Andrew Hayes-Stoker - Pro Football Rumors

49ers Rumors: Lance, McKivitz, Snead, Staff

May 6th, 2023 at 3:53pm CST by Ely Allen

There’s been a swirl of rumors recently amongst 49ers quarterback Trey Lance as San Francisco does its usual quarterback shuffle. Some reports have the former No. 3 overall pick getting traded, while others have him staying pat.

The team reportedly views last year’s Irrelevant rookie Brock Purdy as their optimal starter, but Purdy isn’t expected to be healthy until much closer to the start of the season. In the meantime, the 49ers’ back up plan lies with Lance and free agent addition Sam Darnold, who many are now pegging as the team’s Week 1 starter come September.

Part of that has to do with Lance’s own injury situation, but according to Nick Wagoner of ESPN, general manager John Lynch told the media last weekend that Lance has been fully cleared to participate. Wagoner also reported that the team, who has experienced an inordinate amount of quarterback injuries, is looking to add a fourth passer via undrafted free agency. As of yet, no such signing has been reported, but the team did bring on veteran backup Brandon Allen days ago.

Here are a few other rumors surrounding last year’s NFC West champions:

With starting tackle Mike McGlinchey departing in free agency for Denver, many thought San Francisco would address the departure through the draft. Seven rounds later, and no rookie offensive linemen were drafted by the 49ers. They did sign three undrafted rookies in Shepherd’s Joey Fisher, Washington’s Corey Luciano, and Hawai’i’s Ilm Manning, but they are expected to go with a currently rostered veteran, according to Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. Branch saw San Francisco’s inaction in the draft as a vote of confidence in fourth-year tackle Colton McKivitz. McKivitz has been a reserve and spent some time on injured reserve in his first three years, only starting five games, but the Niners have faith in him, as evidenced by their re-signing him to a two-year deal in early-March.
The 49ers re-signed veteran wide receiver Willie Snead for another year, and it appears his new deal will be the league’s veteran minimum, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. He’ll have a base salary of $1.17MM, $275K of it guaranteed, to go along with a $25K signing bonus. He’ll also receive a Week 1 bonus of $127.5K if he’s still rostered by then.
It looks like the 49ers were able to prevent former safeties coach Daniel Bullocks from following his mentor, DeMeco Ryans, to Houston. According to Josh Alper of NBC Sports, Bullocks has been named San Francisco’s new defensive backs coach. Additionally, Nick Sorensen, a defensive assistant last year, has been promoted to defensive passing game specialist for 2023. Lastly, to round out the defensive staff, Andrew Hayes-Stoker, a defensive quality control coach last year, has been promoted to assistant defensive backs coach and Cameron Brown has been hired to fill the newly open quality control position.

Latest On Texans’ Coordinator Searches

January 31st, 2023 at 9:17pm CST by Ben Levine

The Texans have secured their new head coach, as the organization agreed to a six-year contract with DeMeco Ryans earlier today. Now, the organization is shifting the focus to coordinators, and the Texans have already starting compiling a list of candidates for both roles.

It sounds like Ryans will presumably bring in his own staff, meaning incumbent offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton will likely be on the outside looking in. The Texans have already started reaching out to potential candidates, with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reporting (via Twitter) that the organization has requested an interview with 49ers passing game coordinator Bobby Slowik for the OC job. Meanwhile, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports (on Twitter) that the Texans have also requested permission to interview Bengals wide receivers coach Troy Walters for the gig.

Slowik would be a natural fit if Ryans is hoping to implement some of San Francisco’s offensive philosophies. Slowik has been with the 49ers since 2017 and actually started on the defensive side of the ball. He moved to offense in 2019, became an offensive pass game specialist in 2021, and earned the promotion to offensive passing game coordinator in 2022. The 49ers, of course, dealt with a number of injuries at quarterback this past season, but the team still got 29 passing touchdowns (vs. only eight interceptions) from Jimmy Garoppolo and rookie Brock Purdy.

It’s not a huge surprise that Walters is getting a look for an offensive coordinator job. While the Bengals organization has invested plenty of resources into the receiver position, Walters has still gotten the most out of the trio of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd. The 46-year-old coach doesn’t have much of an NFL coaching resume, but he previously served as offensive coordinator at UCF and Nebraska.

The 49ers didn’t have a defensive coordinator in 2022, with head coach Lovie Smith mostly being responsible for defensive play-calling. With Smith now out of the picture, it sounds like Ryans will be looking for someone to help guide the defense. According to Aaron Wilson of Click2Houston.com (via Twitter), the Texans have interest in Jets safeties coach Marquand Manuel for the defensive coordinator job.

Following an eight-year playing career, Manuel joined the coaching ranks as an assistant special teams coach with the Seahawks in 2012. He worked his way up to become the Falcons’ defensive coordinator from 2017-18, but following a top-10 performance during his first year, Atlanta finished in the bottom five in 2018, leading to his ouster. After a one-year stint as a DBs coach with the Eagles in 2020, Manuel joined Robert Saleh‘s first Jets staff in 2021 and has served as Gang Green’s safeties coach over the past two seasons. The Jets allowed the fourth-fewest yards per game and the third-fewest passing yards per game in 2022, leading to him also garnering an interview for the Panthers’ defensive coordinator job.

The Texans also have interest in 49ers passing game specialist-secondary coach Cory Undlin for the defensive coordinator job, according to Wilson (on Twitter). Besides having worked extensively with Ryans over the past two years, Undlin has experience as a defensive coordinator, having served in the role with the Lions in 2020. Of course, that stint ended with his firing, but Undlin has seemingly rehabilitated his image following two successful seasons in San Francisco. The long-time coach won Super Bowl rings with the Patriots and Eagles, and he’s also head coaching stints with the Browns, Jaguars, and Broncos.

Undlin isn’t the only 49ers defensive coach that Ryans is considering. According to Wilson, the Texnas also have interest in 49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek. However, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is “expected to work to keep his staff intact” following Ryans’ move to Houston. Matt Barrows of The Athletic tweets that Ryans could also recruit 49ers defensive quality control coaches Stephen Adegoke and Andrew Hayes-Stoker to Houston (but presumably not for the DC job).