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Why the 49ers Might Hire Dave Merritt as Their Defensive Coordinator

Merritt is 52 and never has been a defensive coordinator or called plays, but he has coached for Steve Spaguolo for quite a long time.
Grant Cohn|
Why the 49ers Might Hire Dave Merritt as Their Defensive Coordinator
Why the 49ers Might Hire Dave Merritt as Their Defensive Coordinator

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San Francisco 49ers

This is intriguing.

On Wednesday, the 49ers interviewed Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt for their vacant defensive coordinator job, according to The NFL Network. Merritt is 52 and never has been a defensive coordinator or called plays, but he has coached for Steve Spaguolo for quite a long time, both on the Chiefs and on the Giants. Which means he just beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl for the second time.

Spaguolo has been so successful against the 49ers offense the past few years, it's possible Kyle Shanahan wants to incorporate some of their principles into their defense as it evolves. In addition, Merritt coached and developed 49ers pro bowl cornerback Charvarius Ward when Ward was in Kansas City, so the 49ers can ask him directly what he thinks of Merritt. It's possible Ward will give him his highest recommendation.

Still, it seems a bit unlikely the 49ers would hire a career position coach in his 50s to be their defensive coordinator. In the past, they had success promoting young position in their 30s, coaches such as Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans.

It's possible the 49ers interviewed Merritt mostly to pick his brain about the Chiefs defense and learn how they attack the 49ers offense and how they generated nine unblocked pass rushers in the Super Bowl. Even if the 49ers don't hire him, they should be much better prepared the next time they face the Chiefs. Remember, these two teams will play each other this year during the regular season and perhaps again in the Super Bowl.

Smart move.

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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.

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