One Pick To Thrive, Flop & Surprise From The New Defensive Coordinator Hires

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We saw an abnormally large number of new coordinators this cycle, but every year some big hires hit and others flounder, while some lesser-known names come to surprise fans across the sport. I’ve chosen my top candidate for each fate among this crop of defensive coordinators. Yesterday, I did this exercise with the offensive coordinators . Now, it’s time for the same on the other side of the ball. A few months back, I graded all of the new offensive and defensive coordinator hires (that were official at the time). Now, I’m going to take a closer look at three of the defensive coordinators hired this cycle and do a deep dive into their styles, tendencies and prospects. What are their histories? What schemes do they run? How likely are they to succeed in their new positions? Thrive: 49ers DC Raheem Morris The award for best defensive coordinator hire this cycle goes to the 49ers, scooping up Morris after his time as the head coach in Atlanta came to an end. Robert Saleh is off to be a head coach again after his one-year return to San Francisco, so Kyle Shanahan imported another former head coach to take his place running the defense. Morris has coached defenses all over the league. He got his start on that side of the ball with Tampa Bay, working several different defensive assistant roles before making the rare jump to head coach without being a coordinator first. That run didn’t go well, but Morris’ defensive acumen never waned. He spent years as a defensive assistant in Atlanta before Sean McVay hired him as his defensive coordinator with the Rams in 2021. Part of what makes Morris so unique is his experience coaching both sides of the ball. In addition to his time on defense, he spent time as a wide receivers coach and offensive pass game coordinator during his first stint in Atlanta, and this expertise shows up in how he coaches his defenses. Adaptability permeates everything he does — there aren’t many throughlines you can point to across his years coaching defenses to predict what he’ll do in San Francisco this year. That said, he tends to tailor his scheme to his personnel. In Atlanta, Morris ran a high percentage of five-man fronts to take advantage of the group of young, talented defensive tackles the team had drafted. However, he’s already indicated that he plans to stick with the four-man fronts the 49ers ran under Saleh . Aside from offseason addition Osa Odighizuwa , San Francisco doesn’t have many interior defenders it can rely on. Morris knows this, and he’ll do his best to run schemes that benefit the team rather than rigidly sticking to “his looks.” Despite having the league’s worst pass rush and a bevy of injuries to important players last year, the 49ers held it together on defense for the most part, even into the playoffs. They upgraded their personnel and got healthy this offseason. Morris has been set up for success, and he rarely disappoints. Flop: Packers DC Jonathan Gannon On the surface, the Packers hiring Gannon is a solid (if unspectacular) retread former head coach returning to the coordinator ranks. Before he was the top guy in Arizona, Gannon spent two years as the defensive coordinator in Philadelphia, following Nick Sirianni from the Colts, where he was a defensive assistant. Gannon got the Cardinals job following an Eagles run to the Super Bowl in 2022, so the thought is that he can comfortably return to the defensive coordinator ranks, giving Green Bay a proven commodity to run that side of the ball. B…