{"id":727196,"date":"2026-02-03T21:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/727196\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T21:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:40:17","slug":"what-fred-warner-will-tell-raheem-morris-about-49ers-defense-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/727196\/","title":{"rendered":"What Fred Warner will tell Raheem Morris about 49ers\u2019 defense \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 49ers will have their fifth defensive coordinator in five seasons when\u00a0Raheem Morris takes the reins<\/a>\u00a0of San Francisco’s defense.<\/p>\n

Morris will get the chance to work with one of the best linebackers in the game:\u00a0Fred Warner<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Warner, speaking to NBC Sports Bay Area\u2019s Matt Maiocco\u00a0on Tuesday at Radio Row, said he hasn\u2019t met Morris nor has\u00a0he\u00a0had the chance to speak with him since the\u00a049ers hired him to replace Robert Saleh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Warner shared what his first message to his new defensive coordinator would be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat we\u2019re ready to work, man,\u201d Warner said. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0not a bunch of guys who are set in their ways at all.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0going into year nine, and\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0ready to learn and adapt to whatever\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0giving to\u00a0us.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0all ready to work,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0all hungry to get back to being dominant and give ourselves a chance to win a Super Bowl.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morris, who was most recently the Atlanta Falcons head coach,\u00a0may provide a philosophical shift to what the 49ers’ defensive core is used to.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the 2025 NFL season, the Falcons\u00a0finished\u00a0with a 35.4 percent blitz rate, the\u00a0second-highest\u00a0in the league. In contrast, the 49ers under Saleh last season blitzed on just 19.1 percent of pass plays, ranking 30th\u00a0in the league.\u00a0The flexibility of the defensive personnel could be key for Morris implementing a fresh system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 2026 season should also bring the return of key players from injury such as Warner and star defensive end Nick Bosa.\u00a0It was a\u00a0largely difficult\u00a0season for the 49ers’ defense in 2025 without their key players, but Warner explained how they can take the next step to improve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, it\u2019s just demanding excellence\u00a0of\u00a0your group every single day,\u201d Warner explained. \u201cYou\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0let\u00a0little things\u00a0slide when it comes to just the details of how to play defense day-to-day. It truly is just demanding the best.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0a player, you should want the best of yourself to be one of the best in the league\u00a0at\u00a0your position. And if\u00a0everybody\u2019s\u00a0doing that,\u00a0everybody\u2019s\u00a0holding each other accountable… and you do that every single day, you look up and\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0like, \u2018OK, man, we did it.\u2019 I think\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0what it is\u00a0ultimately going\u00a0to take.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If\u00a0anything\u00a0good came from the plethora of injuries suffered on the defensive side for the 49ers,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0that there will be just a few players who did not get in-game experience\u00a0heading into next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morris will be inheriting a\u00a0defensive squad\u00a0with new depth and hungry to improve\u00a0while also bringing back their key performers.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 49ers will have their fifth defensive coordinator in five seasons when\u00a0Raheem Morris takes the reins\u00a0of San Francisco’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,7,592,6,104754,2663,1161,252,2624,2623],"class_list":["post-727196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco-49ers","tag-49ers","tag-football","tag-fred-warner","tag-nfl","tag-radio-row","tag-raheem-morris","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sanfrancisco","tag-sanfrancisco49ers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116008873450884531","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727196","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=727196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}