{"id":711292,"date":"2026-01-28T10:57:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T10:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/711292\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T10:57:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T10:57:38","slug":"49ers-news-tumbleweeds-on-the-49ers-defensive-coordinator-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/711292\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers News: Tumbleweeds on the 49ers defensive coordinator search"},"content":{"rendered":"

Still, the 49ers\u2019 lack of an instant-impact rookie was one reason they were outclassed in their two meetings this month with the Seahawks, who have had two PFWA all-rookie picks \u2014 guard Grey Zabel (first round) and hybrid safety Nick Emmanwori (second) \u2014 play key roles in their journey to Super Bowl LX. Zabel helped Seattle improve from 28th to 10th in the NFL in rushing. And Emmanwori\u2019s versatility helped the Seahawks jump from 11th to first in fewest points allowed.\u201c<\/p>\n

Forrest isn\u2019t as natural in coverage, which is perhaps why Washington didn\u2019t retain him and why he couldn\u2019t stick with another squad in 2025. With veteran Jason Pinnock scheduled for free agency, the 49ers have some room at safety on their offseason roster.\u201c<\/p>\n

Williams should be a good player down the road, but he is not considered a sack master. In his best season at Georgia, he had five sacks.<\/p>\n

A good pass rush will help the defense in so many ways. The 49ers\u2019 had just six interceptions during the regular season and none in two playoff games. That\u2019s because the 49ers were unable to make quarterbacks uncomfortable and force mistakes.\u201c<\/p>\n

Baldy questions whether 49ers should re-sign Jauan Jennings<\/a>
\u201c\u201cJauan, all he\u2019s done is line up and play and contribute, and he\u2019s been a big part of this offense,\u201d Baldinger said. \u201cBut he\u2019s not a number one. You could question if he\u2019s a number two. And so, then you go, is he expendable because I can go find a big-bodied receiver? I can find that either in the draft or through free agency, and not have to spend that much money because this is a big business here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baldinger adds that the 49ers are already paying several core players significant money, even with Purdy taking up a large chunk of the salary cap. Is it worth it to have Jennings join that group?<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody likes Jauan, and how he contributes,\u201d Baldinger added. \u201cBut it just becomes a question of finance, at this point, knowing that, because once you\u2019ve paid Brock, other guys are going to have to go. Aaron Banks had to go. Other guys are going to have to go once you start paying the quarterback the way they paid him.\u201d<\/p>\n

49ers\u2019 2026 breakout candidate: PFF highlights rising CB Upton Stout<\/a>
\u201c\u201cStout, a third-round pick, quickly became the 49ers\u2019 primary nickel cornerback and improved as the season progressed,\u201d Wasserman wrote. \u201cFrom Week 11 through the divisional round, Stout earned an 81.6 PFF overall grade, which ranked sixth among all qualified cornerbacks. That mark also ranked second behind Denver\u2019s Ja\u2019Quan McMillianamong primary slot cornerbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Still, the 49ers\u2019 lack of an instant-impact rookie was one reason they were outclassed in their two meetings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,52307,7,6,1161,252,1137,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-711292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-49ers-links","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","14":"tag-san-francisco-49ers-news","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115972370853097851","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}