The LA Chargers have one of the best head coaches in football in Jim Harbaugh, but it was not always that way. Prior to Harbaugh, the Chargers had one of the most polarizing coaches in the league, Brandon Staley, who has since joined the San Francisco 49ers' sidelines.
While the Chargers went from having one of the worst defenses in the league to the top-scoring defense without Staley, the 49ers went in the other direction. San Francisco went from having a top-three scoring defense to the 29th-ranked scoring defense. As a result, defensive coordinator Nick Sorenson was fired.
The 49ers are still without a defensive coordinator several weeks later and may end up promoting the former Chargers head coach to fill the gap. While Staley was originally considered a candidate, the expectation around the league was that the job would go to someone else. Now, it may be Staley's job to lose.
49ers may be forced to hire promote former Chargers head coach Brandon Staley
The heavy favorite for the defensive coordinator job is former 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. However, Saleh has been receiving head coaching interest from several teams and could be in line to get a job.
Saleh will have a second interview with the Jacksonville Jaguars and is a candidate for the Las Vegas Raiders job. With Ben Johnson taking the Chicago Bears job, the odds of Saleh getting a job offer from the Raiders have increased as the coaching market has dwindled.
While the 49ers have obviously waited out Saleh they have also missed out on several top defensive coordinator candidates. Jeff Ulbrich, who took over as interim head coach for Saleh in New York, was considered a candidate for the 49ers' job. He was hired by the Atlanta Falcons on Monday.
Former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen is also considered a candidate for the job. However, Adam Schefter reported Allen is the frontrunner to join Johnson in Chicago as defensive coordinator.
There is one thing in common with all of these candidates: they have head coach experience. And while Staley may not have been the frontrunner for the job, his head coaching experience with the Chargers may be enough to convince San Francisco to promote him while all else fails.
Maybe it works out for the 49ers and Staley puts together a defense similar to the LA Rams defense he led in 2020. It may also blow up in the team's face if the defense looks anything like it did with the Chargers.
Either way, Staley is in a position no Chargers fan could have imagined just 12 months ago: in the running for a marquee job with a marquee NFL franchise.