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49ers appear to have cut ties with long-time defensive coach
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- 49ers appear to have cut ties with long-time defensive coach
The San Francisco 49ers appear to have cut a coach loose from their defensive staff.
Defensive backs coach and defensive passing game specialist Daniel Bullocks is no longer listed on the team's coaching roster on their official website (h/t Dieter Kurtenbach ), which likely means he's no longer with the club. There has been no official announcement from the team.
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This change on their coaching roster comes on the heels of a report from NFL Media's Tom Pelissero that the 49ers tried interviewing Atlanta Falcons secondary coach Justin Hood. Atlanta denied the 49ers the opportunity to interview Hood for what Pelissero called a "high-ranking staff position." Had that position been the vacant defensive coordinator post, Atlanta wouldn't have been able to block Hood from interviewing with San Francisco , which drew some speculation about what position Hood might've been a candidate for.
Combining the Hood report with the apparent Bullocks exit makes it easy to connect dots that the 49ers were likely trying to snag Hood away from Atlanta to replace Bullocks.
We initially listed Bullocks as a potential internal candidate for the 49ers at defensive coordinator because of his experience in San Francisco (whoops). Bullocks was with the 49ers' coaching staff for all of head coach Kyle Shanahan's first nine seasons with the team. He joined the staff in 2017 as an assistant defensive backs coach. After two seasons in that spot he was promoted to safeties coach for four seasons before moving into a role as a defensive backs coach. Last season was his first with the passing game specialist tag added on.
It's unclear who the 49ers will target to fill that role. Ray Brown was on the staff last season as the defensive backs/cornerbacks coach. He could be in line for a promotion, but the team is clearly looking at external candidates as well as their defensive coaching staff changes following Robert Saleh's exit to become the Tennessee Titans head coach.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers coaching staff: Daniel Bullocks appears to be out
