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ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 04: Atlanta head coach Raheem Morris reacts prior to the start of the NFL game between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons on January 4th, 2026 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The San Francisco 49ers made a major splash at defensive coordinator this offseason, hiring Raheem Morris, who reunites with head coach Kyle Shanahan after a decade.
Morris becomes the fifth defensive coordinator in five years for the 49ers, following Robert Saleh, Nick Sorensen, Steve Wilks, and DeMeco Ryans. Three of those hires were internal (or had previously been with the team), with Wilks being the lone outside hire.
With Wilks, the 49ers had a different style of defense, and the team moved on after one year. After that, familiarity has been key for Shanahan, who hasn’t looked to change the defensive scheme too much from what his players have been successful in before.
Now, the 49ers are going back to an outside hire (albeit a coach that Shanahan has experience with) and a defensive coordinator who has seen a large amount of success running a different style of defense.
So, will the 49ers change their defense with Raheem Morris at defensive coordinator? Or will Shanahan let Morris implement his own style in 2026 as the 49ers go to their fifth coordinator in five years?
“Just one, coaching with Raheem, I’ve been with him a number of places, which has always helped, you know, so I respect him so much as a coach, as a person,” Shanahan said about Morris. “But I think the most of Raheem, going against him at the Rams. Been with him where he’s done different defenses.
“I know he took over that defense for [Brandon] Staley after Staley was there one year. Raheem came in, did a scheme similar to Staley’s completely, I thought, adding to it though, did some different things and kind of made it its own. Playing against him at Atlanta was a little bit different there too. Raheem’s been in a lot of different schemes, knows how to utilize personnel, and I’ve always known he’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever been around.”
That familiarity and ability to implement different schemes seemed like a key for Shanahan, who acknowledged the need to build the scheme around the team’s personnel.
“Raheem has done more 5-down fronts. I know he did that with the Rams and he did that in Atlanta, but I think that’s more personnel-based,” Shanahan continued. “Whatever players that you have, what are they best at? So they come in all different shapes and sizes, depends what’s available. The cool thing about Raheem is he’s done a number of different schemes. We’ll see our personnel, we’ll get into OTAs, we’ll see what we have after the draft, and we’ll put our players in the best position to run with it.”
With the revolving door of defensive coordinators, Morris could be a blessing for the 49ers, as he’s just coming off his second head coaching stint. That likely gives the 49ers a couple of years with Morris as their defensive coordinator.
“When you’ve been somewhere for 10 years, it’s so nice that people know the history of what your scheme is, the history of what you’ve gone through with your players,” Shanahan noted.
“And that’s why I always try to hire [familiar coaches]. I like doing that on offense. I like doing that on defense. But just like we talked about free agency, I mean, we’d also love to always get young, healthy guys, but you got to do what the best option is. And when Raheem became available, I thought that was the best option for us. And I was just pumped that it worked for him and his wife and that we got him out to our area.”
Morris will look to improve a 49ers defense that was dead last in sacks last year, and also struggled against the run at times. But we’ll see if he looks to change the team’s defense or find the best way to maximize the team’s talent in a more familiar scheme to the players.
