Your daily San Francisco 49ers links for Sunday, February 25, 2024
So much for the San Francisco 49ers finding their defensive coordinator “in a few days.”
It’s why the only player in the 49ers’ locker room who acknowledged rewatching the Super Bowl less than two days after it concluded was linebacker Fred Warner. The previous Super Bowl loss was the conclusion of Warner’s second NFL season, and he believed at the time his team would be able to get back and get the job done in short order.
Four years and another Super Bowl loss later, Warner calls that mindset the naïveté of a young player who didn’t recognize how hard it is to get there or the scars that losing a Super Bowl can leave. While Warner’s takeaway from his Super Bowl LVIII rewatch was pride in his team’s effort, he knows that it won’t be easy to climb the mountain again even if San Francisco — as expected — retains most of its star, veteran nucleus in 2024.
“It gets easier, but it is going to stay with you all the way through,” Warner said. “The thing that gives me hope is knowing how much it means to me, how much it means to this organization, how much it means to Kyle and the players and John, and the things that make up a championship team.
“I know we have those things. You got to act the way of a champion before you are a champion. And so, I know it’s not a thing of if it is just when, and it sucks that it wasn’t this time.”
Former team: Patriots
This one is entirely dependent on how the 49ers operate with their receiving corps. If they retain both Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings then it’s unlikely they go to free agency for what would ostensibly be a fourth WR. However, if they trade Aiyuk or lose Jennings in restricted free agency, adding a reliable veteran like Bourne would give their receiving corps an immediate boost.
Former NFL star Richard Sherman arrested on suspicion of DUI
Former NFL star Richard Sherman was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to the Washington State Patrol.
In a probable cause statement, trooper Jordan Hazzard-Thomas, who helped respond to the traffic stop, reported talking to Sherman and noticing “the odor of intoxicants” and that Sherman’s eyes appeared to be “bloodshot and watery.”
Emails seeking comment on Sherman’s arrest were sent Saturday to a representative listed on his social media sites and to an attorney who has represented him in the past. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said in a statement that Sherman was expected to have a court hearing Monday.
49ers ‘Dream’ Trade Pitch Lands Pro Bowler for 1st-Round PickThe 49ers
“Prying Surtain away from Denver wouldn’t be cheap, likely costing San Francisco its 2024 first-round pick and more,” Knox wrote. “However, he is worth that price and would immediately upgrade a secondary that faded down the stretch in Super Bowl LVIII. There’s no guarantee the 49ers could land a cornerback of Surtain’s caliber with the 31st overall pick, and given their cap situation, top free agents such as Jaylon Johnson and L’Jarius Sneed aren’t overly realistic.”
They are the only team in need of a defensive coordinator right now, so they have a full array of options to choose from without pressure. It is better for them to take their time and carefully consider who is the best fit. I’d imagine the toughest challenge for them is selecting someone who is internal versus external.
There are quite a few intriguing external names for the 49ers to hire like Bill Belichick, Mike Vrabel, and Pete Carroll. But I think that the 49ers are likely to avoid an external hire at defensive coordinator. Whoever they bring from the outside will likely, to a certain degree, have to conform to what the 49ers do on defense.
For Wilks, it was playing more coverage than his typical blitzing and then coming down from the booth to the sidelines. Even with that, he still would receive some public slights from Kyle Shanahan and the defensive players. That is largely what the 49ers will want to avoid. They want their players bought in and backing their coach, which is something I don’t think can happen with an external hire.
Report: Ex-49ers kicker Gould becomes high school football coach
After 18 seasons as a kicker in the NFL, Robbie Gould has a new job: High school football coach.
Gould has taken the head coaching position at Rolling Meadows, a school in the northwest Chicago suburbs, the Chicago Sun Times reported Friday, citing sources.
The school has had success in the past, with former 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo being a 2010 graduate of Rolling Meadows, but last season they struggled to a 2-7 record. Gould met with players at the school on Friday, but no local members of the media were allowed to speak to him.
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