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San Francisco 49ers’ head coach Kyle Shanahan talks to a referee during the first half against the Arizona Cardinals

The NFL rule book is 288 pages long, contains over 110 sections, and covers 19 chapters. It is up to every team’s front office to keep up with the rules and follow each guideline to a tee. Yet, the San Francisco 49ers failed to do just that.

Following a recent surge of coaching changes, the 49ers got caught red-handed. Earlier this week, San Francisco fired special teams coordinator Brian Schneider and demoted defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen.

In their search for a new defensive coordinator, the team completed successful interviews with former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh and Detroit Lions’ passing game coordinator/defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend. By doing so, San Francisco successfully fulfilled the Rooney Rule requirement. They also completed the necessary steps regarding filling a vacated position — something they failed to do when promoting Klay Kubiak to offensive coordinator.

49ers Break NFL Rules

According to CBS Sports reporter Jonathan Jones, the San Francisco 49ers violated the NFL’s hiring rules by not completing the necessary steps during the interviewing process.

“Despite San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan saying this week he would name Klay Kubiak the offensive coordinator, NFL rules do not permit that.”

Jones clarified his report in the following social media post:

“NFL rules do not allow teams to name coaches to previously closed coordinator roles without an open search process. Shanahan said Kubiak has done this job without the title for two years, but rules dictate a search must be done.”

With the violation, the 49ers must pause the promotion of Kubiak, conduct a legitimate offensive coordinator search, and follow the Rooney Rule guidelines.

The Rooney Rule states the following for open coordinator roles:

Teams must interview at least one minority candidate for all coordinator positions. The final decision-maker must be involved throughout the process, and teams must keep complete records.

The 49ers can still promote Klay Kubiak to offensive coordinator, which is the likely outcome following the interview process.

Klay, son of former Super Bowl champion coach Gary Kubiak, has been with the 49ers since 2021. He started as the defensive quality control coach before being promoted to offensive passing game specialist in 2022. Despite the 49ers not having an official offensive coordinator in 2024, Kubiak got to call plays in two games during the preseason. He also called plays in the 49ers season-final 47-24 loss against the Arizona Cardinals.

With Kubiak calling plays, San Francisco totaled 436 yards, including just under 300 passing yards, and had a 100% red-zone efficiency rating.

Not the 49ers First Violation

The 49ers are usually one of the most well-run organizations in the NFL. However, this is the second consecutive season the 49ers have broken the rules.

While being forced to conduct a coaching search and eventually promoting the same person is rather meaningless. Last season, the 49ers made critical financial errors that led to NFL Draft penalties.

After accidentally overpaying a player $750k, the NFL docked San Francisco a 2025 fifth-round pick. They also moved one of their 2024 fourth-rounder back four slots.

While Lynch may have had a “difference of opinion on the severity” of the punishment levied by the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell in 2023, front-office mistakes are becoming far too common in San Francisco.

The NFL has shown no indication they plan to penalize the 49ers further for not conducting an official coordinator search. As of now, it seems the only reprimanding San Francisco will receive is swift reminder of the NFL rule book.

Sterling Bennett is a Heavy.com contributor covering the NFL. He has half a decade of experience as a sports broadcaster at 95.7 The Game covering the San Francisco 49ers as part of the weekly “Overtime” show, where he covered Super Bowl 58. Bennett was the Golden State Warriors Network Coordinator from 2020-2024, where he was responsible for all gameday radio broadcasts, including the 2022 NBA Finals. More about Sterling Bennett