Raheem Morris - DC, 49ers Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-17 | Full transcript (primary source).
Raheem Morris addressed the media during a press conference on September 17, 2026, following the San Francisco 49ers' recent game against the Los Angeles Rams. The discussion focused on the team's performance, particularly highlighting the contributions of linebacker Fred Warner and the overall defensive strategy.
Transcript
Morris: Fred Warner's game against the Rams, obviously he had a lot of contributions from all parts of the ball, but how Fred was kind of the ringleader and from the first snap to force fumble in the fourth quarter. It was really just kind of, for me, it was fun just being out there with him, you know, coaching Fred and being around him and, you know, he's a grown man and that's a lot of fun to be around. I've been fortunate, I talked about this before, to coach those kind of people but Fred is a different alien of himself and he's absolutely fun but to watch him go out there, lead his guys, go out there, get the calls out, you know, get his lined up, you know, nothing's going to be perfect ever but, you know, to watch his leadership, his command, to be able to go to sideline, communicate like a head coach, you know, communicate like a position coach, communicate like a leader like he is and it was phenomenal.
Morris: What was your assessment of just your group's performance overall, both good and bad? You always have good, you always have bad, hopefully you have more good than bad. You know, you never can ride the emotional rollercoaster that way. I think you've got to stay even keel, I think you've got to go through the process, you know, each and every week. We played a good game, played a good enough game to go out there and win and that was important. You know, there's always going to be things you've got to clean up, there's always going to be things you want to do better but I'm really proud of how the group responded and how they went out and handled the diversity of the travel, handled the diversity of, you know, playing the very good football team that we played and going out there and getting a win.
Unknown: You okay, a little jet lag?
Morris: Oh no, practice.
Unknown: Okay, so a question. When it comes to the fact that you talked about more good than bad and there was a question about the pass rush but then you have a guy like Osa because everyone kind of speaks to his being like really hard nose, really hard working and he was able to get to the staff a few times out there. What did you think of what he was able to do in week one and how that adds to what you have up front?
Morris: No, I was fired up about the guys and you know, the intent of the game was you always got to go try to get at the staff and hit them. We got a chance to get around them, to cause the ball to come out faster than probably wants to or make it feel a little bit uncomfortable which is important. And you know, obviously Osa I think had four or so or something like that and was able to get there that way. I think that's always going to be huge. You know, we talked about the acquisition of him coming his off season being able to give us a force inside. You know, particularly with the run, with the pass, doing all the things that he does, the leadership skills that he possesses. It was a great start for him. It was a great start for that guy and the leadership of the unit and getting those guys out there at the same time. You know, I can't say enough about all the guys that was able to contribute but he definitely is a big part of that.
Unknown: What part of Dugger's game are you most proud of in his transition from OTAs until now?
Morris: I really just like the steady improvement. You know, we went from watching him, you know, grow into kind of this hybrid athlete, the kind of guy that we kind of envisioned and that spin, I can tell you guys now, and that spin and roll, you know, some of those different things and he was able to come out there and do a little bit of those things, right? You see him stand up, see him a lot of scrimmage, see him back up, see him do a bunch of different things, you know, be able to contribute on special teams and then to watch him being around Fred and Greenlaw and you know, really that whole room, you know, including the coaches they just developed this toughness and that certain creature they have in their room to get them better and better every single week, so, you know, had a nice start and hopefully he can improve on it.
Unknown: Have you seen a rookie stay through the offseason, their first offseason like he did?
Morris: Yeah, it's kind of rare around here, but it goes back to the first guy we talked about in that first question. You know, people want to be around him. You know, people want to train with him, people want to learn from him. He's got a lot to give and you know, he's willing to give it to his teammates and coaches included and it's been fun to be around.
Unknown: Maybe get A-chan this week and what is he, what kind of challenges does A-chan run at?
Morris: Tough, fast, you know, and he gets mistaken that he's an outside runner, but you know, he lowers his pads, he runs for the extra yards, he does the special things that we talk about in running where he makes 5'8", and he makes 8'10", and then if you're not careful, you can make a really explosive run or catch. Ready?
Unknown: Sorry.
Morris: That's okay, presents a lot of challenges for us.
Unknown: Collid Kareem went from New York to Atlanta, then flew here, then flew to Australia and he's gotten the game. How impressed were you by his quick turnaround?
Morris: It was impressive when we called him, had to get him. You know, obviously Sammo went down and then right before we took that flight, we would make some calls and get some stuff done, some stuff moving pretty quickly, a lot of credit to our front office and all the people that work up there, just a lot of people that was able to get those things moving and I get a passport. You got to get them, you know, back to Atlanta, back to San Fran, San Fran, excuse me, the bay, to take his physical and then on his way to Australia and the next time we saw him, he was in a meeting fighting the urge to fall asleep and then going out and practicing and being able to go through that and being able to play for us. Luckily he has some familiarity with the scheme and some of the things that we wanted to do. We had to acclimate him pretty quickly, a lot of credit to Greg Scruggs, a lot of credit to Cam and those guys that really caught him at the speed really quick.
Unknown: For years, officers are spending more and more time in the shotgun, but week one it seemed like offices couldn't spend enough time under center. From a defensive perspective, why do you feel like offices are making that adjustment?
Morris: Greg, you got way too much time in your hand. I just watched the team we played. I'm not sure, but obviously, you know, Stafford, we played them and he's been up under quarterback for a long time and he's very good at it. So, you know, I kind of anticipate that and having that, but I really think, you know, kind of the league just goes in circles, it goes into defense and the offense and the way West Coast offense up under, you know, things of that nature.
Unknown: Pissed through from a little bit from college. Gun, just waves.
Morris: Warren Garregualo took a handful of snaps at Middle Linebacker on Thursday. Is that part of you know, trade green load management still that you're just still kind of easing him back into the swing of things?
Morris: Yeah, I wouldn't call it load management. Call it, you know, our ability to utilize all the players that we have in our football team. Green law is special. You know, when he was out there, he's doing some really good things. You know, obviously, we've managed him throughout the course of practice and you don't want to manage a guy within a game. And how do you do that? You allow him to play full speed every time he's out there and when he gets to get a break, gets a break. You know, fortunately, we're able to utilize some dime to do that. We're able to utilize Waller, who's a very good football player. We're able to get, you know, Fred some reps off there at the end, which is nice. But I think you want to be able to take care of your football team so you can go for the long run. And we wouldn't do it for a long time. Kind of openly have talked about.
Unknown: Sorry.
Morris: When you think about the plays that are being made in the secondary in week one, what did you like about their play? But then what did you expect? Where do you expect them to see them take a step in week two?
Morris: You know, it's not that. I think it's just being able to take from the classroom to the field, to the practice field. You know, first and foremost, being able to do those things and then execute the game plan. And the guys execute the game plan at a very high level. Again, it's never going to be perfect. It's not a defensive back game off coach that was perfect. But I love the effort. I love the intensity. I love the style of play. And that's the most important, first and foremost. And I'll start there. And in order to increase that in every single week, it has to go through the same process. And you've got to trust your process and go through that every single week. And the guys have done a nice job of it thus far. And we've got to continue.
Unknown: Kind of along those lines with Bernardo. You've been open about, you know, how excited you were to work with him and the progress that he made. What do you mean for him after some of the bumps he had toward the end of last year to kind of get proof of concept and make a big play like he did?
Morris: I always get stumped with that question because I wasn't here. You know, and I came. I know you guys thought I was lying. But I'm like, the guys look great. And he takes coaching and he's going to have to go out there and play. And I'm fired about him. I'm fired about working with all of those guys. And they've all shown really good things. You know, Jack Jones, you know, Deemo, Bernardo, you know, Stout were the guys that played most of the time at corner. But, you know, I'm really fired up to watch those guys go out there and play for a single day.
Unknown: Some coordinators go left and right with the corners. You played like boundary and field with your guys. Why? Is that a green speed? Or why do you play your corners that way?
Morris: No, we just kind of... You get used to pitchers, you know. And like, if you can give a guy pitchers, give him some reps at it to allow those guys to see those pitchers over and over again, kind of get used to some of the advantages that they have from seeing those pitchers, I think it's helpful. You know, sometimes you are going to match. Sometimes you're going to play right and left. You know, there are going to be times where tempo teams come. And that's how it happens. But if you have the ability to do some of those different things, to mix it up for those guys, you know, to give those same pitchers, you know, is the reason you practice, right? Repetition is the mother of learning. And you get the same repetition over and over and over again. But having the ability to do the other things, I think it just creates the understanding, the reason to stand throughout the room in order to do those things. So I love that challenge. I love the challenge for those guys to be able to go out there. And maybe he's jet lagged, I don't know. But I was fired at how they played.
Morris: The weak one was a very heavily hyped game against a Super Bowl favorite. And this is, the Dolphins are not that. Between the travel and coming back and the opponent, I mean, as a coach, do you worry or have to discuss at all the possibilities of a lifetime?
Morris: Yeah, I mean, it's the National Football League. You better come ready every single week or there's a piece of humble pie waiting around the corner for you. And our head coach preaches that. It's our building. It's the mentality. To say you don't worry about it, I'd be lying, you know. But we're definitely going to teach that message.
Unknown: Thank you guys. That's good.
Unknown: How's it going?
Morris: Ready. The rushing average last year was not where you guys liked to have it. Your per carry average looked good on Thursday. What did you guys do right? What did you like from that aspect of the game?
Morris: Yeah, I mean, I look at it as a unit thing. You know, it's offensive unit success, okay? So it's being unmanageable third downs that we can stay on the field, right? So we can get more runs. That's the big thing, okay? But I just thought our backs ran really well. I thought our O-line played very well. I thought our receivers blocked very well. So collectively in the run game, I thought everyone was pretty tied together and played really well. We had games like that last year, but it was inconsistent. I mean, bottom line. So, and then, you know, I thought there was a good rotation with the backs where I thought either back who touched the ball, to me they were explosive. They were powerful. I think all those things kind of built up to a good day running the ball. It's just one game. You know, we got to keep getting better and keep pushing our guys so we can try to be that way every week. But, you know, got our work cut out for us again this week.
Unknown: You guys obviously want to run the ball well, but going into the offseason and evaluating how things went last year, was there any extra emphasis in improving the running game and trying different things schematically and bringing sort of new plays to the running attack this year?
Morris: Yeah. We're always evaluating our scheme, you know, and trying to stay ahead of things and trying to evolve, you know. But we were 29th. I don't know if that's the right number. We were something like 29th in rushing last year. It wasn't good enough, you know. And when you really look back and study it, it goes back to what I said. It's a unit thing. It has to do with, you know, it's receivers, it's tight end, it's every person on the field that we hold accountable in the run game to do their part to be a good rushing offense. Sometimes it has to do with how good you are on third down so you can get more carries. So, but yeah, we are always evaluating our scheme. You know, we're trying to get our players better, add new players and, you know, I mean, it's just one game too. We got our work cut out for us all year. We got to keep growing. We got to evaluate as we go throughout the year or two and let our scheme evolve and become what we're going to be. So.
Unknown: Coach, when we talked to Hector Shkasho-Hang yesterday and he was asking about the offensive line. He said, he basically said they played unbelievable or unbelievably, that was the right way to say it. But when you think about that, given it is just we won, what did you like about what you saw from the offensive line specifically?
Morris: I thought they were physical. I thought they did a good job of sustaining blocks and finishing. To me, that stood out. I thought in pass protection they were outstanding and playing within the scheme and what we were trying to accomplish and, you know, using our tight ends and our guys playing off the technique of the tight ends. I was all really well executed. So, I mean, they played really good and they got to keep getting better and we got to keep getting better every week. So, it's just one game. We got to keep moving on and go to the next one.
Unknown: How much does the emergence of Caleb Black make Christian McCaffrey a more effective runner in terms of giving him maybe a blow and also giving the defense another skill set to McCalford?
Morris: Yeah, I think that's a big part of it is the defense is there's two guys who are going to carry the ball who are a problem, you know? And I think, you know, that's one thing. And Cailin's just been great since he's been here. I mean, I think, you know, aside from wanting a rotation with Christian to kind of, you know, spare him a little bit in the game, we just want to get Cailin touches. He's a good player. He deserves touches. And so, anytime you got multiple players touching the ball who are affecting the game in that way, it's a good thing for your offense. I'm glad we have two backs. I think we have three backs. I think Jordan's capable of doing that too. Devo's capable of doing that too. So, I like where our backs are at. I like that we're, you know, the way they're progressing, you know, the way that they can rotate with Christian. It helps our offense. You know, it's body blows on a defense. It's what we want. So, that's going to be the goal as we go week to week.
Unknown: The ball is DeMarcus Robinson doesn't necessarily run a great, you know, fast 40, but he's a very good down the field. Don't tell D-Rob that. I don't know what his 40 is, but go ahead, sorry.
Morris: It's not great, but he runs, but he catches a lot of deep balls. You know, why is that? Why can this guy make plays down the field without that vertical speed?
Morris: I don't know. I think some guys are just, when the ball's in the air, they have an actor just going up to get it. You know, he has great hands. You know, D-Rob knows how to get his body in position to kind of box out the DB. You know, it's a natural football player, a natural receiver, a natural pass catcher, however you want to frame it. D-Rob has that, you know. He's, you know, whatever a lack of 40, he does, D-Rob can run, but he has a way of savviness to how he runs routes where he can separate too. So, he's a good player. He's helped us a lot, and, you know, I expect that for him going forward.
Unknown: Is he better having a year in this offense? I mean, is he a better player here than now, than he was last year? Talk about D-Rob.
Morris: Yeah, just because the familiarity. I think so. I mean, anybody who's, I mean, it's just time on task, reps. D-Bo hasn't missed a day since he's been here to me, except for the suspension he had. I mean, he's out there every day. He's working. Yeah, he's gotten better, and to me, he helps us. He's why he's helping us, is he's improved, he's more confident in our offense, he's more confident in his route tree. We love him around here, and so expect him to keep helping our team.
Unknown: You guys have always used motion a lot, but when you're installing the motions, like you're using a lot the other day where, you know, it's borderline going toward the line of scrimmage, just how much timing is involved in that, and what are kind of the challenges when you're putting those plays together of, like, making sure you have the people who can, you know, be on the same page and hit that?
Morris: Yeah, it's time on task. You got to work on it. It's got to be part of what you do from day one, you know, in terms of our offense when we install it. Those are the motions we have in. Your quarterback's got to be on it. The guys who are in motion have to be able to anticipate the snap count. It helps when you're at home, and you don't have to worry about silent count and things like that, or you can really time it up with the quarterback's cadence. You got to be able to mix it up. You got to be able to mix up your cadence. You got to be able to do things that kind of offset the timing of those motions, so that defenses aren't teeing off on it. So it's all those things, but it takes a lot of reps. It takes a lot of time on task, and I think if you just decide one day you're going to do it, it's not going to be effective. You got to work on it, and it's got to be a part of your identity, and so I think that's why we're pretty good at it.
Unknown: Built into that with the offensive line in particular, when a guy goes in motion, sometimes a defense is moving in. I assume that changes aim points and angles. How difficult is it for those guys in terms of knowing, like, if they don't move or, you know, those types of things?
Morris: Yeah, I mean, that's part of playing O-line. That's one thing that Jake, our center, does a heck of a job of, is getting those runs targeted, knowing when targets might change, when motion might affect the defense, when motion might pull someone into the box or pull someone out of the box. Those are all tied into the scheme. Each run scheme has its own kind of targeting, has its own way of blocking it based on what we're trying to run, so having a veteran center and veteran guys helps a lot, but again, that's part of how we run the ball, and it's part of how we teach those guys, so.
Unknown: Did you guys make a decision on left guard? Did it go right up until, you know, your week of practice?
Morris: Yeah, I think we really let those guys, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I don't let those guys kind of compete throughout the week and get reps, and we felt really comfortable with Connor, the week he had, kind of the few weeks he had leading up to that game, and he was ready to go and thought he'd play his butt off, so.
Unknown: Was Caleb Black being activated early in the game? Was that part of a function of Christian going through some cramping, or was that part of the game plan to get him involved really early in the game?
Morris: Yeah, we had intentions of rotating those guys. You know, I think the way the carries kind of came out in the end wasn't intentional. I mean, Kaitlyn had a few more carries in Christian, but that was kind of a product of, yeah, Christian did have the cramps, but then we're in a four-minute mode at the end where we're giving Kaitlyn the carries, and we also, I think, had a really unbalanced run-pass ratio through the first quarter, I think we were three to 18 or something, so Christian's in for a lot of those plays, so just kind of the way it played out, and that wasn't really intentional, but the rotation and keeping two backs going was very intentional, yeah.
Unknown: Is there any advantage in evaluating an upcoming opponent after going against your brother's offense a week earlier?
Morris: I don't think so, you know. I think people run similar stuff around the league, you know. It's nice to talk to my brother to kind of get a feel for what they went against, but, you know, you got to do your own work, and you got to evaluate it on your own, and I would say it's cool to talk about, but it's not really much, doesn't much change anything.
Unknown: Brock in training camp about one of the things with Brock this year was working on being maybe a little more judicious about when to leave the pocket. Is there anything from week one that stood out to you at play where you thought maybe he did it differently than he would have last year, or was an example of what you want?
Morris: I wouldn't say differently. I thought the, I think we had a second long, it was that 99 yard drive where he scrambled and got a first down. I mean, to me, that's a great example of when you want a quarterback to use his legs. You get man coverage, your routes don't win, and when defenders are playing man coverage, usually they're somewhere for the quarterback to run, and Brock's kind of clock went off. He went through his progression. He saw that one and two were covered, and his clock went off, and he saw grass, and he took it, and he was aggressive, and that's what we want. That's how you want a guy to play. What you don't want is a guy to, you know, go back there and just duck his head and go. You know, you want a guy to play quarterback first, and then run when it's the right time, and I thought that was a great example. I don't think he had anywhere. It wasn't the right decision, so great. Awesome for week one. That's what we wanted to keep doing it, keep stacking those weeks and keep that mindset and just keep going throughout the year, so.
Unknown: Hey, Rodriguez for them. The rookie had 14 tackles. He's like long snapping as well. Are you noticing him when you watch the film? Does he stand out in any way?
Morris: Yeah, he's going to be a heck of a player. You can tell they put a lot on him. As far as their communication, as far as their, you know, getting their people lined up, he's a tackle machine, and he's a heck of a, he's like Fred. You know, he can punch the ball. He's a turnover machine, so, you know, he's only a rookie, but you can see a guy who's going to be a really good player for a long time, so he's going to be a challenge on Sunday.
Unknown: Good. Appreciate it, guys. Thanks.
