The San Francisco 49ers have had to replace a lot of their coordinators in recent years. Some of this turnover has been due to firing some defensive coordinators, but usually they’ve had to replace guys who got hired to be head coaches.
That has happened two times with Robert Saleh, and it could happen with both of San Francisco's coordinators after this season depending on how things go.
San Francisco got Raheem Morris to replace Saleh as the defensive coordinator. He has been the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was somewhat surprisingly let go last season, even though he got his team to fight its way to an 8-9 record.
Morris has had success as a coordinator in the past, and it would not be a surprise at all if he has a good year leading San Francisco’s defense, especially if Fred Warner and Nick Bosa are healthy and play like their usual selves, and Morris goes on to get another head coaching job somewhere.
The 49ers, and specifically head coach Kyle Shanahan, given his friendship with Morris, would hate that since they have had a different defensive coordinator every season since 2022. That lack of stability may be the reason why there has been such uneven play on that side of the ball in recent years.
Morris may not be the only one who could depart, though.
Klay Kubiak is the Niners' offensive coordinator, and even though Shanahan is the one calling the plays, Kubiak still plays an important role in helping design plays or make suggestions.
His name came up as a possible head coach candidate last cycle, but he said that he wanted to remain with San Francisco. That could certainly change if the Niners have a strong season, offensively, which is definitely possible after adding Mike Evans into the mix.
Shanahan’s only previous offensive coordinator, Mike McDaniel, eventually got a head coaching job, so it seems like Kubiak is on a similar trajectory. The NFL is not a very creative league. The Arizona Cardinals hired Mike LaFleur at least in part because they thought, "Hey, that Matt LaFleur guy is pretty good with the Packers. Let’s get his brother!"
Kubiak is the son of former NFL head coach Gary Kubiak and the brother of Klay Kubiak, who was hired as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, so there’s probably a team willing to give him a shot, especially since young offensive play-callers are en vogue in the NFL right now.
If the Niners do lose both their coordinators, it will be interesting to see who they replace them with. K.J. Wright would make sense on the defensive side since he was just promoted to linebackers coach and has followed a similar trajectory to former 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans.
As for offensive coordinator, Shanahan may take his time to fill that role as he has in the past since he is the one calling plays, so the loss of Kubiak, while significant, may not sting as much.
It’s never a good thing when an organization loses talented people, though, so one hopes the 49ers can retain their coordinators if they do a good job, but if San Francisco does well, then they may get hired away.
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