The Atlanta Falcons are entering a new era, and while they're sitting pretty, Raheem Morris is doing the same in San Francisco. It's a surprise that he hasn't stolen any assistants from Jeff Ulbrich's defensive coaching staff, especially since some players are near certain to follow suit in free agency.
However, Morris just quietly made one of his biggest moves as the DC of the Niners. CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz reported that the 49ers are hiring Falcons' assistant head coach/defense Jerry Gray to be their new defensive backs coach to replace Daniel Bullocks, who left for Green Bay.
Most Falcons fans saw this reunion coming from a mile away, but that's neither here nor there. Morris is definitely going to be a thorn in the Dirty Birds' side this coming seasons. Gray was practically his right-hand man and will be crucial in helping turn around a unit that struggled big time in 2025.
Falcons' coaching staff just suffered their first major loss in Jerry Gray
Kevin Stefanski and the Falcons have escaped this coaching cycle relatively unscathed, but this is their first major loss. The 63-year-old was vital in his work with the defense and his own playing experience helped turn him into one of the most important assistant coaches on Morris' staff. And players respected him, so this will hurt the locker room culture.
If there's anything you should know about Morris, it's that he loves coaching with his buddies. He brought Ulbrich back to Atlanta after that nightmarish Jets stint and was willing to fall on his own sword to protect Zac Robinson, so this checks out in regards to what we know about the 49-year-old.
The 49ers had the eighth-worst pass defense in 2025, while Gray helped coach Atlanta's secondary to finish in the top half of the league despite having little to work with beyond A.J. Terrell. The safety duo shined, but Gray did some promising work with Mike Hughes, Dee Alford, and Billy Bowman Jr.
The former first-round pick from Texas was a teammate of 49ers' GM John Lynch with the Buccaneers in 1993, so this makes even more sense. He's known as one of the best DB coaches in football, but Gray also has defensive coordinator experience in both Buffalo and Tennessee.
Losing Gray hurts, but the only thing that would be worse is losing both Gray and Mike Rutenberg to a DC job. While it doesn't seem likely that Rutenberg gets the DC job in Cleveland, he is a finalist, so you can't rule out the possibility of him also leaving-- which would really make things dicey for Ulbrich.
The 49-year-old will face his old team in 2026, so there will be some extra bad blood on the sidelines of this one.