Shortly after word broke that Bills assistant head coach Anthony Lynn was withdrawing his name from consideration for the 49ers’ offensive coordinator position, San Francisco has apparently found its man for the job. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (via Twitter), the Niners are hiring Lions running backs coach Curtis Modkins to be their offensive coordinator.
[RELATED: 49ers considering Jason Tarver, Don Martindale for defensive coordinator job]
With Lynn no longer in the running for the job, Modkins and former Eagles quarterbacks coach Ryan Day were the only two known candidates for Chip Kelly and the Niners. According to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter), Day is now set to become the new quarterbacks coach in San Francisco.
While Day has worked with Kelly previously, Modkins and the new 49ers head coach don’t appear to have overlapped at all during their coaching careers. Before becoming the Lions’ running backs coach in 2013, Modkins served as the Bills’ offensive coordinator and running backs coach. He also worked for the Cardinals and Chiefs as their respective running backs coaches after making the leap from the NCAA ranks in 2008.
Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert each made eight starts for the 49ers in 2015, and the team’s offense struggled to get much going under either quarterback. For the season, San Francisco finished 31st in the NFL with just 303.8 yards per game. The running game, with ranked 21st, was slightly more effective than the passing game (29th), but it wasn’t a productive year for Geep Chryst‘s unit. Chryst was let go by the team earlier this week.
In San Francisco, Kelly will continue to call offensive plays, as he did in Philadelphia, while Modkins and his staff will “set [the] stage” during those game-day play calls during the week, tweets Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group.
In addition to bringing in a new offensive coordinator, Kelly and the 49ers are also set to name a new special teams coordinator, according to Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee, who reports that Derius Swinton is expected to take over the role. Swinton has been a part of John Fox‘s staffs for the last few years, serving as a special teams assistant in Denver before joining the Bears last year as Chicago’s assistant special teams coach.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I think Lane Kiffin woulda been a good hire for OC
In a typical situation yes I agree. But Chip is calling the plays more or less this hire is to solidify the run game in conjunction with Tom Rathman. The Lions run game has been consistent since 2012 I believe from a technical vantage this was a good hire
LIons were dead last in the league last year in rushing yards per game at 83.4 yards per game. 88.9 yards per game in 2014 ranked 28th in the league.
“The Lions run game has been consistent since 2012”
Consistently bad. Terrible hire but then again they couldn’t find anyone that wanted that position anyway so they gave it to a guy on the verge of being fired.
As u can read he wasn’t the OC, the run game gelled when they gave him his responsibility back, after demoting him. So check the facts buddy. But u still can hate, its a free country
“As u can read he wasn’t the OC”
You’re serious he wasn’t???? Oh wait I did know that that’s why I didn’t present total offense or passing stats. Go back to your Sanders highlight reel and relive the last time the Lions had a formidable running game.
That’s Ron Prince….
Good call. Our image provider had it mislabeled. Have fixed, thanks.
Definitely interesting to see a coach hire an OC whom he doesn’t have a prior relationship with. It’s not without precedent, but it seems like in cases like that, the guy being hired is an established play-caller.
And someone with a new vision. Time of possession might be helped with a strong rung game
If Kelly calling the plays then the title of oc is useless
OC position means nothing. Kelley will call plays and after the last two years of play calling I’m very happy he is because our offense has sucked the last two years and we could use someone like kelly giving us a spark. This is just hire to have another offensive mind throwing ideas around. I am happy about the qb coach hiring I can honestly say that. I think our offense is going to do really good next year with a healthy Hyde