New 49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris highlights team's unique culture

49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris speaks to reporters after San Francisco's practice on Wednesday in Santa Clara.

New 49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris highlights team's unique culture originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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So far, Raheem, what excites you or who excites you on this defense thus far?

it's a lot of exciting things, a lot of exciting people.

it's fun to be around a bunch of new people that you haven't really been around.

it's fun to watch people grow and get better throughout the process.

I've had so much fun, you know, being able to learn a lot of things from our guys, some of the really good things that they've done in the past.

I've had a lot of fun being able to implement some things that we wanna do, to be able to talk about.

We have a little bit of experimental time, in these moments.

they've all been great.

it's been so much fun to be around all of these guys, but when you're just around a guy like Fred, you're around Greenlaw, even though they're not practicing, it is, is, it's a little different when you're around those couple of guys that just, put so much into their work, put so much time into it.

Bosa has, has been really fun to be around 'cause he's the most even-keeled dude I've ever seen in life.

and I, and I love that, you know, just, nothing's gonna bother him.

he's gonna be ready to deal with just about any situation that's gonna come up, and you gotta start with those type of leaders.

And then talking about the guys that's out there playing for us that's in those shoes, whether you're talking about Walow, some of the guys that's getting coached by the guys that we just mentioned, they've been a lot of fun.

Romello, being a young punk, out there just running around doing all the things that he's able to do, getting all the tutoring from Chris and, and, and all the guys in his room.

So I am excited about a lot of people, that's just a few just to mention.

I'm sure you are very familiar with his playing career, but having K- been around K.J.

Wright for a few months now as a coach, what, what has kind of stuck out to you about the way he's transitioned into- how inquisitive he is.

You know, you could see why he was a great player.

the attention to detail, the things that he brings to our meeting rooms, the experience from being out there, the experience from hearing it from a player's view, how he articulates and takes it as a coach and able to give to those guys and deliver it.

and he's got, you know, Johnny Hollen around him, you know, one of the all-time greats.

and those two have been able to work together, as well as I've seen.

You mentioned to Allport it was to be quality control coach.

I know that's a role that you played, and Kyle- Yeah has always been big on that.

What, what is the value in it, having that role before stepping into it?

I think the value is not just being a quality control coach.

I think the value of being a quality control coach with a guy like Monte Kiffin or being a quality control coach now with a guy like, like Kyle Shanahan.

You know, when you work under those wings, you have no idea, but to work extremely hard, work with a purpose, and absolutely have to know exactly what you need and what you want, in order to get those guys what they need and what they want.

And you can't help but learn when you're in those environments.

So, I'm extremely fortunate for myself, extremely fortunate for Kyle, and now being able to mentor people like that, you know, having Jake Lynch with me and Cam Brown, some of those guys, I'm seeing some of the same benefits that they're able to get, from all these great coaches on this staff as well.

You mentioned Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw.

They always talk about this expectation that, you know, lives in the building here with the forty-niners.

Just, you've mentioned them kind of coaching some of the younger guys up.

Which of the rookies, if all of them, if one of them, and in, in what ways have you seen them kind of buy into that system and show that they are eager to kind of make their move here?

It's really, it's really easy, with that room because they, they're in the same room every single day.

we have our defensive meetings, and they're in there influencing those things.

And inside the defensive meeting room, you see those guys, not a rookie, but how they influence Stout and, and, and how they influence Stout and how they're around Stout and how they make him think and behave and, and sitting next to each other every single day.

can't get Stout to smile, but he has such a serious demeanor, and he's picking up all the things from Fred, Greenlaw, all the guys around him.

that pit bull type mentality with, that Greenlaw brings every single day, that knowledge, that, that spirit that Fred brings.

And then you watch those guys move into their own individual rooms, and you see what he's doing for Douga Lighworth, and watching those guys be able to come here late in the afternoons and, and really pick up things and learn and develop and grow.

they, they, they wanna be like those guys, and they set such good examples for everybody in the building, that that is always gonna be a good thing with those guys.

Follow up on that with B- Stout.

He was one of the rookies that kind of made a name for himself last season.

What have you seen out of him this season in their conversations between the two of you that kind of show, okay, this guy is really, you know, bought in?

He's a great listener.

he's a great note taker.

he is really locked in.

he's one of the guys that, that wants to go out and absolutely do it at a very high level every single day.

He puts extreme amount of pressure on himself to be great, for his room, for himself.

I gotta find out what his internal why is, but whatever his why is, man, I, I love it.

Multiple interceptions today.

I know it's June practice OTAs, whether it was in team or maybe seven on seven.

How important are those just for you to see your guys make plays?

And was there some understanding the quarterbacks were going downfield?

Were you kind of wanting to see your, your guys get pressured deep?

I, I, I want pressure every day.

And, our offense does such a great job.

I think that's the part of working together.

I think, I think it's our job in the off-season to, you know, go out there and, and practice the, the high level plays that you wanna be able to get while you know it on e- each side and be able to look at those pinpoint players to be able to make those accurate decisions on who're gonna be the very best, you know, out there, even put in hard positions.

And when you see guys make plays on the ball, in seven-on-seven periods or team periods, whatever it is, I think that's always a good thing and, and what you want to have happen.

I think the guy gaining more confidence I think is gonna be a part of the standard.

I think it's always been a part of the standard here, and we gotta get back to that, at a very high level in order to go out to compete in this very hard division.

Saw Strickland catch at, catch at least one deep one.

I know you're going against- Strickland did, man.

Strickland looked good.

You know, he, he was on, I think it was two.

I think he hit us on, a, a deep route, down, both sidelines.

and he's a very talented young man.

He's gotten better and better every single day that he's been here.

I'm loving where he's going.

I'm loving his transition to whatever he's got going on with those guys on offense.

he's very smart, he's very sharp, he's very articulate.

we, we definitely have done a nice job in our scouting department in profiling the guys that we need to get around here, to win.

You mentioned- Do you- B- Stout anticipate a, a competition for the starting safety spot in spots in the, in the summer?

I think that's the most important thing.

I think it's spots, right?

You know, like, you know, nobody ever gets comfortable in the National Football League, coaches, players, and nobody.

I think you wanna go out there and have high level competition across the board.

I think it's less about, you know, starting spots for coaches.

It's more about roles and what kind of roles can people do to help you win.

And I think people finding their roles, you know, whether you call Stout a starter or not, he's a starter.

You know, being that nickel role that he stepped into last year and played at a very high level, I think those things matter.

whether you talk about the safeties and how they're gonna play and what their role's gonna be, I think you want those guys to go out there, compete at a very high level, and give you everything they can.

And they've shown a lot of good things, you know, despite what might have been said about these guys in the past, and I'm really excited to watch those guys play.

Quick- Picked up one yesterday, actually.

Yesterday as wellIn your coaching experience, how, how much of an impact, for someone like Fred to be out there and match the energy and root these guys on before coming into training camp?

Does that excite the younger guys more, in your opinion?

It does.

You know, m- no disrespect to all the, the great players that I've been lucky enough to be around.

I don't know if anybody's had the juice that Fred has, you know?

the greatness, the great mornings, the great days, the great attitude, the mentality to go out every single day and win the day.

he brings a different attitude every single day and, and, and it is absolutely refreshing.

I've seen the ups and downs from some of your great players, you know, whether it's been the Aaron Donalds or Jalen Ramsey or a Derek Brooks, a John Lynch, a Ronde Barber.

I, I haven't seen a guy be as consistent as he's been since I've been here as Fred.

I mean, he's every single day.

Alex Mustapha signed after he had that, saw that coverage with that long pass to Jacob King.

What was the teaching moment there?

That was the setup.

it was one of those plays we talked about.

You know, you put those guys out there in some of those hard situations, and it's about being visual, and it's not about not seeing so much and being able to be that angel over top to be able to help us play the right way, to be able to save a tough play that could've been a tough play.

he covered a lot of grass and, you know, could almost get there in that setting when you're not touching the quarterback, so if you can get close in those situations, that's a good thing, you know, 'cause hopefully, you know, you got both sending some of those guys that'll save you on some of those.

He's, he's trained here- And just what have you seen from him in these past few weeks?

I've seen a bunch of improvement.

You know, he touched the ball today, he got a chance to make a play on the ball, one of the picks we just talked about.

You know, I've watched him, you know, absolutely sit in the front of the room every single day, pick up everything, learn everything, you know, find ways to do extra on his own and, and all the stuff that he's doing.

And I'm, I'm just I mean, it's, it's a wonderful group.

You know, I, I mean, this team has been built and constructed the right way by a bunch of really good people.

and you see it every single day when you come to work.

Anything else?

were you in the building yesterday when, you found out about Myles Garrett going to LA and the- Yeah, we all were.

I think it was about 10:25 that it came across to, to most of us and, you know, a great player, right?

And what, what do you do?

You know, you go out there and you find a way to, to win that game no matter what.

I know those guys really well, and I wasn't shocked one bit.

Go for- What are your impressions of, uh- I was coming out- Well, that was my- Sorry.

I didn't hear this question.

Was that a Myles Garrett question?

He said something about Myles.

Oh, okay.

Sorry, that was kind of But, you know, um- He beat you to it, now you stomp.

No, yeah.

I, no, nothing.

Stomp it as well.

I have absolutely nothing.

No, based on your experience, I mean, did you have, like, any thoughts or inkling that, you know, if any team's gonna do it, it's c- gonna be them?

I, I, I'll be honest, you know, I, I've been out of that loop, you know.

We've really been focused on just the defense, doing all the things that we've been doing, so I haven't been kinda following all the stuff you guys probably have been and what's gonna happen after June 1st, what's gonna happen on all these dates that come up in the league.

That just wasn't my gig right now.

but when it came across, it was no shock in my head.

Another safety question.

With this defense, we've heard mostly sort of interchangeable, not necessarily just a strong safety- Sure not necessarily a free safety.

Is that your mode, too?

or you, are you looking for some traits in separately from those two guys?

There's, there's definitely gonna be some different traits, you know, 'cause like, it'd be pretty selfish to say certain type of guy couldn't play in a system.

but I, I don't think that's necessarily true.

I just think, like, the league has kind of evolved more to the traits where they're kind of cross-trained, and they can do different things.

I think you got some traits that add qualities to different areas, kind of the role stuff that we talked about before, you know, whether that could be close to the line of scrimmage, in the box, doing something as a linebacker S-type player, or doing something as a big nickel S-type player or a outside whatever you wanna call those different positions that we call them now.

But, like, definitely different traits, but definitely have, a lot of similar traits when you talk about playing in the back end.

Randy.

Okay, I've got a new one.

Good.

Glad.

Yeah, yeah.

It's gonna be- Streaming today it's gonna be great.

based on when Oso was traded from the Cowboys, just the reaction from Dallas from coaches, players, even media was like, "Oh, dang," you know, "He's leaving."

can you just speak to whatever you've gleaned from him, his character, him as a person?

Him as a worker, the human, the guy that, has come here and, and providing great energy as well.

I love his approach to every single day and what he does to make sure he's ready to go, you know, for his teammates.

You know, he hasn't gotten a chance to really prove anything like, you know, none of us have and, I think he's embracing this environment that he's in and, and really loving it and being around his coaches and, you know, those guys, whether it's Cam or whether it's, Gregory and, or Chris Erick and all those guys that are with him, they, they absolutely got them.

They got a whole posse down there, guys that, that I don't wanna go nowhere near at Indy, so it's, it's, it's fun to watch all those guys.

Where do you wanna see Burfoots bring to the mix?

I know he was a walk-on once upon a time.

He's worked with a lot of great defensive coaches, Saban and others.

What is, how are you gonna utilize his skills?

He, he's been a sharp, calming, easy presence, you know, for me.

You know, he's the guy that can see big picture things.

You know, he can talk about, you know, what our tackling plan looks like, how we look on our approaches.

he's been a guy that's been able to come to you and to be able to talk some of the different things that, that's going on around the league.

You know, some of the different techniques and stuff that we talk about and, you know, right now he's being a sponge and he's taking everything and he's, and he's been able to come back on the board and be able to question and, and try to finalize all the things that we wanna do.

he's, he's been absolutely awesome.

With the mandatory mini camp be canceled next week, what is your plan for the rookies?

Do they stay extra?

How do you get them up to date and, and geared up for the start of training camp?

You know, obviously Kyle handles all those things, but a lot of the guys, like to be around each other, you know.

And I know, I hate to keep bringing him up, but I know Fred, you know, organized a lot of that with, with our guys and, you know, our guys get a lot of, you know, positive peer pressure from each other to, to make sure they come back ready to go and trying to stay mentor sharp, but also, you know, finding a way to get away and be with their families and do the things that you need to do, in order to be ready for a long season.

So, the, the Niners have played a, a lot of very long seasons around here, and you still gotta have time to get away and do some things, but at the same time, be ready to go when we come back to training camp.

What struck you about just watching Brock Purdy, quarterback- I got a Brock pick today.

I let him know that right after practice.

That was awesome.

He gonna be so mad at me for telling the media that, but you guys were there.

But you do, you guys were there.

That's a big one.

Was it two?

Oh, I didn't get a chance to brag.... a lot during the off-season program?

Say it again, I'm sorry.

No, no, no, I wouldn't say a lot.

I mean, it's, it's, he is, the layer king.

he, he's, he's the, he's got, he's so accurate.

he puts the ball in the right spot, you know, keeps the ball in his hands.

He's tortured me for years.

and it's, it's so nice to be around him and so refreshing to be around that whole group, and the energy that they bring, you know.

Getting a chance to be nosy and going there with those guys, is always fun.

'cause you, you learn from Mick, you learn from, you know, Brock, Matt, you know, all of those guys that are in that room.

And they, I enjoy going there B to B with those guys sometimes too.

Early returns been with competition in that lineback room.

I'm so sorry.

I missed the beginning of that.

No, it's all good.

early returns with the competition in that lineback room, what have you, what have you noticed, o- outside of Fred and Dre, guys are, you know, competing for limited spots?

You know, obviously, you know, Fred and Dre is not, they're not doing the stuff out there right now.

they're doing the mental reps.

They're back there hanging out with me, harassing me in the back.

but they've been able to, you know, with those guys, you got young guys in Dugger, you got young guys in, in Lightworth.

You got young guys, you know, Nick, the guys that have been able to get out there and have a chance.

Nick in his second year, a bit ago, but then there's some guys like Wallo that's really stepped up and, you know, you know, filled that role right now as the, the communicator on the field.

And, and, and Jalen has done a nice job of going out there playing lineback as well.

I've been really excited about that group, and what they've been able to do, since the guys that I've seen.

You know, these guys have been awesome.

You know, obviously you got a couple guys on the shelf right now not, not going right now, but, I look forward to those guys getting to training camp and competing.

Two players with the fastest get off time last year were Nick Bose and Myles Garrett.

You guys went out and got Romello Height.

Can you talk about the stress that first step puts on it and the opposing offense, and why there's so much emphasis on that in today's NFL?

You know, it's, it's just the belief in the National Football League, right?

It's about, you know, really, less about that, but more about how do you mentally and physically affect the quarterback.

And having the stress of knowing that you got guys with great get off, is one of those ways to definitely mentally know, that that's gonna be a part of it.

But getting to it, the quarterback, and getting to those spots, being able to close space, being able to, you know, if you don't sack, being able to bother people, that's certainly what people's been able to-- that's what certainly what Bose has been able to do, and, obviously Myles.

so being able to go out and get guys like Romello and different guys across the board to be able to help us do some of the same things is definitely gonna be helpful for us.

All right, guys.

Oh, last one, last one.

Obviously it's, you, the goal is to be better than last year.

How do you wanna quantify that?

Do you wanna see it in, in sacks, in INTs, in pressures?

I am so unselfish, and it's more about team wins.

You know, so like for us, Lane, it's just like, how do we go out and be a better football team?

And, and whatever that requires, and whatever that means, let's do that.

how do you go out and, and help the Niners get to the ultimate goal and what we want it to be?

and that will never waver from how I believe and how I think.

I don't have selfish goals.

I don't have those type of things.

I know they come up.

I know they will come up.

I know they will be the standard, they will be tested, but, like, at the same time Trent just walked in, so I'm leaving.

See you guys later

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