After losing in the NFL Divisional Round, San Francisco’s bad news continued when highly talented defensive coordinator Robert Saleh took the Tennessee Titans’ head coaching job. This is a massive loss for the 49ers, and they needed to act quickly to find a suitable replacement that can lead this top-tier defense.
In the end, San Francisco zeroed in on former Atlanta Falcons HC Raheem Morris as their next DC, but was it the correct move?
Former LB Points to Raheem Morris’ Underwhelming Record
When Morris was hired as the Falcons’ HC, his defensive talent was the main reason. Although Atlanta’s defense never reached its potential, Morris was still viewed as a great defensive coach. Sometimes, when a coordinator becomes HC, their offensive or defensive talent starts to deteriorate. This happened with Saleh and the New York Jets back when he was their HC.
Morris will have another opportunity to focus solely on defense, and this could work out very well for the 49ers. Still, former NFL LB Emmanuel Acho believes that the 49ers played it safe with the hire.
Acho explained, “Steve Wilks called me 3 years ago when he was the Niners DC. I won’t say all of the private details, but his point was Shanahan likes his defense a certain way. Not that Shanahan wants a puppet, but he likes his defense a certain way, a certain way that Wilks does not like to play defense.
“Wilks likes to blitz. Shanahan likes his DC’s to sit back and play coverage. That’s why the Niners were last in sacks this year. I am partially afraid that this was a homeboy hire.”
Emmanuel Acho believes Kyle Shanahan hired Raheem Morris as his DC because it was a safe hire.
Acho also had this to say:
“Steve Wilks called me 3 years ago when he was the Niners DC. I won’t say all of the private details, but his point was Shanahan likes his defense a certain… pic.twitter.com/MxwY97ADjc
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) February 2, 2026
After the quote went viral, some NFL fans questioned the “safe hire” part. Acho responded, revealing his concern about the hire. “Love Heem, he’s a great dude- phenomenal players coach and I think will be successful. it concerns me he’s never had a top 15 defense. Ever. Thats not asking for much,” Acho wrote on X.
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When HCs make hires that seem less ambitious or “safe,” as Acho talks about, it can be bad and lead to a disappointing outcome. But this should be different, given HC Kyle Shanahan’s hires at DC.
Starting in 2017, when Shanahan was hired, Saleh was hired as DC and was there until 2020. In the final season, the defense was ranked 8th overall in PFSN’s Defensive Impact Metric. In 2021 and 2022, when DeMeco Ryans was the DC, the defense ranked 7th and 3rd, respectively. Then, after Ryans left, when Steve Wilks was DC, the defense ranked 9th, and since then their rankings have fallen all the way to the 20s.
The scheme Shanahan wants to run has proven to work, but it relies on the roster, and that could be an issue given the 49ers’ injury luck.
