49ers coach Kyle Shanahan says ‘too early to know’ who is following DeMeco Ryans to the Texans

DeMeco Ryans is well respected.

The new Houston Texans coach was highly regarded while the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers for the past two seasons. However, Ryans had made inroads and connections inside the organization longer than that as he started his coaching career in San Francisco in 2017, the first year of the Shanahan era.

As such, there will be some coaches hoping to take over the 49ers’ defensive coordinator role. After all, the past two men to hold the job (Robert Saleh, Ryans) are now coaches in the AFC.

There will also be some assistants who want to continue working with a familiar, proven commodity in Ryans, which gives Houston flexibility when it comes to assembling its new staff.

Shanahan told reporters that it is still too premature to determine the state of the staff just one day into Ryans’ departure.

“Too early to know,” said Shanahan. “I know he loves our staff and he knows I’m working through that too right now, so DeMeco and I will be probably talking a lot here over the next two weeks and I’m just trying to do what’s best for the 49ers. I know he is trying to do what’s best for Houston and we’re both going to try to do what’s best for all the families involved too with our number one job being to do it for the organizations.”

Ryans, 38, is the youngest full-time coach in Texans history, and is also the first former player in team history to take the coaching role.

One name that has been linked to the Texans is 49ers passing game specialist and secondary coach Cory Undlin. The Texans would be seeking Undlin to fill defensive coordinator under Ryans.