The 49ers have settled on their replacement for Robert Saleh and, despite plenty of talk about them staying in-house for his successor, they have decided against going with the continuity of Gus Bradley.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Sunday that the 49ers plan to hire Raheem Morris as their next defensive coordinator.
Advertisement
This move comes after Morris missed out on the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job. Morris was a finalist for that role, which will instead go to former 49ers assistant Mike LaFleur.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and Morris have crossed paths at several points in their respective coaching careers.
They first worked on the same staff when Shanahan was the offensive quality control coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2004-05. Morris was the assistant defensive backs coach during that span.
Morris was the defensive backs coach in Washigton from 2012 to 2014, spending two seasons with Shanahan once again, whose spell as offensive coordinator with the franchise lasted from 2010 to 2013.
Advertisement
Shanahan and Morris last worked on the same staff with the Atlanta Falcons during Shanahan’s two-season spell as their offensive coordinator from 2015 to 2016. Morris served as the assistant head coach and defensive pass game coordinator for Dan Quinn in 2015, and then as the assistant head coach and wide receivers coach in 2016.
Morris was unable to make the playoffs in his second go as a head coach with the Falcons, going 8-9 in 2024 and 2025.
But Shanahan will doubtless be delighted to get Morris on his staff, having effusively praised him after he was hired in Atlanta.
“Oh, it’s way past due. Raheem’s one of the best coaches I’ve been with,” Shanahan said following Morris’ hiring.
Advertisement
“I got to work with him earlier in my career in Tampa. When I was young I was trying to get my dad to hire him as a D-Coordinator. He ended up becoming a head coach so fast. Then I got a chance to work with him in Washington. Then Atlanta, he actually was on defense.
“He got to come work with me on offense for a year. The fact that he was on defense his whole career and came to be our receiver coach, it was unbelievable how cool he was. How good he did. Always tried to get him here every single year.”
Now Shanahan finally has Morris in the Bay Area, and he will be tasked with continuing the work done by Saleh and ensuring a young defense makes significant strides in 2026.
Morris does have a relatively recent track record of success as a coordinator during his most recent spell in that role with the Los Angeles Rams.
Advertisement
He coordinated the Rams’ Super Bowl-winning defense of 2021, which finished the year ninth in EPA per play, albeit with Aaron Donald, Von Miller and Jalen Ramsey at his disposal.
Los Angeles endured a severe downturn in 2022, but Morris has experience getting results out of a young defense, having done so in 2023 in Donald’s final season, when the Rams, fielding rookies such as Kobie Turner and Byron Young, finished 20th in EPA per play but 11th in success rate.
The 49ers will almost certainly look to add to their front after an anaemic performance by their pass rush in 2025 and, with Nick Bosa and Fred Warner set to return from injuries in plenty of time ahead of the 2026 kickoff, San Francisco has reason to be confident a coach who has previously leant heavily on the Cover 3 shells that are the foundation of its defense can put this unit on the path to success.
