The Coach Tracker may be done for the season after this, now that the NFL vacancies have been cleaned out. All but of course, the San Francisco 49ers. This is the same dance we had last year, the 49ers interviewed candidates, then circled back to Chip Kelly at the eleventh hour.
The good news is, there are still some quality candidates, at least to armchair owners like ourselves, so the 49ers still have some picks. Problem is, most of the candidates all are in the playoffs.
The Connections:
The Terry McDonough interview is set for Friday and even the 49ers rivals, the Arizona Cardinals are praising the candidate. Larry Fitzgerald came in and offered his praise despite the fact the Cardinals kind of don’t like the 49ers very much.
Other Candidates:
Louis Riddick may still be an enigma. While he has interviewed with the 49ers, it sounds like several in his employment circle have not been contacted. Fooch offers several explanations for all of this, but something may be off with Riddick in that aspect. Or maybe there’s glowing recommendations on his LinkedIn page and Jed York doesn’t need to contact anyone.
Sean McVay may have been liked in interviews, so much Mike Silver reported McVay was given phone numbers to possible general manager candidates to get some rapport with them. The GMs mentioned? Green Bay’s Eliot Wolf and Brian Guntekunst. The phone number exchange does display a bit of McVay’s infancy in the league, as maybe an older coach would have worked with or crossed paths with one of the Packers executives—but if the 49ers are handing out phone numbers from those two, perhaps they are still the top candidates in the running for the vacant GM position?
Upcoming Interviews:
Head Coach:
Tom Cable (Sunday)
General Manager:
Trent Kirchner (Monday)
Scott FItterer (Monday)
Terry McDonough (Friday)
Coach Tracker:
We’ll start with some minor news. Former 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman is set to head to the Baltimore Ravens to join the other Harbaugh—John Harbaugh. Roman was fired from the Bills after his offense scored points while the defense didn’t do much at all. The job is still not known, but it’s not offensive coordinator. That may not last long and Roman could be the recipient of a situation that got him canned in Buffalo; the Ravens have a knack for firing offensive coordinators mid-season.
The Los Angeles Rams have announced Washington offensive coordinator Sean McVay as their new head coach. Those of you wanting to see the young offensive mind on the 49ers are going to be out of luck. It also means that the Rams didn’t want to take a chance with their other second interviews and let McVay get snapped up by another team. It was suggested they had other candidates to interview, but all that got tossed away when the announcement was made. Reports say Wade Phillips will serve as defensive coordinator. For those of use who were concerned on him getting a staff together, that’s a promising start.
And after the announcement, it was speculated he’d take Anthony Lynn to Los Angeles with him as well. Well, Lynn is going to Los Angeles, just not for the Rams, because it was announced something is close to making him head coach of the newly formed Los Angeles Chargers. This takes another candidate the 49ers were impressed with off the table and lets the Chargers begin an arms race with the Rams for best organization in the land. Watch the hires for the staffs tomorrow.
And that leaves the 49ers. All of the vacancies have been filled. Leaving the 49ers as the one team without a coach or a general manager. The 49ers have been linked to Josh McDaniels, but it also leaves Kyle Shanahan, two candidates many thought would be big splashy hires. If the 49ers are interested in either of these coaches...or Tom Cable, news will be coming later rather than sooner given their playoff status. Perhaps teams saw something in these coaches the 49ers didn’t as red flags, or saw something in their recent hires the 49ers missed making them must-haves. Who knows.
NFL Hirings
Buffalo Bills — Sean McDermott
Los Angeles Rams — Sean McVay
Jacksonville Jaguars — Doug Marrone
San Diego Chargers — Anthony Lynn
San Francisco 49ers — TBD
Denver Broncos — Vance Joseph