Colts making Jeff Saturday a head coach is great for DeMeco Ryans

49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans was going to be a top candidate for a head coaching job in 2023, but the Colts just made his prospects even better.

San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans came awfully close to getting a head-coaching gig last offseason.

Ryans was scheduled for the second round of interviews with the Minnesota Vikings for their head-coaching vacancy in the wake of terminating Mike Zimmer, yet Ryans elected to stay put underneath head coach Kyle Shanahan for another go-around.

And while some may have thought Ryans foolish for turning down a potential opportunity, given there might be plenty additional candidates to spike the competition for vacancies in 2023, the new wave of turnover already is pushing the Niners defensive coordinator into a great spot for a head-coaching job next season.

Especially considering what just took place with the Indianapolis Colts this week.

Colts fire Frank Reich, hire Jeff Saturday… and that’s great news for DeMeco Ryans

Amid a 3-5-1 start to the season, and just a day after they fell 26-3 to the New England Patriots in Week 9, the Colts elected to fire head coach Frank Reich, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

In his place? Interim head coach Jeff Saturday, a well-known former Colts center but someone with zero coaching experience at any level aside from at a high school level.

Oh.

It’s probably safe to say Saturday won’t be named the full-time coach for Indy in 2023, and the Colts will join the Carolina Panthers (and likely a couple of other teams) in the market for new coaches next season.

Related Story: 4 reasons why DeMeco Ryans impressed us in 2021

Even though it’s rather comic to see Indianapolis give Saturday the job over actual former NFL head coaches on the staff, names like John Fox or Gus Bradley.

This is still great news for Ryans, though, who’ll now turn and look at other teams’ mistakes like this one with the hope they set up what’ll be a much better situation for him this upcoming offseason.

Although that’ll prompt yet another time San Francisco has to find and rely upon a quality defensive coordinator, namely with the team losing Robert Saleh to the New York Jets in 2021.