49ers hire Raheem Morris as new defensive coordinator
Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz react to the San Francisco 49ers hiring former Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris to be their new defensive coordinator. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV .
Video Transcript
Raheem Morris will now replace Robert Saleh in San Francisco as the new defensive coordinator.
This feels to me like it's path, right?
Like, we talked earlier with Siciliano about the fact that Mike McDaniel's on this, like, you know, career rehab path.
You go, you go to a great quarterback, and you go to a great, system with- under a head coach that everybody widely respects, and boom, all of a sudden.
This feels like the same thing.
If you're Raheem Morris, you go back, you remind everybody how great you are as a defensive coordinator on a team where you don't have to take care of anything else.
Yeah, I always view, you know, Kyle Shanahan, John McVay on the NFL level as like Nick Saban on the college level.
Yeah.
You lose your job, you go to the Nick Saban School of Rehabilitation for Coaches.
That this is your opportunity to take a step back, take a year off, take a couple years off, and then get right back into the head coaching pool a couple of years later.
I do have a question mark, though, about this hire.
You know, look at Raheem Morris and his three seasons with the Rams.
They ranked 19th, 22nd, and 15th in his three years in total defense.
They averaged about They gave up about five and a half yards per play in his three years with the Rams.
The Rams won that Super Bowl in 2021 to whatever season that was, because of what they did offensively.
Raheem Morris's defenses in Atlanta were inconsistent.
Looked great at times, like we saw the Atlanta defense fly around against the Bills this past season, but then we saw games where the defense just kind of looked like they were taking a vacation.
So I do have a question mark about what Raheem Morris is able to do, especially considering the injuries and the age that San Francisco has defensively.
Yeah, I mean, I think that's the one thing that, that is truly interesting about selecting that job.
Because certainly when you're on Kyle Shanahan's staff, you know the offense is gonna be great.
Yeah, taken care of.
You're in San Francisco, you know that you're gonna win a lot of football games.
That's what they are, that's what they do.
I, I am a little curious in the selection of the job, just because, as you mentioned, age and injury have become just a part of the conversation.
Like, we can't have a Chargers conversation without talking about injuries, because no matter who the head coach is, they're depleted.
The, the 49ers in the last five years have become the exact same damn thing.
So like, I'm looking at a 49ers team, and I'm thinking, "Okay, Robert Saleh this year, part of the reason he got so much love was he was making chicken salad constantly, right?"
Like, just changing parts every week, different pieces out for the season all the time.
Games lost to injury through the roof.
All the superstars they thought they could depend on were out at different points, and they couldn't get any continuity, and he still put together a competitive defense.
I mean, there- here's a little bit here of I, I'm looking around, and I'm thinking Raheem Morris is gonna be walking right into that sort of a situation.
That's part of who the 49ers are.
Some teams you could just say, "Hey, we were unlucky this year.
Had a lot of injuries.
All right, we're fine."
That's who the 49ers have become over the last several years.
So I do think it's an interesting at least look at, y- you're gonna be on a competitive team, gonna win a lot of football games, but boy, you're gonna be working hard for every single ounce of what you can squeeze out of that thing.
