SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — For most of Kyle Shanahan's tenure in San Francisco, the 49ers have employed a similar defensive philosophy with an aggressive four man front and heavy zone defense in the secondary.
Even though that approach has had mostly good success over the years, the 49ers wanted a little different look when defensive coordinator Robert Saleh left to become head coach in Tennessee and Raheem Morris was hired as the team's fifth DC in the past
five seasons.
The 49ers have shown off some of the changes early in training camp, but how different the defense will look once the season starts remains to be seen.
“I guess time will tell,” star linebacker Fred Warner said. “We’ve definitely installed some new things, some new looks. Obviously for the past eight years it’s been very similar system, similar looks with the four-down front and now we’re having some of that five-down looks, different coverages and things of that sort. It’s new for all of us.”
The new look has gotten a positive report from the first offense that has had to contend with it in 2026, with star left tackle Trent Williams and quarterback Brock Purdy both saying it provides a good challenge, as well as good preparation for other teams, during training camp.
“It is different,” Purdy said. “In camp, it’s usually the four-down, traditional stud defensive linemen with three linebackers and a strong quarter-shell defense. Now it’s like, all right, we’ve got five down, he gives us all these different kind of looks and the shell’s always changing and stuff. Raheem’s done a good job with trying to disguise things against the quarterback, but also the techniques that the DBs are playing with now, too. That’s a whole other thing. I like it. It’s fun because going into the season, I feel like this is the kind of stuff that we’re starting to see more in the NFL.”
Atlanta used five-man fronts at one of the highest rates in the NFL last season with Morris in charge as head coach, using the formation on nearly half of all defensive snaps. While the 49ers had an uptick in five-man fronts under Saleh last year, they have never employed them as often as Morris did.
The defense requires a little more versatility at certain spots as the team needs more players who can excel at both rushing the quarterback and dropping into coverage, allowing for more disguise against the opposing quarterback.
“You open up more things in the passing game when you go to the five-man front,” Morris said. “You create some versatility with some different people. So, it’s just like the benefits and what are the advantages and what you want to be able to do with those things just based on who you’re playing and what you’re playing. You give yourself some real options and some different things of that nature."
While the look on defense might change this season for the 49ers, the biggest difference should be the return of Warner and Nick Bosa from injuries that sidelined them for most of last season, as well as the reunion with linebacker Dre Greenlaw.
Greenlaw and Warner formed one of the best linebacker duos in 2023 when the team went to the Super Bowl, but Greenlaw missed almost the entire 2024 season recovering from a ruptured Achilles in the Super Bowl. Greenlaw then signed as a free agent with Denver last season, but returned to San Francisco after getting cut in March.
“We got our bully back,” cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said. “I was mad when he left, because I know the intensity he played with.”
After playing against Warner and Greenlaw in previous stops, Morris welcomes the chance to coach the two play-making linebackers.
Morris has always been impressed with their talent but he has seen another side of what makes them so successful by the questions they ask in the meeting room as they try not to just to learn their own assignment but also the reasons behind it that make the whole defense work.
“It’s fun being on their side,” Morris said. “Going against those guys is always something that you were concerned with. How fast they play. How violent they play. Things they’re able to do from a communication standpoint and a physical standpoint. That’s always awesome. Watching those two communicate with each other in the huddle and the energy that they bring every single day to not only just the field, but the meeting room, the building, the presence, the ideas, the thought process, it’s really fun to go into that linebacker room and be a fly on the wall.”
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