Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris Press Conference

Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris

Press Conference – October 22, 2026

San Francisco 49ers

What did you like about Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. when he was coming out and kind of where is he in his development from what you’ve seen on tape?

“Loved the kid, loved everything about him. The personality, who he was, the thrower. We were in the business of looking for that guy that can take over for the franchise quarterback, had been through some quarterback purgatory and didn’t want to go back in that realm. Obviously, we went and got [Las Vegas Raiders QB] Kirk [Cousins] in free agency and would hope he can take us for a couple years while Michael sat behind him and learned and developed and grew. And Michael’s right at that point where he’s ready to go. Unfortunately he had some injury history and he got hurt out here. And then, was able to go back, get Kirk back in and now he’s ready to go. He’s back healthy and he’s probably everything that you thought and hoped for as far as being a play-action passer, a guy that can push the ball down the field, can make all the throws, go through the whole process. Just one of those guys that I have a lot of appreciation for and love for.”

Is there something specific you’ve seen in him this year or is it literally just a matter of being healthy and getting the reps?

“You know, just him being healthy is the main thing that has been for him. When he has been healthy, he’s had some explosive games, even as a rookie. I can still see him going into the D.C. game and find a way to get us into that game, make us some big-time plays in order for us to go to overtime. And as he started the season last year, had some ups and downs, had some probably more ups than downs, and now you’ve seen him have a couple really big ups since he’s been back and been back in that lineup and changed that team completely. So, it’s been pretty cool to watch.”

What are the challenges as you prepare to kind of try and defend Atlanta Falcons RB Bijan Robinson in the run game? And then the second if you can answer, if it does make any difference, how does your familiarity with the personnel on that team kind of help to prepare?

“It’s always helpful to know who people are, being around them and being what they are. But, I talked about Bijan last year. I talked about him being the best player in the NFL and he certainly is arguably the best player in the National Football League. He’s special. He’s one of those guys. He’s a special talent that we see in this league and can do a bunch of different everything. I compared him to the guy that we happen to be with now and he’s doing nothing but showing us the right way. Those guys train together, they know each other well. He’s one of those guys that can take this league by storm and do really special things. He’s going to present a big-time challenge for us this week and we’ve got to go out there and accept it.”

Since you know him so well, what do you tell your defense about him that can maybe help them?

“How do we say this without helping them? You’ve got to keep him behind line of scrimmage. You’ve got to swarm tackle this guy. You’ve got to get him on the ground. He’s as tough as it gets, he runs as fast as he wants. He’s going to be patient and find his spots. He’s a great human. You can tell him a bunch of different things, a lot about his accolades and what he’s been able to do, but they see it on tape. And we’ve got a bunch of competitive guys that look forward to the challenge of playing against great players every single week. So, Bijan presents another challenge for us.”

The defense has closed out the last two wins in Seattle and then here against Washington. What does that tell you about how they kind of come through when it’s finally, finally, finally on the line?

“You never really want to go through adversity. Everybody says they want to go through it. But, when you do go through and you get a chance to watch your guys go out there and respond, that is something that forms teams and that’s something that you need at any time during the season. You never want to get ahead of yourself, but those things are always helpful when you’re talking about playing like what you want to do around here and what that prepares you for and how that makes you ready. So, watching these guys go out there and different people step up in different roles and do different things, whether it be because of injury or just because of the situation of the game, I think those things are always key and critical to develop during the season.”

A lot of your guys are playing good ball. A couple guys who stand out to me, LB Jaden Dugger played 62 snaps. It’s a lot of snaps for a young guy, and DL Romello Height just keeps getting better every single week.

“How many snaps did he play?”

Oh, I don’t know how many snaps he played, but he played.

“Oh, yeah. He had a significant role. I was just curious because it’s one those weeks you had a short week and move on pretty quickly. But, I’m really excited about our young guys and this is a bunch of young talent throughout the roster, but to see Romello come in and be what we kind of thought, that pass rusher, that edge rusher, that guy that can do some different things for us, that brings some versatility as far as being edge, dropper, do a bunch of different things in that category. And to watch him grow every single week and get better, you’ve seen it from the beginning. He didn’t get the finished product, so you never get the credit, but now he got a couple of times when he got a chance to finish. His ability to get out to the quarterback is special. His ability to swarm and his ability to run around and hustle is different. It’s a different edge. It’s perfect for us. And Dugger, what can you say about him having to fill some very big shoes this week with the absence of [LB] Dre Greenlaw and watching him go out there and be able to, not everything was perfect, but I didn’t expect it to be, but it was done the right way. It was easily correctable. It was a nice calm presence out there next to [LB] Fred [Warner] and to be able to go out there and execute the things you need to get executed to win that football game. And that’s going to be great growth for him moving forward. I thought that was awesome.”

Romello said that the cast on his hand makes it harder for him to do a bull rush. Have you seen him sharpen other aspects of his game to sort of compensate for that?
“I don’t know about the sharpener, but you definitely can tell the cast hurts him when he gets a chance to try to get locked up with people when he got dumped versus Denver. It can make you look bad if they catch you in the right spot. But, he’s been able to find ways to use it as a chopping mechanism, the up and under, because he can’t grab and use his hands to be as violent as he wants to be. But, I am really excited with how he’s grown, how he’s developed, how he’s going every single week. And I know he can’t wait to get it off. So, he’s moving in the right direction. I don’t know how big it’s going to be, how small it’s going to be this week, but he’s doing such a great job with it. I can’t wait until he gets it off and he’s completely healthy.”

The young guys seem to have a lot of joy in playing the game and I don’t know if that is reflective of their confidence in playing the game, but it seems like a unique group in that way.

“I think it starts with just the team in general. I think how we approach practice, really how they approach everything. They have an enthusiastic approach to it, whether it’s meetings, whether it’s practice, all hands on deck type mentality for these guys and they bring it to the games. They bring it to the sidelines. Our sidelines are as good as it gets when you come off and they communicate with Fred and those guys communicate with each other. How they’re able to bond in different ways on and off the field, I think is special. And I think those are things that help make special units. And it just spreads right down to those young guys and they just join right on in. The other thing too is they’re a little, they are a little bit more mature. Having a little more age than some of the guys that we’ve seen, some of these guys are a little bit older, able to fit in a little bit better. I think that’s very helpful as well.”

What’s the anticipation, head coach Kyle Shanahan mentioned that DL Nick Bosa could possibly practice today, but I don’t think he was out there during the viewing portion. What’s the anticipation to get him back out there from a coach’s perspective?
“I’ve only got a little bit of Nick Bosa and the little bit I got was very exciting. So, I can’t wait to get all of it, but you never want to rush the process. You always want to do like [reporter] Grant [Cohn] says and get guys back healthy and do the things you need to do to get them back. I love watching your stuff, Grant, you crack me up. But, get those guys back and do those things, so it’s always good. Nick Bosa will come back and we’ll get him back healthy and able to go on this run.”

Former NFL head coach Bill Parcells once was credited with saying, ‘hey man, if I’m going to cook the meal, I want to shop for the groceries.’ You’re the defensive coordinator, but how involved do you want to be in with president of football operations and general manager John Lynch and these guys as far as maybe targeting players that you guys could acquire at the deadline? Do you want to be a part of that?

“I think it’s always like our draft process, right? It was a collective agreement or a collective group together trying to figure out what we wanted for the draft, what we wanted for free agency. I don’t think there’ll be much of a big difference. If there’s something real that’s in the works and people are talking about, I’m sure he’ll come talk to all of us. I mean, it won’t be something that we find out from you guys. It’d be something that’d be talked about and well documented amongst all of us and how we want to utilize those things and those pieces and put people in place to have success. And I think that’s where success comes with the young guys, right? Being able to identify what they can do, being able to put those guys in a position to go out there and succeed. And when they got their opportunities, they’ve gotten better and better every single week. And I don’t see it any different from whether it be acquiring a trade or whatever it is that you potentially do. And I watch your show too. It’s awesome. I like when you guys talk about those things. It’s always exciting for me. You guys have somehow managed to take over my algorithm and it’s cool.”

You guys obviously lay a lot of big hits and I know stylistically I’m sure that that’s what you want. Obviously, there’s some fines and penalties and things like that. Is there a line of, ‘hey, there’s certain coaching point there,’ or is that just you want them to play fast and physically? How do you kind of reconcile those?

“Yeah, first and foremost, we’re always talking player safety, right? So like, this league, for these players, for everything that we’re incorporated with is always going to be player safety. But, there is this part of the game where you want to be able to play fast and physical and also have an intimidation factor. Our drills that we teach, our target zone, hitting in the strike zone, doing the things you have to have, keeping your head out the game, keeping your head not a part of it. It’s something that you do. Now, there are times that that gets crossed and there are times that that happens, but it’s definitely not any intentional harm to do those things at all. And like, these guys want to play physical, they want to play hard, they want to win, and that’s the most important thing to those guys. But, definitely player safety is definitely something you always worry about.”