Things didn't work out well (at all) for Brandon Staley as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. Staley experienced a pretty meteoric rise as a coach in the NFL, going from a relatively unknown assistant under Vic Fangio to head coach of the Chargers in a hurry. But with Justin Herbert at the quarterback position, the Chargers were still known for collapsing in big situations.
They've now replaced Staley with Jim Harbaugh, one of the most exciting head coach hires of the entire 2024 offseason, but the future of Staley remains unknown at this point. As a recent head coach, you expect there to be some interest in him as a potential coordinator, or position coach at the very least.
Well, it appears as though the San Francisco 49ers, who moved on from Steve Wilks as their defensive coordinator in 2024, have Staley on their radar. As a matter of fact, they've reportedly already completed an interview with Staley for that vacancy.
49ers’ Kyle Shanahan interviews Brandon Staley, Nick Sorensen for defensive coordinator job. Daniel Bullocks scheduled to interview later this week. https://t.co/Lpq8mmm0cx
— Matt Maiocco (Threads @maiocconbcs) (@MaioccoNBCS) February 26, 2024
Now, there are certainly going to be a lot of 49ers fans hoping the team doesn't make this move. Staley doesn't exactly have the best reputation right now due to his failures as a head coach, but you could certainly do worse for your defensive coordinator position.
The Vic Fangio defense is en vogue in today's NFL. That two-high safety look, mixing coverages, disguising blitzes, and frustrating NFL offenses by forcing them to dink and dunk down the field is something just about every NFL team wants a piece of. Staley is a direct disciple of Fangio and he's had some tremendous success as a defensive coordinator in the NFL, to say the least.
As a matter of fact, the reason Staley got the job with the Chargers in the first place was because of the way he elevated personnel with the Los Angeles Rams, where he had the #1 ranked defense in the league back in 2020.
With the personnel available to him in San Francisco, Staley might not be able to ask for a better landing spot after getting fired by the Chargers. Coaching under Kyle Shanahan has historically been very beneficial to just about everyone who has worked with him. Staley would have a chance with elite personnel to rehab his value not only as a coordinator, but perhaps as a future head coach candidate.
He'd better be doing whatever he possibly can in order to get that job.