San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has built one of the more unusual coordinator pairings in the league this season, mixing a first-time offensive coordinator who’s only ever worked under him with a defensive coordinator who’s bounced around the NFL for two decades.

The 49ers’ duo of offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak and defensive coordinator Raheem Morris ranked fourth among the NFL’s best coordinator pairings, according to Sports Illustrated’s Gilberto Manzano, who pointed to the pedigree and promise behind both hires.

Kubiak already has a popular name because his brother is first-year Raiders coach Klint Kubiak and his father is Gary Kubiak, the former longtime coach, who guided the Broncos to a Super Bowl title in 2015. But expect to hear more about Klay in the coming months if the 49ers successfully incorporate Mike Evans into the offense. Kubiak, who arrived in San Francisco in ’21, quickly helped Shanahan improve the offense after his promotion to OC in ’25 and has been instrumental in Brock Purdy’s development.

As for Morris, he gets a fresh start in San Francisco after a failed two-year stint as the Falcons’ coach. He didn’t get the results he wanted offensively while in Atlanta, but he drastically improved the defense last season. (The Falcons improved from 18 takeaways in 2024 to 23 a year later.) Morris also had plenty of success as McVay’s defensive coordinator in Los Angeles, helping the team win the Super Bowl in ’21.

Kubiak’s quick rise up the ranks is a big reason why some consider him a head coaching candidate for the 2027 offseason despite turning 38 later this season. He joined as a defensive quality control coach in 2021, moved to assistant quarterbacks coach in 2022-23, became an offensive passing game specialist in 2024 and was promoted to OC in 2025. This gives him a level of continuity and familiarity with the system that’s rare for a first-time coordinator, even if Shanahan is still the primary play-caller.

Morris is on the opposite end of the experience spectrum. He was a long-time assistant before becoming a head coach at 33 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then a defensive backs coach in Washington, a jack-of-all-trades assistant in Atlanta, a Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator with the Rams and, most recently, a two-year head-coaching stint with the Falcons before landing in San Francisco. While Morris has worked with Shanahan twice (in Washington and Atlanta), it’s been a decade since he worked directly for Shanahan as Atlanta’s assistant head coach and wide receivers coach when his now-boss was the Falcons’ offensive coordinator.

Whether that gap matters remains to be seen. The offense should remain elite under Shanahan’s supervision and with a lot of returning stars, but the defense is a concern given how poorly the unit performed in 2025. And with one coordinator entirely a product of Shanahan’s system and the other reconnecting with him after 10 years apart, there’s still real uncertainty in how seamlessly this staff continues to mesh as the season wears on.

This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers’ coordinator duo ranks high despite mismatched experience

Reporting by Oliver G., Niners Wire / Niners Wire

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