49ers hire former Lions DC Cory Undlin as pass game specialist

ESPN’s Field Yates reported that the San Francisco 49ers hired former Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Cory Undlin as a pass-game specialist/secondary coach. Undlin was on the Eagles staff in 2015 when Ryans played for Philadelphia.

Undlin is a defensive backs coach by trade. He’s coached in the NFL since 2004, where he started as a defensive assistant with the Patriots. Since then, he’s worked for the Browns, Jaguars, Broncos, Eagles and served as the Lions defensive coordinator this past season.

The Lions defense finished dead last in defensive passing DVOA this past season. Detroit was also No. 32 in dropback EPA and 31st in dropback success rate. This is going to come as a surprise, but San Francisco has more talent than Detriot. Also, for those that didn’t watch the Lions in 2020, Undlin doesn’t have to worry about losing coaches midseason and getting players to buy-in.

The real takeaway here should be defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans surrounds himself with another experienced coach that has called plays in the NFL. Taking a jump from a positional coach to a coordinator is a big deal, no matter who you are. Ryans now has multiple coaches to lean on who have called plays that are on the staff.