49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris made it clear Thursday that his goal is to help Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch -- both of whom he has been close with since the early 2000s -- get over the hump and win their first Super Bowl.
defensive coordinator Raheem Morris would have joined forces with coach Kyle Shanahan in the Bay Area as far back as 2017. As it turned out, that reunion didn't happen until this offseason when Robert Saleh left his post to take the With the stars finally aligned, Morris arrived in February as the Niners' fifth defensive coordinator in as many years.
On Thursday, Morris spoke to the Bay Area media for the first time since his hire and made it clear that his goal is to help Shanahan and general manager John Lynch -- both of whom he has been close with since the early 2000s -- get over the hump and win their first Super Bowl after so many near misses. In nine seasons under Shanahan and Lynch, the 49ers have made five playoff appearances, including two Super Bowl trips and four NFC title game appearances, but have yet to win the big one.
"Ultimately as a competitor, that's what you want to do and it's what you think about every single day," Morris said. "Nothing would be more satisfying for me personally than to be able to come in and help this organization, this head coach, this general manager, this owner, this team, the players that they have . I get chills just thinking about it.
But to have the ability to go do that and help people do that, that's what you coach for.
"The pair stayed close in the ensuing years, working together again in Washington from 2012 to 2013 when Shanahan was the offensive coordinator for his dad, Mike, and Morris served as defensive backs coach. Shanahan then took Morris with him to Atlanta when he took the offensive coordinator job there, giving Morris the assistant head coach/defensive pass game coordinator title in 2015 and his first opportunity to work on offense as the assistant head coach/wide receivers in 2016.
When Shanahan departed to become San Francisco's head coach the following offseason, he hoped to take Morris with him, but Atlanta denied the Niners' request and Morris added the offensive pass game coordinator title under then Falcons coach Dan Quinn. In the years after that, the timing never quite worked out as the Niners went from Saleh to DeMeco Ryans to Steve Wilks to Nick Sorensen and back to Saleh last year as defensive coordinator.defensive coordinator in 2021, helping Sean McVay and San Francisco's rival win Super Bowl LVI before he returned to Atlanta as head coach in 2024.
Throughout that time, Shanahan and Morris stayed in close contact and leaned on each other for guidance and advice. Shanahan's already strong opinion of Morris' coaching chops only grew after going against his defenses with the Rams and Falcons.
"I've been with Raheem a number of places," Shanahan said. "That's why I respect him so much as a coach, as a person. ... Raheem has been in a lot of different schemes, knows how to utilize personnel, and I've always known he's one of the best coaches I've been around.
" When Saleh departed again this offseason and the Falcons let Morris go, Shanahan quickly sought Morris as a top option. According to Morris, he had multiple opportunities elsewhere. That included interviewing for the But the pull of coaching with Shanahan again, his history with Lynch and the chance to help them win that elusive Super Bowl ultimately made for an easy choice.
"I didn't know all about the organization before, but I knew more about Kyle and knew about Lynch," Morris said. "Obviously those are guys that I've been really close to just throughout the whole process of everything. ...
When you get a chance to go be a part of teams like that, which I've been fortunate enough to do in the past, it certainly made it like an easy choice for me with all due respect to the people that I talked to. "
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