Kurtenbach: Why hiring Gus Bradley would be a lazy choice for the 49ers

SANTA CLARA — Kyle Shanahan barely put any effort into hiding it.

Fitting.

When asked on Wednesday about the search for the San Francisco 49ers‘ next defensive coordinator — the fifth man to hold the job in five years — Shanahan was asked if he planned to cast a “wide net.”

“I’m going to say it’s a real wide net, but Gus (Bradley) is the obvious one to everyone and is to us, too,” Shanahan said.

It was a rare moment of transparency in an otherwise dreary end-of-season press conference, but it confirmed the worst fears of the faithful: The fix is in. Bradley is their man.

And frankly, that is a lazy, uninspired, and irresponsible decision.

Let’s be fair for a moment — or at least as fair as this sham of a process deserves. The internal logic, as presented inside the building, is that Bradley is a known quantity. He’s Robert Saleh’s mentor. He’s a godfather of the zone-heavy scheme that is the bedrock of the Shanahan era. We’re told he’s a “good hang,” a guy who tells great stories and keeps the mood light. Deommodore Lenoir even credited Bradley with helping the defense tighten up in the red zone this past season.

But hiring a coordinator because he’s a fun guy to grab a beer with isn’t a strategy; it’s a retreat into the comfort zone. And it fits a disturbing pattern of behavior from Shanahan and John Lynch that suggests they are terrified of new ideas and becoming more insular as they enter their 10th year at the helm of the Niners.

Look at the track record. This franchise has taken the easy route on every replacement since Saleh left.

First, there was DeMeco Ryans and that… well, that worked out great. Ryans took what Saleh had built and took the Niners’ defense to another level. That was a win, but he was also groomed for the role from the moment he joined the Niners’ staff.

Then came Steve Wilks. He was perceived as the “best available” candidate on paper — a former head coach who could be the head coach of the defense. But it became painfully obvious that Shanahan didn’t vet him hard enough in the hiring process. Questions like “what are your core defensive values?” and “where will you be coaching from?” were seemingly not asked. Shanahan started to take a second pass at everything Wilks did from early on in the 2023 season, and after the Niners lost the Super Bowl, he was canned with a quickness.

Then came Nick Sorensen. Why? Because he was in-house. It was the path of least resistance. But from the jump, it was clear Sorensen was in way over his head. The communication breakdowns were constant, ideas were few — a sign that the “system” isn’t a magical cure-all if the person calling it can’t teach it. The Niners’ real defensive coordinator in 2024 was Fred Warner — at least now no one is pretending that wasn’t the case.

Even the goal of bringing Saleh back this past offseason reeked of desperation. The Niners went all-in on a reunion, making minimal inroads to a second option. And when Saleh looked ready to jump to the Jaguars, the Niners were caught flat-footed. Luckily for them, Liam Coen ghosted the Buccaneers and took the Jacksonville job, leaving Saleh to come back to the Bay. In turn, he received the largest paycheck of any DC in the game, total control of the Niners’ draft board, and the ability to bring in Bradley to hang and do some quality control.

Now, with Saleh gone, they are defaulting to his right-hand man — his personal sensei.

What has he done to deserve this job?

Bradley’s recent résumé is not exactly glowing. In his last two stops as defensive coordinator — with the Raiders and the Colts — his units ran a vanilla, behind-the-times defense. He went a whole season without running a single simulated pressure. In this decade! His 2024 Colts were a truly abysmal unit that had no problem bouncing back under different leadership in 2025.

In a league where offenses are pressing every button and defenses are countering that with even quicker evolution, hiring the guy who taught a once-great scheme everyone figured out how to beat 10 years ago shows a startling lack of creativity and confidence from the 49ers’ brass.

Are Shanahan and Lynch afraid of new blood? Do they genuinely believe this roster is so close to a title that they can’t afford the risk of an outside voice, a new scheme, new ideas? Are they too tied to their defensive position coaches — many of whom survived the last five changes — to bring in someone who might, heaven forbid, want to hire some new assistants?

The Niners are openly trying to replicate the “Rams model” on defense — a roster of young players around a stalwart or two, who can grow into a top-10 unit together. But when the former coordinator of that Rams defense is available to hire — Raheem Morris, one of Shanahan’s oldest friends in football — they’re not even going to give him a fair shot to land the job?

Also, the Rams actually bring in fresh, innovative minds year in, year out. That’s part of their enviable model. And that’s a big reason why they’re in the NFC Championship Game and the Niners are not.

Maybe Bradley is the right man for the job. Maybe the old dog can learn new tricks.

But even if I’m wrong and he is, why not talk to some other people beyond the bare minimum?

The tragedy here is the opportunity cost. We are in a hiring cycle teeming with incredible defensive minds. Why not cast that wide net? Why not sit down with Sean McDermott or Jonathan Gannon? Why not make a run at Morris, Brian Flores, or Jim Schwartz? Why not interview the sharpest up-and-comers like Zach Orr, Aubrey Pleasant, Aden Durde, or Karl Scott?

Frankly, it sounded like Shanahan didn’t want to do it because he wanted to go on vacation.

I get it, the season is long and taxing, and Shanahan deserves a break after this, of all campaigns.

But lest he forgets how much work he had to do in 2023 and 2024, when he hired the wrong guys for the DC job.

Postpone the vacation: Give this opening the attention it deserves.

Refusing to seriously consider these guys isn’t just stubbornness; it’s malpractice. To settle for Bradley without turning over every other possible stone (and there are some damn good ones) is to accept stagnation.

And in the NFL, stagnation is death.

The 49ers are choosing comfort over greatness, and for a team that finished in third place in their division last year, that’s a luxury they simply cannot afford.