The 49ers will have 3 new coordinators in 2025. Here are Kyle Shanahan’s main options

The 49ers will enter the 2025 season coming off the biggest shakeup during the eight-year tenure of head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch.

That was the main revelation of the end-of-season press conference the two held Wednesday. The previous day, the team fired special teams coordinator Brian Schneider, stripped defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen of his duties (Shanahan hopes Sorensen, who remains under contract, will stay aboard in a different role), and announced intentions of promoting offensive pass-game specialist Klay Kubiak to offensive coordinator.

These moves vary in significance, but they’re all notable for a team that followed up a highly successful five-year stretch with a miserable, injury-riddled 6-11 campaign in 2024.

While Kubiak’s promotion is the most subtle of the three maneuvers, it’s undoubtedly intriguing. Shanahan will retain primary play-calling duties, and while he seemed to downplay Kubiak’s promotion — “he just hasn’t had the title yet,” he said — it’s worth noting that only one previous Shanahan lieutenant, current Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, has ascended to the title of offensive coordinator.

McDaniel held that job in 2021, when Shanahan topped the league in play-caller rankings despite also dealing with a slew of offensive injuries. Shanahan regressed significantly in similar metrics this past season, a slide that might indicate more trusted help can propel him to regain an advantage over opposing defensive coordinators in the perpetual chess match that is the NFL.

“I’ll continue to call plays, but Klay and I have done everything the past two years together, hand in hand, game-planning together,” Shanahan said. “He just gets better and better at it. Now, he’ll get the official title, which he more than deserves.”

This is all-important offensive context for the 49ers as they prepare to make a massive long-term financial commitment to quarterback Brock Purdy, who’s now eligible to sign a contract extension. Both Lynch and Shanahan spent a chunk of Wednesday’s session reiterating their belief in Purdy, who finished 2024 ranked No. 7 in QBR despite the 49ers’ difficulties around him.

“I plan on being with Brock here the entire time I’m here,” Shanahan said. “We’re capable of winning a Super Bowl with him. We almost did. I know he’s capable of getting the Niners a Super Bowl in the future.”

The 49ers offense finished No. 11 in expected points added (EPA), a respectable ranking but still a steep drop-off from the No. 1 spot it held in 2023. The defense, though, suffered a much steeper decline — from No. 10 to No. 26 — and that’s why Sorensen’s removal from coordinator duties came as no surprise. Shanahan said Sorensen is a candidate to take over as special teams coordinator. The team fired Schneider from that role after losing a staggering 63.8 expected points on special teams, the worst mark of any NFL team over the past four seasons.

The 49ers’ decision at defensive coordinator brings the biggest possibility of change.

“I’m open to anything,” Shanahan said in response to a question about his willingness to move away from the team’s current defensive scheme, which stayed rooted in a 4-3, Cover-3 base ever since this regime assumed power in 2017.

While Shanahan has gently flirted with big changes in the past — he’s acknowledged inquiring about the availability of legend Bill Belichick and Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo after the 2023 season — he hasn’t made any realistic swings at coordinator talent that would truly shake up the 49ers’ defensive process. Even the hiring of Steve Wilks in 2023 was based on the understanding that the outsider would learn the 49ers’ existing system before implementing his own wrinkles.

But now, more drastic moves seem to be actual possibilities.

“I’m not saying you have to change schemes, but you have to have the ability, the history, and the knowledge of how to change some stuff up when you’re in certain situations, and I do think we need more of that moving forward,” Shanahan said. “I want someone who meshes with what I believe in. You have to come up with the best thing possible that fits our situation right now.”

ESPN’s Josina Anderson reported Tuesday that the 49ers are likely to re-offer the position to Robert Saleh, Shanahan’s first defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2020. Saleh spent most of the past four seasons as head coach of the New York Jets; he’s now a consultant for the Green Bay Packers.

Saleh would be a natural fit: He coordinated one of the best 49ers defenses of this era in 2019 and even managed to hold together an injury-decimated unit in 2020, mixing Cover 4 concepts with the system’s traditional Cover 3 to modernize the unit in a fashion that’s necessary for the 49ers now. However, he’s a candidate on the head-coaching circuit (the Jacksonville Jaguars interview him Tuesday) and therefore might land outside the 49ers’ reach.

Shanahan said assistant Brandon Staley, who spent the 2024 season mostly working with the 49ers’ cornerbacks (a group that had a relatively solid year amid the team’s struggles), will be an internal candidate for defensive coordinator. That’s another sign that Shanahan is open to relatively drastic change, since Staley is a disciple of Vic Fangio — a 3-4 scheme adherent who was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator from 2011 to 2014 under coach Jim Harbaugh.

Outside of that, several experienced names may be available. They include Jeff Ulbrich, the South Bay native and former 49ers linebacker who’s the interim coach of the Jets but seems unlikely to be retained by New York’s new coaching staff. (Ulbrich was previously defensive coordinator under Saleh there and on an Atlanta Falcons staff that included Shanahan.)

Gus Bradley, the original coordinator of the “Legion of Boom” Seattle Seahawks defenses, which the 49ers used as their defensive foundation in 2017, is also available. So are experienced 4-3 scheme adherents Dennis Allen and Matt Eberflus. Former Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who has employed both 3-4 and 4-3 schemes, is also a free agent.

“I feel like there’s some options there that can be a better option for the situation we’re in as a team,” Shanahan said before hinting that a veteran coordinator — Sorensen was a first-timer — is preferred this time around. “Having the experience of going through this before is a bonus for me. It helps me with some stuff.”

In general, it seems that the 49ers might trend toward a name who can diversify their portfolio of blitz offerings. Disciples of coordinators like the Minnesota Vikings’ Brian Flores, who blitzes more than any coach in the NFL, therefore cannot be ruled out. Saleh and fellow former 49ers coordinator DeMeco Ryans, who’s now the head coach of the Houston Texans, were never prolific blitz-callers, but both were able to dial up effective extra pressure in key situations to keep the defense afloat.

Sorensen’s defense was particularly deficient in that regard, and this shortcoming was especially evident in the 49ers’ penultimate loss of the season. The Detroit Lions’ high-powered offense constantly burned a 49ers defense rushing only four defensive linemen before dominating Sorensen’s rare blitz tries even more severely.

“I love the scheme that we’ve had here,” Shanahan said. “It’s one of the hardest things to play when you’ve got the right guys in the right spots. But I think people adjust to schemes, too, and I think you’ve got to adjust your personnel. I think that was the toughest thing for us this year, harder than past seasons.”

Shanahan did express optimism that the 49ers’ early exit will give them more time to rebuild the foundation this offseason. More coordinator candidates will be available now than in February, when the 49ers began the search that ended with Sorensen’s promotion 11 months ago.

“We’ll be better at building the foundation, having more time to do it, being a little more prepared for it — because we saw where it went last year,” Shanahan said. “That starts with getting a coordinator in here who can help us map that out. And once we do map that out, it goes right to free agency and how to make sure we can get the best possible situation that we have out of the situation that we’re in. And then it goes to the draft, and when that’s over, all the guys are here, and then you get to work.” 

That’s just the on-field work. Interview work and the critical, careful recalibrating of the 49ers’ direction begins now. Shanahan and Lynch, upon finishing Wednesday’s press conference, left the room to delve into that project.

“There are a lot of big decisions ahead for us,” Shanahan said.