed on with the Cleveland Browns as the team’s new defensive coordinator. It may end up being a promising career move for Oden, especially if coveted 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Salah gets one of the head coaching gigs that open in the coming seasons. Miami’s secondary, ironically enough, yielded more interceptions in 2019 than the 49ers, as cited by Akash Anavarathan of Niners Nation — which may go down as one of the oddest Dolphins stats of 2019.

Happy trails and best of luck, Coach Oden! Unless, of course, you’re coaching against the Dolphins.

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Report: 49ers to hire former Dolphins DB coach as secondary coach

Tony Oden has had a ton of success in his NFL coaching career.

The 49ers lost defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator Joe Woods when the Cleveland Browns hired him as their defensive coordinator. They quickly went to work looking for Woods’ replacement, and are set to hire former Dolphins defensive backs coach Tony Oden according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media.

Oden, 47, made his debut as an NFL coach in 2004 as an assistant on the Texans’ defensive staff. He was also there in 2005 when 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh got his first NFL job as an intern with Houston.

Oden also spent time with the Saints, Buccaneers and Lions before making his way to the Dolphins where he spent the last two seasons. He won a Super Bowl with the Saints in 2010, and coached with 49ers’ defensive line coach Kris Kocurek during his four-year stint in Detroit.

Woods held two positions with the 49ers, including the job of passing game coordinator which was a position that only existed upon Woods’ arrival. There’s no word on whether Oden will take over those passing game coordinator duties, or if he’ll strictly hold the title of secondary coach.

The 49ers are coming off a year where they finished with the No. 1 pass defense in the league, but the key for Oden will be developing some of the younger talent on the roster. San Francisco has several young players in the secondary who need to perform more consistently to carve out full-time starting roles. If Oden can step in and develop players like Ahkello Witherspoon and Emmanuel Moseley, the 49ers will be in a good place to continue possessing one of the NFL’s top defenses.