For the second consecutive year the San Francisco 49ers search for a new defensive coordinator will include an interview with former Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley.
Staley interviewed for the 49ers DC opening in 2024 after the team fired its previous DC Steve Wilks. The fit with Staley never made a ton of sense because of the significant schematic shift San Francisco would have to undergo.
That schematic shift would logically be an obstacle again entering the 2025 season. However, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler noted in a piece for ESPN.com that Staley “is a strong in-house candidate and could also be in the mix on other NFL coordinator jobs.”
While the 49ers may be trying to prop up Staley as a DC candidate to reporters like Fowler, head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t seem enthusiastic about hiring internally for a second year in a row.
“The internal one, I’ll give Staley a shot,” said Shanahan. “Just talking to him, he’s been here. There will be a lot of guys outside the building too.”
That doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement for Staley out of the gates. Shanahan did say he’s open to any changes he believes would make the team better, so perhaps Staley’s interview creates some wholesale change in mindset for the 49ers head coach.
While that’s on the table, it also feels unlikely with coaches like Robert Saleh, Jeff Ulbrich, Dennis Allen and others on the market who have experience in the 4-3 base defense Shanahan has long preferred.
Staley is a big name who will get another interview, but it’s hard to imagine he’s atop the 49ers list of candidates as they move through the process of finding a long-term answer to run their defense.