The San Francisco 49ers are officially in the market for a new quarterbacks coach. The Denver Broncos have agreed to terms with Rich Scangarello to take over as their offensive coordinator, according to Adam Schefter. The 49ers are expected to look internally at wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Mike LaFleur and running game coordinator Mike McDaniel as replacement options.
It’s been a rapid climb for Scangarello. He joined the 49ers in 2017, reuniting with Kyle Shanahan. In 2015, Scangarello had served as offensive quality control coach for the Atlanta Falcons in Shanahan’s first year as their OC . Scangarello spent a year as the Oakland Raiders offensive QC coach and assistant quarterbacks coach in 2009. Other than that, all his experience has been in the college ranks at the FCS level or lower.
It’s an impressive climb, due to the work he did with Jimmy Garoppolo and C.J. Beathard in 2017, and then the work he did with Nick Mullens then and through 2018. And he gets a huge opportunity in Denver. New head coach Vic Fangio is defensive-minded, so this opens the door for Scangarello to really make a name for himself with the Broncos offense.
One topic that is sure to be of note is the status of quarterback Nick Mullens. He had a solid second half of the season, and the Broncos are in need of quarterback options. Mullens is a strong backup option, and frankly, is probably a better option than Case Keenum at this point. Neither is a franchise guy, but I’d take my chances with Mullens over Keenum while figuring out the bigger picture. Maybe John Elway chats with John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan about Mullens’ availability.