First-year defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans held his first press conference of the season on Wednesday. It was probably the first time this offseason where the focus wasn’t at least partially on the rookie San Francisco took at number three in the draft. After hearing him speak, I was reminded of an Old Spice commercial with Bruce Campbell from years ago:
Ryans’ inexperience as a defensive coordinator is probably the most overlooked part of the 2021 49ers. This isn’t to say that he’ll struggle early on in the year, but he’ll certainly be better by Week 18 than he will be against the Lions in Week 1.
Personally, I’m excited to see the changes he talked about implementing on the field next year. The 49ers are full of athletic freaks on defense, and it will be nice to see them be able to put those gifts to use, attacking opposing quarterbacks next season.
As far as how specifically that gets done and who might stand to benefit the most, check out today’s Niners Nation Gold Standard Podcast with myself and Levin Black. We dive into that and more from Ryans’ first session with the media.
Other topics in today’s episode
- How the 49ers look to have filled their vocal leadership void on defense
- If Kinlaw and Greenlaw take a step forward, what does that look like on the field next year?
- We need to find out more about how Javon Kinlaw hunts his squirrels.