Stepping in to fill the void of Robert Saleh, Raheem Morris is set to become the next defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers.
When the San Francisco 49ers lost Robert Saleh this offseason as he departed from being their defensive coordinator to taking over a head job of his own again, there were big shoes to fill for the Niners. And after a thorough search process, they landed on a phenomenal name. As announced on Sunday afternoon, Raheem Morris is being hired as the Niners’ next DC for the upcoming season.
So after Saleh goes to the Tennessee Titans to be head coach, the Niners locked down Morris, who was just a head coach with the Atlanta Falcons, to step into their DC role. That’s not an easy pivot for most coaches, but Morris is the type of leader who can walk into a locker room and immediately command respect. With his wealth of experience and defensive mindset success coaching at multiple levels, this is a great move for a team that expects to contend and expects its defense to be a weekly strength.
Morris began coaching in college before entering the NFL in the early 2000s, and over the years, he’s built a resume that includes winning a Super Bowl as the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams. He’s been around elite talent, he’s coached on big stages, and he understands what it takes to build a unit that can hold up in January football.
He’s also got a great working relationship with Kyle Shanahan, and that matters. They’ve worked together at three different places: Tampa Bay from 2004 to 2005, Washington from 2012 to 2013, and Atlanta from 2015 to 2016. So this will be the fourth team in which they’re joining forces together. There’s synergy, there’s trust, there’s shared language, and there’s a long track record of being aligned.
To get a guy who was just a head coach to now step into your DC role, and to do it as the successor to someone like Saleh, is a big deal for the Niners. This is a statement hire.