Niners Nation
We will talk a lot about the San Francisco 49ers coordinators on both sides of the ball. It feels inevitable that Robert Saleh will be a head coach again. But Klay Kubiak is garnering more and more interest.
During the weekend, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero said, “There are some wild cards, like Klay Kubiak, the 49ers’ offensive coordinator. Kyle Shanahan absolutely loves him. He is the other Kubiak in this cycle because Klint Kubiak did a whole bunch of interviews during Seattle’s bye week, but don’t overlook the possibility of Klay Kubiak potentially emerging if these Steelers, for the first time in all those years, are willing to go with a coach with an offensive background rather than defense.”
The Steelers aren’t the only team interested in Kubiak’s services. The Las Vegas Raiders also requested permission to interview Kubiak for their head coaching job.
If Kubiak is to leave the 49ers, it won’t be for a lateral position. During his postgame press conference, head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked how he’d handle if another team requested Kubiak to be their offensive coordinator, and whether he’d block that move: “He’s our offensive coordinator, so I don’t know why would you let him be somebody else’s offensive coordinator.” Shanahan added that Kubiak “calls a lot of plays here.”
There’s no doubt Shanahan thinks highly of his coordinators. He told reporters, “They’ve been unbelievable. I love both those guys. Two as good of coaches as I’ve been around. I know both of them will be head coaches, whether it’s in a week or so, or whether it’s over the next two years.”
The offense was excellent all season despite injuries, while the defense was injury-plagued. Despite that, they were stingy in key areas, like giving up big plays and in the red zone. We will find out soon enough, from a timetable perspective, whether it’s the former or the latter: when the 49ers will lose their coordinators.
