Former 49ers All-Pro defensive end Justin Smith joined The Audible on KNBR 1050 Friday morning to discuss the new regime of Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, as well as the state of the 49ers organization.
Smith was part of a regime change during his time with the Cincinnati Bengals, when Marvin Lewis was hired as the team’s head coach following a 2-14 season in 2002. Lewis and Bengals president/general manager Mike Brown proceeded to clean house with nearly the entire roster over the next couple of seasons, something Smith also foresees Shanahan and Lynch doing in San Francisco.
“I’ve been on teams in Cincinnati where they did it,” Smith said. “We were terrible, and they just put basically a bomb in the whole building; got everybody out of there. That’s basically what they did out there so, I would imagine the (49ers) would do the same with the players. I would say in two years they’ll be 80 to 90 percent a different roster.”
When it comes to getting the most out of the players currently on the roster, Smith believes the 49ers need to delegate responsibility between the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Smith explained that during Jim Harbaugh’s tenure (2011-14), defensive coordinator Vic Fangio essentially acted as a second head coach.
“I think (having an offensive coach) works good as long as you have that defensive coordinator,” Smith said. “How we were in San Fran: Vic (Fangio) ran the defense, (Jim) Harbaugh and them ran the offense. It was like we had two separate head coaches…and it worked great.”
“So if (Kyle Shanahan) is calling the plays out there and he’s going to be in that room non-stop as the offensive coordinator, he’s got to have that guy that’s like a head coach for that defensive side of the ball. Basically have two different teams going on.”
Smith still believes that getting rid of Fangio is one of the biggest mistakes of the Jed York era. San Francisco finished in the top five in scoring defense in three of Fangio’s four years with the team.
“I think that was one of their biggest mistakes was not keeping Vic there,” Smith said. “I don’t know how you let people like that go. They went in another direction and it didn’t work out and it cost them money so I guess that’s what mistakes do.
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