Who will be the 49ers' next defensive coordinator? - ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In what has become an offseason tradition, San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is again looking for a defensive coordinator.

It's the fifth time in five years the Niners are conducting such a search after Robert Saleh accepted an offer to become the Tennessee Titans' head coach last week.

«I definitely don't like doing this for the fifth year in a row,» Shanahan said. «I really would like to go on vacation, but these D-coordinators keep making me have my family wait and get mad at me for it.»

Unlike the past two years, Shanahan's family might not have to wait long. Last offseason, the Niners hired Gus Bradley as assistant head coach for defense to help Saleh and get an up-close view of how Shanahan runs things.

It was a move made with an eye toward the likelihood that Saleh could be one-and-done in his second stint with the 49ers. A possibility that became a reality last week.

While the 49ers must still go through the process, and there's a possibility that another candidate or two could alter their thinking, Bradley is the clear leader in the clubhouse.

«I wouldn't say it's a real wide net,» Shanahan said. «Gus is the obvious one to everyone and is to us, too. Gus would be the main internal candidate. We feel very fortunate to get Gus and should feel great about that. But also, we are going to go through the whole process. There are requirements we have to do and stuff that we want to do also. So hopefully we can get it settled sooner than later.»

In Bradley, 59, the Niners have a path to something they haven't had at the position in a half-decade: continuity.

Saleh's first stint in the job lasted from 2017 to 2020 before he left to become the head coach of the New York Jets. By that time,