The 49ers' 2022 NFL season is over and changes already are underway with San Francisco’s coaching staff. Defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans left the Bay to become the Houston Texans’ new head coach.
As a result, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan will begin looking for the 38-year-old’s replacement but intends to go into the search hoping to avoid too many more changes to the defensive coaching staff.
“I love our defensive staff; I love our defense,” Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday. “I’m trying to get something where we don’t have to turn much over. I would love to keep our same staff, so I’m going to talk to some guys on our staff.”
However, despite wanting little turnover when hiring a defensive coordinator, Shanahan will look at outside candidates to fill the position this offseason.
“I’m going to talk to some guys outside of our staff, and hopefully, whichever way we decide to go, whether we bring in a new guy or not, that it’s someone who can work with who we have and what we’ve accomplished here because I love the scheme that we run and I feel the foundation we have on the D-line, at linebacker, at corner, at safety, I think our players fit very well in it too, so I’m hoping to find someone who fits with us personality-wise and scheme-wise,” Shanahan continued.
San Francisco 49ers
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Shanahan reportedly will speak to former Carolina Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks, former Washington Commanders defensive backs coach Chris Harris and former Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio regarding outside candidates.
Whoever the 49ers decide to go with, they’ll have plenty of talent on the defense. It will be up to the new defensive coordinator to take the baton from Ryans and keep San Francisco’s defense as one of the NFL's top units.