How Desirable is the 49ers' Vacant Defensive Coordinator Position?

A couple years ago, the 49ers probably could have had whichever defensive coordinator they wanted. Now that job might not be so desirable.
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
In this story:

A couple years ago, the 49ers probably could have had whichever defensive coordinator they wanted. Now that job might not be so desirable.

Two years ago, the 49ers had the no. 1 defense in the NFL. Then DeMeco Ryan left to become the head coach of the Houston Texans. And according to reports, Vic Fangio was interested in replacing Ryans as the defensive coordinator. But he likely would have wanted to change the 49ers' defensive scheme and scrap the Wide 9, which head coach Kyle Shanahan didn't want to do.

So Fangio went to the Dolphins for a year, and now he's coaching the Philadelphia Eagles defense which is the best in the league.

Meanwhile, the 49ers hired Steve Wilks in 2023 because he was willing to keep the Wide 9 and work within the structure of the 49ers' defensive scheme. And he got fired after one season.

Then Nick Sorensen replaced Wilks and also got fired after one season. Now the 49ers are looking for a defensive coordinator to clean up their mess.

And the 49ers defense isn't nearly as talented or deep as it was two years ago. It's Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Deommodore Lenoir and a bunch of journeymen and young players on their rookie deals. Most of the money will be going to the offense once Brock Purdy signs his contract extension this offseason.

So the new defensive coordinator would have to coach a marginally talented group, he likely would have to keep the Wide 9 and run Shanahan's defense, plus he would have to be Shanahan's scapegoat if the 49ers fall short of expectations.

Sounds like a terrible job.

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast.


Published
Grant Cohn
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.