The 49ers' search for an offensive coordinator continues

January 26, 9:49 PMSan Francisco 49ers ExaminerSamuel Lam

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the San Francisco 49ers Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

The search for the next offensive coordinator has taken a lot longer than anyone had expected.

Rob Chudzinski, a candidate the 49ers had interviewed earlier this month, just agreed to become the assistant head coach with the Chargers.

With another candidate off the 49ers radar, that leaves the team with only four potential suitors at the offensive coordinator position that they have interviewed.

The remaining candidates are former Falcons head coach Dan Reeves, Ravens quarterback coach Hue Jackson, Colts wide receivers coach Clyde Christensen and former Boston College head coach Jeff Jagodzinski.

The 49ers are looking for a run-oriented offense, something different from what former offensive coordinator Mike Martz had installed this past season.

Chudzinski and Scott Linehan were two candidates that were probably best suited for the new 49ers offensive coordinator position. Linehan declined the job offer from the 49ers and took the Lions’ offensive coordinator position a week later.

With the current list of four offensive coordinators, it would make sense that the 49ers would hire someone that has been involved in an offense in their résumé. The biggest surprise of all the candidates the 49ers have interviewed has to be Reeves.

The former Falcons head coach has had a pretty good career as a head coach, having led the Broncos and Falcons to the Super Bowl in his career. But he hasn’t been an offensive coordinator since 1980 and hasn’t been involved in football since 2003. I don’t know how much football he has retained in him since becoming a broadcaster after leaving football.

Reeves didn’t employ a super successful pass game as a head coach, but with the 49ers looking to run more, it may not make much of a difference. If the run game for the 49ers can stay balanced, the passing game will open up.

The only other candidate that should still be worth considering is Jackson. Jackson coached TJ Houshmandzadeh and Chad Johnson as the Bengals wide receivers coach back in 2006 and this past season helped develop rookie Joe Flacco as the quarterbacks coach.

And given such a collection of raw talent on offense, Jackson may be able to turn these players into big time stars. At least with the quarterback situation, he may be able to take whoever is the starting quarterback and develop them into consistent player. In terms of the running game, that’s something that we just have to see if he does get hired.

The 49ers still need to find the right person. Head coach Mike Singletary knows that finding the right person to lead the team’s offense will be the biggest factor in the 49ers’ attempt to win the division crown. This is a process that initially was thought to have had been figured out earlier this month. But now as we are nearing the beginning of February, the wait is starting to make it more difficult for the 49ers. More candidates are falling out of the picture and the 49ers might end up with someone that may not be the best fit.

Or they could end up with the perfect candidate because of the long wait. We’ll just have to hope that the new offensive coordinator matches to what the head coach has planned for the team.