49ers news: 5 assistants who could be gone in 2022
By Peter Panacy
No. 1: 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans
It took Robert Saleh years to land his first interview for a head-coaching vacancy after being promoted to defensive coordinator.
It took first-year defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans, Saleh’s replacement, just one year.
Granted, Ryans inherited a talented defense, one that included Fred Warner and EDGE Nick Bosa, which wasn’t a luxury Saleh had. Despite some early struggles in the opening weeks of the regular season, though, Ryans has helped transform the Niners defense into one of the NFL’s best, a unit Football Outsiders ranked ninth best in scoring and seventh best, according to Football Outsiders’ DVOA metric.
Related Story: 4 reasons DeMeco Ryans impressed us in 2021
The Raiders and Minnesota Vikings put in requests to interview Ryans, and a recent development with Minnesota could potentially make Ryans a top name to watch for its post-Mike Zimmer head-coaching vacancy:
If the Vikings hire Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as GM today, it's important to note that he hasn't "packaged" himself with a coaching candidate in interviews. I think he'll be open-minded. But hard not to connect him with 49ers DC DeMeco Ryans.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 25, 2022
Adofo-Mensah and Ryans were together in SF.
For what it’s worth, the Vikings did hire Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their general manager. Ryans’ stint as defensive coordinator for San Francisco could last just a lone year.
Kyle Shanahan has long since stated it wouldn’t be a matter of “if” Ryans got a coaching job, rather “when.”
And if Albert Breer is correct, that “when” might be happening sooner than later.
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