Kyle Shanahan’s latest coordinator setup in San Francisco is a study in contrasts, and it’s drawing attention for the right reasons. One side of the ball is led by Klay Kubiak, a first-time offensive coordinator who has spent his entire 49ers run under Shanahan. The other features Raheem Morris, a veteran defensive coach who has spent the last two decades moving around the league.
That combination was enough to land the 49ers’ pairing at No. 4 in Sports Illustrated’s ranking of the NFL’s best coordinator duos, with Gilberto Manzano highlighting the background and upside of both hires.
Kubiak’s name already carries some weight. His brother, Klint Kubiak, is the first-year Raiders coach, and his father is Gary Kubiak, the longtime NFL coach who led the Broncos to a Super Bowl title in 2015.
But Klay’s profile is rising on its own, especially if San Francisco can successfully work Mike Evans into the offense. Since arriving in San Francisco in 2021, Kubiak has climbed quickly through the staff and has already played a key role in helping Shanahan elevate the offense and in Brock Purdy’s development.
His path has been fast and steady: defensive quality control coach in 2021, assistant quarterbacks coach in 2022-23, offensive passing game specialist in 2024, and offensive coordinator in 2025. That kind of continuity is unusual for someone in his spot, even with Shanahan still handling the primary play-calling duties. It’s also part of why some around the league view Kubiak as a head coaching candidate for the 2027 offseason, despite the fact that he turns 38 later this season.
Morris brings the opposite kind of résumé. He’s been everywhere.
He was a long-time assistant before getting his first head coaching job at 33 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, later worked as a defensive backs coach in Washington and a jack-of-all-trades assistant in Atlanta, then won a Super Bowl as the Rams’ defensive coordinator in 2021. After a two-year run as Atlanta’s head coach, he’s now back in San Francisco looking for a fresh start.
His time with the Falcons didn’t deliver the offensive results he wanted, but the defense did take a step forward last season. Atlanta improved from 18 takeaways in 2024 to 23 a year later. Morris also has a strong track record with Sean McVay, helping the Rams win the Super Bowl in 2021.
There’s also a familiar thread with Shanahan. Morris has worked with him twice, in Washington and Atlanta, though it has been 10 years since he was directly under Shanahan, when Shanahan was the Falcons’ offensive coordinator and Morris served as Atlanta’s assistant head coach and wide receivers coach.
Whether that long gap matters is still an open question. The offense should stay strong with Shanahan steering it and plenty of familiar faces back in place, but the defense is the part that raises the most concern after how poorly it performed in 2025. With one coordinator deeply rooted in Shanahan’s system and the other reconnecting with him after a decade apart, how smoothly this staff holds together is one of the bigger questions hanging over the 49ers as the season moves along.
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For the Falcons, the bigger point is that the clip was never just a social media novelty. Branch has continued to train at eye-catching speeds as he prepares for camp, and Atlanta is planning to use him as both a receiver and a return man. In a league that never stops chasing speed, Branchs challenge now is turning the fascination around his wheels into a role that matters once the games start. [Read more 🡒]