Report: Former Falcons head coach Raheem Morris to join 49ers as defensive coordinator

Former Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris has found a new job. According to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the San Francisco 49ers are set to make Morris their next defensive coordinator.

Raheem Morris is set to replace Robert Saleh in San Francisco. Saleh left this offseason to become the head coach of the Tennessee Titans.

The San Francisco 49ers are coming off a 12-5 season. That was only good enough for third place in the NFC West, but it was good enough to make the playoffs as a Wild Card. There, while dealing with numerous injuries, the 49ers were able to win a game before falling in the divisional round.

Much of that success was thanks to the defense. The 49ers were 20th in total defense, giving up an average of 340.2 yards per game. Perhaps more importantly, San Francisco was 13th in scoring defense, giving up 21.8 points in the regular season.

Raheem Morris, for his part, began coaching in 1998 at Hofstra as a graduate assistant. He had also previously played defensive back for Hofstra. By 2002. Morris would land his first job as an assistant coach in the NFL, joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a defensive assistant in multiple roles. While there, he’d win one of the Super Bowls as an assistant coach.

After returning to college to take on a defensive coordinator role, Morris would return to Tampa Bay in 2007 as the team’s defensive backs coach. He’d then be promoted to head coach in 2009. Over the course of three seasons there, Morris would go 17-31 as the team’s head coach. However, he was fired at the end of his third season there, on the back of a 10-game losing streak to end the season.

Morris bounced back quickly, landing an assistant role in Washington before joining the Atlanta Falcons. Again, he’d serve as an assistant in multiple roles. That included time as the assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, and then interim head coach during the 2020 season. Morris then went to Los Angeles to be the Rams’ defensive coordinator, winning another Super Bowl during his time there.

Atlanta would look to bring back Morris ahead of the 2024 season, and he would lead the Falcons for the previous two seasons. During that time, Atlanta went 16-18. After going 4-7 as the interim back in 2020, he finishes with a 20-25 record as the Atlanta Falcons head coach. Overall, he has a 37-56 record as a head coach, to go along with those two Super Bowls wins as an assistant coach.

Now, Morris will look to provide a consistent direction forward for the 49ers on defense. That includes potentially culminating in a deep playoff run.