All 49ers

The Commanders Hire Former 49ers Special Teams Coach Brian Schneider

This is highly intriguing.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 17, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers special teams coordinator Brian Schneider against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers special teams coordinator Brian Schneider against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

This is highly intriguing.

This week, the Washington Commanders hired Brian Schneider to be their assistant special teams coach according to Jonathan Jones of CBS. Schneider was the 49ers' special teams coach from 2022 to 2024 until they fired him a few weeks ago. The 49ers had arguably the worst special teams in the NFL and ultimately blamed Schneider.

After the 49ers fired Schneider, head coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged that Schneider was set up to fail.

"Losing your kicker, losing your punter, when injuries do affect the roster, especially offense and defensively what it did affect the most was special teams, and I think that was unfair to Brian and a tough situation to put him in," Shanahan said. "But I do think it’s an avenue we can get better in. And you can’t change the whole thing out so Brian ends up being the fall guy for that and I really appreciate him. He did have a real good three years here and worked his tail off and was very loyal to us and is a very good coach and he’ll bounce back on his feet and we’ll be going against him soon, I’m sure. But no, special teams is a part of football and everything a part of football is extremely important to us."

The 49ers originally hired Schneider to replace Richard Hightower, the first special teams coordinator Shanahan and John Lynch hired and fired. I'm guessing former 49ers assistant general manager Adam Peters brought Schneider to the 49ers.

And now, Peters has brought Schneider to the Commanders. As you probably know, Peters became Washington's general manager last year and helped improve them from a five-win team to a 12-win team that lost in the NFC Championship Game. Apparently, he doesn't think Schneider was the 49ers' problem.

To improve on special teams, the 49ers will need better players, not a better coach.

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast.

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News