SF 49ers will be smart to promote DeMeco Ryans as defensive coordinator

The SF 49ers are losing Robert Saleh to the NY Jets, yet they’ll be smart if they promote DeMeco Ryans as defensive coordinator.

On Thursday night, the SF 49ers learned their defensive coordinator since 2017, Robert Saleh, wouldn’t be returning to his role in 2021.

Saleh will be joining the NY Jets as their next head coach, announced officially by the team after two interviews and subsequent reports from league insiders. It’s a great move for Saleh, and the Jets can sure pick up his intensity while banking on him to continue the kind of success he enjoyed last year with the Niners despite a slew of injuries.

Now, the task for San Francisco will be replacing Saleh. And it looks as if the SF 49ers already have a name in place: linebackers coach DeMeco Ryans.

Shortly after the news about Saleh broke, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported the Niners were going to promote Ryans internally, having him take over Saleh’s job in 2021:

This is the right move. And if it’s true, San Francisco is awfully smart for doing so.

Ryans joined the SF 49ers coaching staff the same year Saleh became a first-year coordinator back in 2017. As Saleh went through his growing pains, learning to adjust from a steadfast reliance on a 4-3 Under, Cover 3 scheme, Ryans was right there in the fray. During that stretch, particularly in 2019 and 2020, the Niners boasted one of the league’s best linebacker corps headlined by 2020 first-team All-Pro, Fred Warner.

Because of this, the schematic transition from Saleh to Ryans should be relatively seamless. Ryans will have his own ideas, yes. But he already knows the defensive cast members and cornerstone pieces like Warner.

And he already has a rapport with many of San Francisco’s other defensive coaches. That wouldn’t be the case if the SF 49ers hired an outside person, such as former LA Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.

Former SF 49ers players already endorsed DeMeco Ryans

Long before Saleh was scheduled to leave the SF 49ers for New York, Ryans was already receiving praise from a number of former Niners players, according to NBC Sports Bay Area.

From former linebacker Takeo Spikes:

"DeMeco Ryans is a leader of men. As a former player, he has an innate and keen understanding of the locker room, as well as the culture. He’s spent quality time under the tutelage of some of the best defensive minds that have come through the game, Wade Phillips and Robert Saleh.As a coach, he has developed two young linebackers in Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw. He’s helped morph Warner into a Pro Bowl linebacker and possibly All-Pro. He’s taken Greenlaw, a fifth-round pick, and helped him become one of the better tackling linebackers in the league."

Former Niners safety Donte Whitner also felt Ryans would be an excellent fit:

"DeMeco Ryans has had great success at all levels of football. His linebackers are arguably the best-performing group on the 49ers roster. He deserves consideration if the 49ers’ defensive coordinator position opens up."

Indeed, Ryans cut out a great career for himself spanning 10 years as a linebacker with the Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles.

But now, it’s going to be Ryans’ job to translate his on-field success and subsequent success with the SF 49ers’ linebacking corps to all levels of the defense.

Fortunately, Ryans developed his coaching skills under another coordinator, Saleh, who also rose through the ranks to become one of the hottest head-coaching candidates in 2021.

Perhaps that’s where Ryans’ trajectory will be in the not-so-distant future.