Kyle Shanahan offered Bill Belichick 49ers DC job, was 'politely turned down' per report

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots moved on from one another this offseason, making one of the greatest to ever do it a free agent. Teams were reportedly interested in making Belichick their head coach but nothing came to fruition. This gave Kyle Shanahan an idea, asking Belichick if he wanted to be a part of San Francisco’s staff.

“I threw it out to him,” Shanahan said via The TK Show. “He loves football so much, I can’t believe he’s not a head coach of a team right now… That shocks me and the last thing you want to do is insult like Bill Belichick. But I know he loves ball, just in the simplest form. So, I threw it all out to him, whatever he wanted to do.”

Tim Kawakami, the host of the podcast, then asked if Belichick was offered the defensive coordinator job. Steve Wilks was fired after the Super Bowl loss and the 49ers needed somebody new to run the defense.

“I was like ‘Would you be interested?’ He was very nice and appreciative but he politely turned me down,” Shanahan said.

Nick Sorensen wound up being an internal hire after previously defensive pass game specialist and nickel cornerbacks coach. Former Los Angeles Chargers Chargers head coach Brandon Staley will be involved as well.

Belichick had not been a defensive coordinator since 1999 when he was with the New York Jets. He took the New England job in 2000 and wound up winning six Super Bowls and was named the AP NFL Coach of the Year on three occasions.

Having that resume as a defensive coordinator would have been unordinary but worth the shot in Shanahan’s eyes. Belichick working with the immense amount of talent in the Bay Area would have been scary for the rest of the NFL.

There is a silver lining for Shanahan through the rejection, though. He believes Belichick could be back coaching in 2025 and potentially facing San Francisco — maybe as a divisional opponent. Having somebody like Belichick inside your building only to play twice a year would not have been fun for Shanahan.

“Could be good too,” Shanahan said. “I’m sure he’s going to be back in the league next year and I could be going against him, could be in the NFC West. It would have sucked if he came here and was going against us in Week 2.”