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A past popular assistant with the San Francisco 49ers under Kyle Shanahan returned to the open coaching market on Wednesday, January 11, as Mike LaFleur and the New York Jets have parted ways.
Fans of the 49ers likely remember LaFleur as Shanahan’s passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach and was also one of Shanahan’s first hires in 2017. But now that he’s no longer with former 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and the Jets, 49ers insider for The Athletic Matt Barrows mentioned two wild ideas involving LaFleur.
“LaFleur could be attractive to a lot of teams: Green Bay, San Francisco,” Barrows first began. “And wherever DeMeco Ryans ends up should he land a head coaching job.”
There you have it. Barrows believes that LaFleur could reattract interest from his last employer before he went off to New York, or be the right hand man on offense for Ryans if he gets hired away during this 2023 head coaching search.
What Went Wrong For LaFleur?
LaFleur, 36, became one of the first hires made by Saleh when he took over the head coaching job for the Jets in 2021.
The wide receiver guru helped produce a 1,000-yard season for prized rookie draft pick Garrett Wilson — who ended up with 1,103 yards in his first year of the league while catching 83 passes. Running back Breece Hall showed some early potential with combining for 681 yards in 2022.
However, LaFleur and the Jets were involved in a highly-publicized benching of 2021 first rounder Zach Wilson. The Jets ended up rotating between Mike White, Joe Flacco and Chris Streveler. Wilson ended up finishing the season with a lower completion percentage of 54.5 compared to his rookie season of 55.6.
LaFleur’s Jets offense ended up finishing 25th overall in total offensive yards and ranked 31st in passing touchdowns. To make matters worse, the Jets went from potential playoff contender at 7-4 overall to losing their last six games to finish out at 7-10 and last place.
How Hirable Will LaFleur be?
Despite his ending with the Jets and how low the output became over there, LaFleur is still likely to generate some interest in league circles.
As passing game coordinator for the 49ers, the air attack ranked no lower than 15th in his four seasons in the Bay Area. His 2017 passing attack ranked ninth in yards and his final unit in S.F. took 12th in 2020. His passing offense was also 10th in the NFL in passing touchdowns during their 2019 run to the NFC title.
Is there a scenario where the Niners and old boss Shanahan welcome him back? Currently, the 49ers have no prominent opening on the coaching staff despite the high volume of chatter involving Ryans being hired through this head coaching cycle. Although, The Athletic’s Mike Jones on Friday, January 6 wrote down 49ers run game coordinator and offensive line coach Chris Foerster as a name “who could wind up receiving head coaching considerations.” Jones cited Foerster’s strong offensive line play and how Shanahan became “reliant” on Foerster’s play-calling post Mike McDaniel during the regular season.
NFL writer for SB Nation Jason B. Hirschhorn, though, revealed that Shanahan has lured back past co-workers on the 49ers before.
“It also would be surprising if the 49ers tried to bring Mike LaFleur back. Kyle Shanahan has done that with other former assistants such as Rich Scangarello before, and LaFleur rose to passing-game coordinator before departing for the Jets,” Hirschhorn tweeted.
However, there are current offensive coordinator openings that could appeal to LaFleur. Among them: The rival Los Angeles Rams, who lost Liam Coen to the University of Kentucky. Sean McVay already worked with LaFleur’s older brother Matt before taking the Green Bay Packers job. However, McVay is mulling his coaching future and many are wondering if he’s going to step away for the 2023 season. The Washington Commanders additionally have an OC opening after firing Scott Turner Tuesday. And in Tennessee, the Titans canned four assistants including OC Todd Downing Monday.
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