© Kirby Lee | 2020 Aug 30
Robert Saleh isn’t gone yet, but the writing is on the wall.
The 49ers defensive coordinator is scheduled to interview with four of the six NFL teams that have head coaching vacancies, and is probably the hottest name on the head coaching market. If you listen to Kyle Shanahan, he’s already resigned himself to the fact that Saleh won’t be back next year.
“I will be very surprised if we don’t lose him,” Shanahan said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with people if they don’t hire him. I mean, he’s as good as you can get and knows more about football, all three phases. And he’s going to hire the best staff. He knows about players. He knows who knows what they’re talking about. Who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. And he also knows how to deal with people. So, I hope everyone’s not very smart and doesn’t hire them so I can keep him. But, I’m expecting not to have him.”
So where do the 49ers turn if they lose Saleh, who coached up the significantly depleted San Francisco defense to 4th overall in opponent yards per play this season? Nick Wagoner of ESPN floated four names he believes are the leading candidates to replace Saleh. The only in-house candidate he mentioned is linebackers coach DeMeco Ryans, who has been generating significant buzz recently, including from Fred Warner on KNBR Tuesday.
“I think DeMeco Ryans has been the guy who’s been groomed for that potential spot over the last couple years anyway,” Wagoner said. “I think if they are to go in house he’s clearly the candidate that makes the most sense.”
If they look outside the organization, Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley is one of the leading candidates. Bradley was the head coach in Jacksonville from 2013-16 and hired Saleh. He was also nearly hired by Shanahan for Saleh’s job back in 2017.
“Gus Bradly is a guy that four years ago, before they hired Robert Saleh, they did more than kick the tires on. They were very interested in having him come in and do the job. They end up hiring Saleh who was closely tied with Gus Bradley. Robert Saleh might be the guy that Gus Bradley is closest with in the league, at least in terms of a defensive mentor for him. I would think this job would be very appealing to him, probably more appealing than the Raiders. I can’t say that definitively, I don’t know what ties he has to the Raiders, but just given the talent base that’s here that he would have to work with, and just the knowledge base and things that he can do schematically, I think that would be appealing to the 49ers.”
The last two are coaches that Kyle Shanahan knows well from his day’s in Atlanta. The hot name is Dan Quinn, the recently fired head coach that took the Falcons, along with Shanahan, to the Super Bowl in 2016. The under the radar name is Raheem Morris, who worked his way up from a defensive assistant in 2015, to the team’s defensive coordinator this season.
“You mentioned Dan Quinn, I think the other name I would throw into that hat is Raheem Morris, who is going to be getting some looks. I know he’s interviewed in Atlanta, he was the interm coach there, he has an interview or two lined up as a potential head coach, but if he doesn’t get one of those jobs, he and Kyle Shanahan have a longstanding relationship from Atlanta and they both have ties to the old Tampa days.
“Those would be kind of the four names that stand out above the rest. It’s harder to handicap the guys that are outside the building. I think Ryans is the clear cut choice if they stay in-house, if not, I would say probably Gus Bradley at the top of that list, but wouldn’t count out Morris or Quinn either.”
Listen to the full interview below.