Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan has a lot of respect for the defensive coaches on his team. After all, he goes up against them every practice. There was some speculation, especially with every other new head coach in the league having a head start on building their staffs, that Shanahan might try to bring one of the defensive positional coaches on the team with him to be his defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers. Of course, the 49ers would prefer a veteran defensive coordinator be paired with the first time head coach, but options may be limited.

Losing Shanahan may be all that the Falcons are willing to endure. They aren't likely to allow Shanahan to poach any of the team's positional coaches – on offense or defense – once he becomes the new head coach of the 49ers, per Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area.


Shanahan has only been with the Falcons for two seasons. Prior to that, he held the same position with the Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins, and Houston Texans. Shanahan was the offensive coordinator in Washington at the same time that his father, Mike Shanahan, was the head coach.

Once the Falcons are done with their postseason play, the 49ers are expected to immediately offer Shanahan a multi-year deal and the Atlanta coordinator is expected to accept. Regardless of what happens in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers, the 49ers plan to meet with Shanahan next week and are hoping that he can be part in their second round of general manager interviews. Of course, the 49ers are currently checking with the league to see if that would be allowed.