49ers To Release Earl Mitchell
The 49ers are not picking up the contract option for veteran defensive tackle Earl Mitchell, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Mitchell provided the Niners with a solid locker room presence, but they’ll have to find that leadership elsewhere. 
The Niners used D.J. Jones as their nose tackle down the stretch of the season so it’s likely that Jones will continue to be the team’s answer in the middle, unless they replace him with someone better between now and September. Mitchell leaves the Bay Area two years into a four-year deal.
At the time of signing, Mitchell’s contract was reported to be a straight-up four-year deal with no option years. Instead, the deal was believed to be a four-year, $16MM pact with a $4.45MM cap figure for the 2019 season. Releasing Mitchell under those terms would call for a $1.5MM dead money charge with $2.95MM in cap savings. Regardless of whether there is an option or not, the outcome is likely the same.
Mitchell finished out the 2018 season with 28 tackles across 14 games (12 starts).
49ers Won't Trade No. 2 Pick For Brown
- The 49ers are the Las Vegas frontrunners to land Antonio Brown, and The Athletic (subscription required) agrees with that assessment. San Francisco should be viewed as the clubhouse leaders to acquire the disgruntled Steelers wideout, per The Athletic’s Matt Barrows. Kyle Shanahan balked at paying high prices for this past year’s UFA crop, and Barrows writes the 49ers will not be giving up their No. 2 overall pick for a soon-to-be 31-year-old wideout. However, he cautions a team picking in the late first round may be able to outflank a San Francisco trade offer, regardless of the 49ers’ need at this position.
49ers Notes: Draft, Coaching Staff
In 2017, the Niners traded the No. 2 overall pick to the QB-needy Bears in exchange for the No. 3 pick and three more draft choices. Matt Barrows of The Athletic can imagine a similar scenario unfolding this year as the Niners, once again, hold the No. 2 overall pick.
The draft board seems a little uncertain right now, but quarterbacks tend to drift up from the bottom of the first round to the Top 10 as the big day draws near. This year, teams like the Giants (No. 6 overall pick), Jaguars (No. 7), Broncos (No. 10) and Dolphins (No. 13), and Redskins (No. 15) could all be candidates to move up the board to get their next signal caller.
Here’s more out of SF:
- 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said he initially rebuffed the Broncos’ attempts to speak with Rich Scangarello because he wanted to ensure that Scangarello would in fact be moving up from quarterbacks coach to a play-calling offensive coordinator (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Nick Wagoner). Once that was confirmed, Shanahan cleared the way for Scangarello to become Vic Fangio‘s top offensive coach.
- Conversely, Shanahan says he declined requests for Mike LaFleur and Mike McDaniel to explore other opportunities because neither position they would have interviewed for would have been a promotion. In the case of both men, neither one would have been given play calling responsibilities. The Packers, Browns, and Vikings all expressed interest in LaFleur while the Packers and Cardinals reached out on McDaniel.
- Meanwhile, assistant offensive line coach Adam Stenavich was permitted to accept the Packers’ offensive line coach position.
Latest On Packers’ Coaching Staff
The Packers made several moves today to help fill out new coach Matt LaFleur’s inaugural staff. First the team hired 49ers assistant offensive line coach Adam Stenavich to be their offensive line coach, sources told Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports (Twitter link). We heard a couple of days ago Green Bay was granted permission to interview him, and now they’ve made the move. Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News tweeted several hours before Maiocco broke the news that the Jets also had interest in Stenavich to be their offensive line coach. Stenavich was on the Packers’ practice squad in 2006 during his playing days as an offensive tackle.
The team is also hiring Kirk Olivadotti to be their linebackers coach, tweets Jim Owczarski of the Milwuakee Journal Sentinel. Up until now Olivadotti had served in the same position with the Redskins. LaFleur served on Washington’s staff as quarterbacks coach while Olivadotti was there, so the hire makes sense. LaFleur will also be retaining Jason Simmons, the secondary coach who has been on the staff in Green Bay since 2011, tweets Rob Demovsky of ESPN.
In a separate tweet Demovsky notes that the Packers completed their interview with Luke Getsy. A source told Demovsky that Getsy interviewed for both the quarterbacks and receivers coach openings, but left town without signing a contract. Jason Wilde of ESPN followed up with a tweet of his own, saying that quarterback Aaron Rodgers “thinks very highly of Getsy and has a lot of respect for him.”
Getsy served on the Packers’ staff under Mike McCarthy from 2014-17 before leaving to take a job as Mississippi State’s offensive coordinator last year. The Packers have been making a bunch of moves to bring guys in from different organizations, and are now close to filling out LaFleur’s staff.
49ers Retain Asst. DL Coach
- After hiring a new defensive line coach in Kris Kocurek, the 49ers will retain pass-rushing specialist Chris Kiffin, reports Matt Barrows of The Athletic. The son of Monte Kiffin and brother of Lane Kiffin, Chris Kiffin joined San Francisco in 2018 after previously serving in the college ranks.
Packers Notes: Staff, Jefferson, Dennison
New Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is interested in Dolphins assistant head coach/offense Shawn Jefferson, reports Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter links). If hired, Jefferson would likely join Green Bay as receivers coach, a role for for which Jets WRs coach Karl Dorrell has already interviewed. The Packers allowed their former wideouts coach — David Raih — to join the Cardinals’ new staff earlier this offseason. Jefferson, meanwhile, started his coaching career in 2006 with the Lions before moving on to Tennessee in 2013 and Miami in 2016.
Here’s more from Green Bay:
- The 49ers have granted the Packers permission to interview Adam Stenavich for their offensive line coach vacancy, according to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link). Stenavich, currently San Francisco’s assistant OL coach, joined the 49ers in 2017 after spending time in the NCAA ranks with Michigan, Northern Arizona, and San Jose State. Green Bay is on the hunt for a new offensive line coach after allowing James Campen, who’d been with the franchise since 2007, to take an assistant head coach/OL job with the Browns.
- In addition to Stenavich, Green Bay has interest in longtime NFL offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Rick Dennison, tweets Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. Dennison has long been a Gary Kubiak disciple, but surprisingly hasn’t followed him to Minnesota, where Kubiak is now an offensive advisor. Indeed, Dennison’s presence may have been a primary reason for Kubiak not becoming the Broncos’ OC, as Josina Anderson of ESPN.com indicated last week (via Twitter). Dennison spent 2017-18 with the Bills and Jets, respectively.
- The Packers will also interview Redskins linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti for the same role, tweets Grant Paulsen of NBC Sports Washington. Olivadotti, 45, has essentially been a Redskins lifer: he joined the club in 2000 as a defensive quality control coach, and has worked for the team in various roles ever since, save for a 2011-13 stint at the University of Georgia. He’s familiar with LaFleur, as the two worked together in the nation’s capital in 2010 while LaFleur was Washington’s quarterbacks coach.
- LaFleur will retain incumbent defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery and running backs coach Ben Sirmans, per Demovsky. At present, it appears Montgomery, Sirmans, defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, and tight ends coach Brian Angelichio will be the only holdovers from previous head coach Mike McCarthy‘s staff. However, it’s unclear if Montgomery and Angelichio will remain in their current roles or take on new responsibilities.
- Despite spending the 2018 campaign as the Titans’ offensive coordinator, LaFleur will not bring any members of the Tennessee staff to Green Bay, tweets Paul Kuharsky of PaulKuharsky.com.
Broncos Hire Rich Scangarello
The Broncos have officially hired Rich Scangarello as their new offensive coordinator, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) first reported Scangarello was expected to land in Denver barring any snags in negotiations.
Scangarello had a strong first interview with Vic Fangio & Co. earlier this week and he’ll be back in the building for Round 2 on Wednesday. Scangarello has just four years of NFL assistant coaching experience, but he wowed Denver brass nonetheless, and the 49ers’ initial reluctance to let him interview with the Broncos shows how much he is valued.
In 2018, the Broncos finished 19th in total offense with 350.1 yards per game. Scangarello, or whoever the hire is, will be expected to draw them closer to the Top 10.
As shown in PFR’s Offensive Coordinator Tracker, Scangarello is the only known candidate at this time. Mike Munchak was thought to be in the mix after Gary Kubiak bailed, but he has since signed on to be the Broncos’ new offensive line coach.
49ers Interested In Antonio Brown?
The 49ers and Antonio Brown became connected recently after Jerry Rice said in a radio interview Brown wants a trade to San Francisco “really bad.”
Perhaps the team is interested as well. Some in league circles believe the 49ers have “real interest” in acquiring Brown, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes, adding that the team will be inclined to explore what it will take to land the disgruntled Steelers wide receiver.
An NFL.com report over the weekend mentioned the Broncos as a possible Brown suitor and pegged the Steelers as ready to contact teams about moving the four-time All-Pro, noting it might not take a first-round pick to pry him from Pittsburgh.
The 49ers’ position behind the Rams and Seahawks in the NFC West, with John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan entering their third offseasons running this team, may point to the franchise being eager to do what it can to catch up quickly. San Francisco is expected to have Jimmy Garoppolo and Jerick McKinnon back in 2019 to pair with George Kittle. But the 49ers, employment of Marquise Goodwin and Dante Pettis notwithstanding, lack an impact wideout. They did not chase big-ticket free agent receivers in 2018, opting to let others pay Sammy Watkins and Allen Robinson, but Brown is obviously on another tier by comparison.
Brown has three years and $39MM remaining on his contract. As has been the case throughout the Lynch-Shanahan era, the 49ers among the league leaders in projected cap space. They are expected to hold more than $62MM. Art Rooney II pointed to a bleak future for the Steelers and Brown, indicating it was hard to envision the soon-to-be 31-year-old superstar in Pittsburgh next season after the way this past one ended.
Joe Woods To Join 49ers’ Staff
The Broncos’ recent revamp forced 2018 coordinators Joe Woods and Bill Musgrave to look for work elsewhere, and the former found it in the Bay Area.
Woods agreed to become the 49ers’ passing-game coordinator on defense, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. The two-year Broncos defensive coordinator interviewed with the 49ers on Tuesday and drew interest from other teams.
Denver’s No-Fly Zone position coach from 2015-16, Woods replaced Wade Phillips as DC in 2017. The Broncos were not able to replicate the success they had under Phillips, particularly in defending air attacks, but Woods’ group remained an upper-echelon unit during his tenure.
Woods spent time in the Bay Area previously, serving as the 2014 Raiders’ defensive backs coach. He has been an NFL assistant since 2004, overseeing secondaries until his 2017 promotion.
The Cardinals and Redskins wanted Woods to coach their respective secondaries, but instead the 48-year-old assistant will join Kyle Shanahan‘s staff. Shanahan interviewed for the Broncos’ HC job that ultimately went to Vance Joseph in 2017. Woods also spent time as the Buccaneers’ secondary coach, which overlapped with Shanahan’s first NFL job — Tampa Bay’s offensive quality control coach from 2004-05.
The 49ers are retaining most of Robert Saleh‘s defensive staff but in recent days added Woods and defensive line coach Kris Kocurek, the latter replacing Jeff Zgonina.
Coaching Rumors: Colts, 49ers, Dolphins
The Colts are letting offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo go elsewhere, sources tell Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). Even though the Colts’ OL improved greatly in 2018, head coach Frank Reich wants to bring in his own guy, Garafolo hears. DeGuglielmo, who was originally selected by would-be coach Josh McDaniels, is being recommended by Reich to other coaches around the league.
The move comes as a surprise given the results that DeGuglielmo was able to get out of his group last season. However, Reich and DeGuglielmo were not on the same page. You can expect a healthy market for DeGuglielmo’s services and he shouldn’t be unemployed for long.
Here’s more from around the NFL:
- Broncos defensive coordinator Joe Woods will interview with the 49ers on Tuesday, Mike Klis of 9News tweets. Woods is not expected to return under new head coach Vic Fangio, but he’s not receiving DC interest from other teams either. In addition to the SF interview, Woods has also spoken with the Redskins and Cardinals about positions on their staff.
- New Jets coach Adam Gase says he did not ask for control of the 53-man roster (via Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald). He also says that he never requested that power with the Dolphins; rather, it was something offered up to him during negotiations with Miami.
- Terry Robiskie is expected to become the Jaguars‘ new running backs coach, according to Alex Marvez of SiriusXM (on Twitter). Robiskie has played and coached the position before at the NFL level and the Jags apparently believe that he can get the most out of star rusher Leonard Fournette.