49ers Hire Anthony Lynn as Assistant Head Coach

Here are three major takeaways from this hire.

Grant Cohn | Feb 4, 2022

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers just hired one hell of a coach.

Anthony Lynn is the new assistant head coach of the 49ers, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Lynn is a former head coach and a former player who was a running back for the 49ers from 1995 to 1996. These days, he's one of the best run game coordinators in the world.

Here are three major takeaways from this hire:

1. Lynn's arrival most likely foreshadows Mike McDaniel's departure.

McDaniel was the 49ers run game coordinator from 2017 to 2020 until they promoted him to offensive coordinator this past season. Now, he appears to be the leading candidate to become the Miami Dolphins head coach. And if he takes that job, the 49ers will lose their primary arhcitect of their run game, and they'll need a new one. Lynn is every bit as brilliant and qualified as McDaniel.

2. Lynn could bring a backup quarterback with him.

The 49ers will need to acquire a backup for Trey Lance once they trade Jimmy Garoppolo, and Lynn could bring a quality backup with him. For two seasons when Lynn was the Chargers head coach, he worked with Tyrod Taylor, one of the best backup quarterbacks in the NFL. Taylor is an athletic dual-threat quarterback who would be a perfect fit behind Lance.

3. Lynn's hire explains why the 49ers did not retain former assistant head coach Jon Embree.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the 49ers allegedly offered Embree a 60 percent pay cut to stay on the staff as the tight ends coach but no longer have the title as assistant head coach. Now, we see why -- the 49ers wanted to open that position for Lynn. Fair enough. Lynn is a great coach. But I don't understand why the 49ers essentially pushed Embree out the door. They could have given Lynn the title of assistant head coach without slashing Embree's salary, i.e. the 49ers easily could have had both Lynn and Embree. Now, they'll need to find a new tight end coach who most likely won't be as good as Embree.

Hey, at least the 49ers got Lynn.

Published Feb 4, 2022

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.