Will Vic Fangio return to the NFC West as 49ers defensive coordinator?
Will Vic Fangio return to the NFC West as 49ers defensive coordinator?
Let the Drew Lock torment continue? Seaside Joe 1428
Reports emerged over the weekend that Vic Fangio would become the next defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins after taking a one-year hiatus following his firing from the Denver Broncos as head coach. But Mike Silver said not so fast, reporting on Monday that Fangio told him directly on Sunday night that no decision has been made.
Normally, I like to hate on Mike Silver, and surely we can find an opportunity to do that at some point this morning. But to just directly quote Fangio and not a source, this feels real. Silver is plugged into the San Francisco 49ers and made a point to say that after DeMeco Ryans leaves for the Houston Texans—the expectation any minute now—that they will have an opening for a defensive coordinator.
Is this Fangio’s 49ers 2.0?
I was going to write something else this morning but I want my thoughts on the upcoming 2023 QB carousel to marinate for a little while longer because it’s becoming hack for these other Seahawks writers to keep circling around Geno Smith—positively or negatively and most of it is negative.
So instead, let’s talk a little bit about Fangio and then perhaps I’ll have time for a bonus article later. If you didn’t read yesterday’s bonus on Abe Lucas, I highly recommend it… look at that, a Seahawks writer talking about an offensive tackle instead of the quarterback! It’s only $5/month to subscribe and if you break that down to how many times Seaside Joe posts a month, it’s like .10 cents for every post.
Vic Fangio became public enemy #2 among coaches for Seahawks fans in the 2011-2014 49ers era, behind only Jim Harbaugh. Fangio’s defense didn’t have a perfectly clean record against Seattle, including that 42-13 statement in 2013, but the Niners had plenty of defensive wins in that era. Here are the point totals for each Fangio vs. Pete Carroll game:
17, 17, 6, 42, 29, 17, 23, 19, 17
Takeaway that Sunday Night Football game and this is a stellar streak against one of the NFL’s elite teams—if not the best team—of the era.
San Francisco featured defensive stars like Aldon Smith, Justin Smith, NaVorro Bowman, Patrick Willis, Donte Whitner, Dashon Goldson, Ahmad Brooks, and Eric Reid when they were at their peak. But then the only Pro Bowler on defense by 2014 was safety Antoine Bethea, as injuries and aging out of the league took its toll on Harbaugh leading to his firing, as well as Greg Roman (fired by the Baltimore Ravens this month) and Fangio.
*Other people will sometimes write “mutual parting” which is only something I would repeat as meaningful if I was a stupid person who didn’t understand what it means to be fired; mutual parting doesn’t even mean you weren’t fired, it just means you were pleasant enough that they don’t want your name attached to “fired” as you’re being fired
Fangio moved from San Francisco to Chicago in 2015, which is where he first teamed up with defensive quality control coach Sean Desai—his successor and presently still on the Seahawks—and Ed Donatell, a former assistant with Pete on the early 90s Jets.
Clint Hurtt was also promoted by Fangio from asisstant defensive line coach to outside linebackers coach in 2015, leaving for Seattle in 2017. The report is that Hurtt’s contract expired and he decided to leave, so I won’t quite say that he was fired or that he mutually parted. Going from the Bears to the Seahawks in 2017 was no doubt an upgrade.
Fangio’s impressive work in Chicago was taking a defense that ranked 31st in points and 30th in yards allowed the year before he arrived to going 20th/14th, 24th/15th, 9th/10th, and then 1st/3rd by 2018. His assistants in 2018 included Desai, Donatell, and current Chargers head coach Brandon Staley. His players that year included Khalil Mack, Eddie Jackson, Roquan Smith, Kyle Fuller, Akiem Hicks, Leonard Floyd, Eddie Goldman, Danny Trevathan, and Adrian Amos.
The next logical step was that Fangio would finally get a head coaching job in 2019 at the age of 61, long passed over in part because…he just seems like an asshole.
I am in no real position to paint Fangio as anything, it’s just the impression I’ve gotten from others and personally I don’t even consider “asshole” to be an insult, more of a character trait. Being an asshole may be why he’s such a good defensive coordinator—and such a bad head coach.
Fangio didn’t inherit a bad defense or one without talent (Von Miller, Justin Simmons, Bradley Chubb, Shelby Harris, Chris Harris, Derek Wolfe) but certainly one that would get better under his tutelage. The Broncos ranked 10th in points allowed in 2019, but dropped to 25th in 2020, and rebounded to third in 2021. What Fangio never received during his three years in Denver was a quarterback, as the front office kept telling him to make Drew Lock work somehow.
Perhaps that’s why there was such a contentious relationship between Fangio and Lock, one that Fangio had no professionalism to keep private and it became obvious to Broncos media that the two hated each other.
There is of course now some talk in Seattle that the Seahawks might have to use Lock as a fallback starting option if Geno Smith leaves this offseason, which could spark up those fascinating 2011-2014 feelings again in the rivalry if Fangio is also hired as the 49ers defensive coordinator. Which is starting to make a hell of a lot of sense to me on Monday morning.
It’s a much better situation than the Dolphins job, where he’d be reunited with Chubb but on a much larger contract.
In San Francisco, Fangio would get the opportunity to coach a defense that might be at least as talented as the one he had in 2012-2013: Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Talanoa Hufanga, Charvarius Ward, Arik Armstead, Dre Greenlaw for starters. And probably a chance to recruit one or two guys of his own that he liked from Chicago and Denver.
It’s also possible that I’ll hit send on this newsletter and the story will break that Fangio has signed with the Dolphins, which others are reporting is imminent. But Silver’s report comes from a direct conversation with Fangio on Sunday night AND is backed up by the trustworthy Mike Klis of 9News in Denver.
Maybe Fangio didn’t realize how close the Texans and Ryans were to finalizing a deal, got word that Ryans was definitely leaving the 49ers, talked to his connections in San Francisco who may have wanted him back, and realized that the 49ers job is much (MUCH) more likely to lead to a Super Bowl than the Dolphins job.
In Miami, Fangio would need to go through Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert (who just got Kellen Moore as the OC), Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, and potentially Lamar Jackson to get to the Super Bowl, not to mention the possibility that Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady could go to the AFC. In San Francisco, Jalen Hurts is going to the Super Bowl because this season he might have actually been the best QB in the NFC.
The smartest coaches are the ones who recognize that it is the players who play. The 49ers had the number one defense in 2022, Fangio knows that most of the work is already done and money won’t be an issue. San Francisco will throw plenty of it at someone like Fangio to replace Ryans and what else could Fangio be searching for at this stage of his life other than more money and a chance to win a Super Bowl?
Or maybe he’s just screwing with Mike Silver, which, good…Screw that guy.
It's interesting that a few months ago Fangio would only come back for a head coaching gig and now he's suddenly comfortable with being a DC again. If the Niners are offering him the job, that's the better job by far. McVay can't be too happy about it if Fangio goes to the Niners; it was Fangio (with the Bears) who built the blueprint for stopping McVay's uber-potent offense in 2018, a blueprint that Belichick later adapted in the Super Bowl. It's not like Shanahan didn't already have McVay's number, but this particular detail humors me.
Sometimes I hate Substack. A reply I had written got wiped out when I swiped the screen to brush off some dog hair :D.
The Niners were at their apex this season. No way does CMC come back and play like he did over the 10 games post-trade next season, and that D came unglued in the 2nd half. Could Fangio be the glue that brings it back together? Or will history repeat as a good to great D implodes when the team can't score enough points to win games. The lack of draft capital this year is going to really hurt San Fran, and what is their plan at QB?