NFL Coaching Matters: 2022 San Francisco 49ers Offense and Coaching Staff Preview

July 25, 2022

Eli Grabanski breaks down the 2022 San Francisco 49ers' coaching staff in search of buy-lows, fantasy football sleepers, and risers based on play-calling and historical data.

After every NFL season, NFL teams take the time to evaluate not only the players but also the coaching staff and front office as well. While many teams choose to retain the same head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator, a few other teams opt to go in a new direction with their coaching staff.

Outside of former offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel leaving to become the newest coach of the Miami Dolphins, the San Francisco 49ers will be bringing back many of their key coaching staff members from the 2021 season. Kyle Shanahan will return as the 49ers' head coach and DeMeco Ryans will again serve as the team's defensive coordinator in the 2022-23 NFL season.

This article will look at the potential impact this coaching staff will have on the players and try to pinpoint the 49ers players' fantasy values in it.

The Baseline

To get a better understanding of the value the 49ers coaches bring to this team, we can look at the NFL league averages in each of the past two years in a variety of statistical categories and then compare them to the averages achieved by the 49ers coaches. Here are 'The Baseline' NFL league averages over the past couple of years:

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Defense Impact

Previous Coaching Staff

In order to get an understanding of how the 49ers' fantasy players may be impacted this year, we also should look at one of the key members of the San Francisco 49ers' previous coaching staff: former offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel. By doing this, we will have a better understanding of where the 2022 coaching staff is starting from and if any changes will occur.

2022 Offensive Coordinator: Mike McDaniel

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

2022 Offense

2022 Head Coach: Kyle Shanahan

Kyle Shanahan has been the San Francisco 49ers' head coach since 2017. In addition, he has previously served as an offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans (2008-2009), Washington Redskins (2010-2013), Cleveland Browns (2014), and Atlanta Falcons (2015-2016). Given his offensive background, let's take a look at some of his team's offensive statistics over the course of his 225-game career as either an offensive coordinator or head coach.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Kyle Shanahan Takeaways & Expectations

Kyle Shanahan is going to be the primary play-caller of the San Francisco 49ers in 2022. Over the course of Kyle Shanahan's 225-game career as an offensive play-caller, his offenses have averaged 34.48 passing attempts per game - which is around league average.

In addition, it's also important to pay attention to the amount of rushing work a quarterback receives since it can give your quarterback a higher ceiling in your fantasy leagues. Over the course of his career, Shanahan's quarterback room has averaged 3.21 carries per game.

This career average in quarterback carries per game is nothing special, but it is important to note that he was willing to adapt based on his quarterback's abilities as seen in the graph above. With Trey Lance slated to become Shanahan's starting quarterback this year, you can expect the rushing work to explode at the position and look more like the levels in 2012 and 2013 when Robert Griffin III was the starting quarterback of Shanahan's offense. Because of this, we can expect Trey Lance to be in the low-end QB1 conversation in his first full year as a starter.

Looking at the running back position, Kyle Shanahan does a pretty good job of giving his running backs work. Over the course of the 225 games that Kyle Shanahan has been an offensive coordinator or head coach, his running back room has averaged 22.93 carries, 99.63 rushing yards, and 0.76 rushing touchdowns - all are above-average for a play-caller.

This level of usage is extremely encouraging for the 49ers running backs' fantasy outlooks. But overall, what percentage of the carries go to one running back versus Shanahan conducting a running back by committee approach?

Shanahan has been one of the more unpredictable play-callers in the rushing attack he wants to deploy with his backs, with him giving greater than 50% of his team's season running back carries to his lead back in eight of his fourteen seasons. In the three seasons prior to the 2021 season, Shanahan leaned more towards the 'hot hand' approach with his lead back on the season seeing under 50% of the carries in every season between 2018 and 2020. But in 2021, Shanahan favored primarily giving Elijah Mitchell the ball on the ground. Looking ahead to 2022, it's likely that we see a similar level of usage for Mitchell on the ground.

The last aspect we should look at concerning Kyle Shanahan's running backs is how much he has traditionally utilized them as pass-catchers. Over the course of his 225-game career as an offensive coordinator or head coach, Shanahan's running back room has averaged 5.36 targets per game.

This usage is slightly below average compared to what other play-callers provide their running backs through the air. Overall, Kyle Shanahan will provide his running backs with a healthy amount of carries and will give his running backs a below-average amount of targets. Based on this information, Eli Mitchell should be a solid RB2 for the 2022 season in Shanahan's offense.

Looking at the wide receiver position, Shanahan has provided his wide receivers with 19.56 targets per game over the course of his 225-game career as an offensive coordinator or head coach.

This career average is about what we'd expect from the typical play-caller, but it is important to note that Shanahan has utilized the position less in recent years - with his wide receiver room failing to average 20+ targets in any of the past four seasons. Under Shanahan, the 49ers' offense is likely to only going to produce one, maybe two fantasy-relevant wide receivers during the 2022 season.

Finally, we need to dive into Shanahan's usage of tight ends. Over the course of his career as an offensive play-caller, Shanahan's tight end room has averaged 5.04 receptions on 7.50 targets for 62.86 receiving yards and 0.34 receiving touchdowns per game.

Shanahan has been pretty reliable in feeding his tight ends over the course of his career. Based on this information, George Kittle should be a top-tier fantasy tight end once again, and be one of the first five tight ends off the board in your fantasy draft(s).

Fantasy Relevant Players: Trey Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo, Nate Sudfeld, Elijah Mitchell, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, Danny Gray, Ray-Ray McCloud, George Kittle, Kyle Juszczyk, and Tyler Kroft.

2022 Defense

2022 Defensive Coordinator: DeMeco Ryans

DeMeco Ryans has been the San Francisco 49ers' defensive coordinator since 2021 after former defensive coordinator Robert Saleh was hired by the New York Jets to be their new head coach. Ryans has worked in the San Francisco 49ers organization since 2017, spending time as a defensive quality control coach (2017) and inside linebackers coach (2018-2020) for the team. Below are some team defensive statistics from his one season as the team's defensive coordinator.

Other Notable Assistants

Special Teams Coordinator: Brian Schneider - With Richard Hightower leaving to become the Chicago Bears special teams coordinator, Brian Schneider will take over as the San Francisco 49ers special teams coordinator. Prior to joining the San Francisco 49ers this offseason, Schneider had served as a special teams coordinator at the NFL level for the Oakland Raiders (2007-2008), Seattle Seahawks (2010-2020), and Jacksonville Jaguars (2021).

QB Coach: Brian Griese - Rich Scangarello left the San Francisco 49ers to become the offensive coordinator at the University of Kentucky, and the 49ers decided to address their newly vacant quarterbacks coach position with a surprising hire in Brian Griese. This will be Griese's first gig as a coach at any level, but he did previously play quarterback at the NFL level for the Denver Broncos (1998-2002), Miami Dolphins (2003), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2004-2005, 2008), and Chicago Bears (2006-2007).

RB Coach: Anthony Lynn - The 49ers will have a new running backs coach in 2022 as they go from Robert Turner Jr. to Anthony Lynn. Lynn has previously served as a running backs coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars (2003-2004), Dallas Cowboys (2005-2006), Cleveland Browns (2007-2008), New York Jets (2009-2014), and Buffalo Bills (2015-2016). He's also worked as a head coach for the Los Angeles Chargers (2017-2020) as well as an offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills (2016) and Detroit Lions (2021). Lynn also played running back at the NFL level for the Denver Broncos (1993, 1997-1999) and the San Francisco 49ers (1995-1996).

WR Coach: Leonard Hankerson - Wes Welker left the San Francisco 49ers this past offseason to join Mike McDaniel in Miami, so the team will have a new wide receivers coach in 2022 in Leonard Hankerson. Hankerson served as an offensive quality control coach for the 49ers during the 2021 season and has been coaching at a variety of levels since 2016. He also played wide receiver at the NFL level for Washington (2011-2014), Atlanta (2015), New England (2015), and Buffalo (2015).

TE Coach: Brian Fleury - The San Francisco 49ers will have a new tight ends coach in 2022 as they go from Jon Embree to Brian Fleury. 2022 will be Fleury's first time as a tight ends coach at the NFL level. Fleury has coached in a variety of different roles at the NFL level for the Buffalo Bills (2013), Cleveland Browns (2014-2015), Miami Dolphins (2016-2017), and the San Francisco 49ers (2019-Present) over the course of his career.

OL Coach: Chris Foerster - Chris Foerster is the one constant on the San Francisco 49ers offensive coaching staff from 2021 besides head coach Kyle Shanahan. Foerster rejoined the San Francisco 49ers in 2019 after two prior stints with the team. Foerster has been coaching since 1982, and previously spent time coaching offensive lines at the NFL level for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1996-2001), Baltimore Ravens (2005-2007), San Francisco 49ers (2008-2009, 2015), Washington Redskins (2010-2014), and Miami Dolphins (2016-2017). He also notably resigned from the Dolphins in October of 2017 after a video surfaced of him snorting a white powder.

DL Coach: Kris Kocurek - Kris Kocurek has been the San Francisco 49ers' defensive line coach since 2019. He's been coaching since 2003 and has also notably spent time as an NFL defensive line coach for the Detroit Lions (2010-2017) and Miami Dolphins (2018).

LB Coach: Johnny Holland - Johnny Holland has been with the San Francisco 49ers since 2017. He's served as a linebackers coach at the NFL level for the Green Bay Packers (1999), Seattle Seahawks (2001-2002), Detroit Lions (2005), Houston Texans (2006-2010), Oakland Raiders (2012), and San Francisco 49ers (2017- Present). He also played linebacker in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers (1987-1993).

Secondary Coach: Cory Undlin - Cory Undlin joined the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff in 2021 after spending the 2020 season as the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator. Undlin has been coaching since 1998, notably spending time as a defensive backs coach of the Cleveland Browns (2008), Jacksonville Jaguars (2010-2011), Denver Broncos (2013-2014), and the Philadelphia Eagles (2015-2019).

Safeties Coach: Daniel Bullocks - Daniel Bullocks has been with the San Francisco 49ers since 2017 and served as the team's safeties coach since 2019. He's been coaching football since 2012 and also played safety in the NFL for the Detroit Lions (2006-2009).

Enjoy this series? Be sure to check out all of the other 'Coaching Matters' team previews!

AFC North: Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals

AFC South: Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts

AFC West: Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders

AFC East: Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, New York Jets

NFC North: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings

NFC South: Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Follow Eli Grabanski on Twitter: @3li_handles

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