Raheem Morris' arrival with 49ers immediately benefits these 5 players

After a quiet and relatively short search, the San Francisco 49ers have a new defensive coordinator in the form of former Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris.

Morris brings a wealth of experience to the role, having previously served as defensive coordinator in multiple stops, perhaps most notably with the 2021 Los Angeles Rams, who arguably denied the Niners a sixth Super Bowl title.

As well as a solid connection with the current 49ers staff, having crossed paths with Kyle Shanahan during his time with Atlanta, Morris is very much a player's coach in the mold of his predecessor, now-Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh, and his scheme creativity should give many of the Niners' young defensive players some chances to shine.

Let's take a look at who might benefit most from his arrival.

S Malik Mustapha

This was the first name to jump into my head when Morris' hire was announced. Malik Mustapha has shown flashes of brilliance (but also inconsistency) in his two-year tenure with San Francisco while also being hampered by injury.

He has a knack for highlight plays and can be an excellent hitter, but Mustapha has also shown tendencies to get beaten in coverage and often lacks ball skills. In addition, while he is capable of crushing hits, the two-year pro's tackling fundamentals occasionally let him down. The combination has made him something of a frustrating player, both burgeoning star and liability all at once.

Fortunately for Mustapha, Morris has a background in defensive back coaching, and that will likely be a boon to the young safety. Looking at the development of the likes of Jordan Fuller and Xavier Watts under Morris' coaching (to say nothing of managing to turn a long-retired Eric Weddle into a safety who helped prevent the 49ers from winning an NFC Championship game), the sky could well be the limit for Mustapha.

Also, Mustapha's athleticism and nose for the ball likely make him an intriguing piece to the creative, scheme-agnostic defensive play caller.

I can't wait to see what Morris does with Mustapha (and his fellow young safety, Marques Sigle, too).

CB Deommodore Lenoir

It's fair to say Deommodore Lenoir was a little bit of a letdown in his first full season since signing a monster five-year, $88 million contract extension in 2024. While he did have some good games against the pass (and was rarely targeted), the real upper echelon of receivers, such as the Seattle Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba, often showed Lenoir up, to poor effect.

By the end of the season, even the corner's much-vaunted stoutness against the run had disappeared, with several howling mishaps on relatively routine run stops, including on Seattle's infamous 3rd-and-long conversion in the final game of the regular season.

What Lenoir needs is, essentially, a kick in the pants: a new coach, some fresh ideas, and a drive to reach back towards his All-Pro level best.

Morris looks capable of providing him that.

Can Lenoir become a Jalen Ramsey or Ronde Barber for the Niners, two players Morris coached to arguably their highest level? It's up to him, but the chance is there to do it.

Hopefully, Lenoir's opposite number, Renardo Green, develops similarly.

LB Nick Martin

This addition presupposes that Nick Martin recovers from the nasty concussion symptoms that appear to be lingering following his late November diagnosis. All at Niner Noise wish him the best for recovery, and hopefully sooner rather than later. Concussions are no joke.

Assuming he does recover and is part of the lineup in 2026, Morris' hire represents something of a reset for Martin, who struggled to crack the lineup as a rookie and gain Saleh's trust. It's true to say the 2025 rookie was often wild and erratic, but there's clearly a player in there somewhere, as countless flashes proved.

Morris' task will be to unlock the player as best he can, particularly in a 49ers linebacking unit that appears, on the face of it, to lack depth going into next season.

If Morris can shape Martin, the Niners have a tremendous athlete with the footspeed to cover and who has proven to be able to hit like a train.

You can always find room for those in your defensive scheme, whatever you run.

DE Nick Bosa

We don't know when Nick Bosa will return to the lineup. But hopefully, it's in time for training camp, following his nasty ACL tear three weeks into the season.

The good news is, by the time he returns, Bosa should hopefully find himself in a scheme that takes some of the heavy pass-rushing load off him.

One of my biggest criticisms of Saleh was his inability to find or generate a pass rush in any way once Bosa left the lineup, and I don't see Morris making the same mistake. After all, his Falcons teams were high in both blitz percentage and extra-rusher percentage, as SFData9ers on Twitter pointed out:

Anything that can take some load off Bosa is welcome; not only will it keep him fresher and probably make the unit as a whole better by removing the reliance on a single player, but less focus on him gives him more scope to cause chaos in the backfield.

And that can be no bad thing for San Francisco.

DE Mykel Williams

Similar to Bosa, it's hard to say when we'll see Mykel Williams again, but the young Georgia prospect has expressed optimism about being back for training camp after suffering his own ACL tear.

If so, Morris' arrival could be a huge help to the 2025 first-round draftee as he navigates his second year in the NFL.

While he's not the pass-rusher Bosa is, Williams does have tremendous run-stopping ability and can make a nuisance of himself rushing from the inside on passing downs. Morris coached two edge rushers selected high in the draft last year in Jalon Walker and James Pearce, both of whom had excellent rookie seasons.

It's hard not to imagine Morris falling in love with Williams' versatility, finding a way to get the best out of him while possibly also developing him as a pass-rusher.

Most will likely try to "fit" players into equivalent roles from Morris' successful Rams defense, and while no one would be silly enough to equate Williams with future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald, perhaps Williams can find a role as the 49ers' interior pressure man in a league which is becoming increasingly more susceptible to it.