Report: 49ers hiring Anthony Lynn as assistant head coach

One of the league's top rushing minds is heading to one of the league's top rushing teams.

The 49ers are hiring Anthony Lynn as their new assistant head coach, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Lynn spent the 2021 season as the Lions' offensive coordinator.

Lynn has spent more than 20 years coaching in the NFL, and in that time has been the architect of several of the league's top ground attacks. San Francisco, meanwhile, finished sixth in rushing attempts (499) and seventh in rushing yards (2,166) in 2021.

After starting his career as a special teams assistant with the Broncos, Lynn became the running backs coach for the Jaguars in 2003. He spent two years there, then followed it up with a pair of two-year stints with the Cowboys and Browns before settling in with the Jets for six seasons, earning assistant head coach duties for the final two years in New York.

In 2015, Lynn was hired by the Bills as their running backs coach and assistant head coach as he followed Rex Ryan from the Jets. In 2016, he became Buffalo's offensive coordinator, and by the end of the season was named interim head coach after Ryan was fired.

By then, Lynn's name had drawn significant interest in coaching searches, and he finally landed a head gig at the start of 2017 when the Chargers named him their new head coach while also announcing their move from San Diego to Los Angeles. The Chargers went 9-7 in his first year, just narrowly missing the playoffs.

In 2018, though, Lynn got Los Angeles to the postseason after a 12-4 year, but couldn't get past New England in the divisional round. The team slipped to 5-11 the following season, but bounced back to 7-9 in 2020 after drafting future rookie of the year Justin Herbert. 

Nevertheless, Lynn was fired after that season and finished his time in Los Angeles with a 33-31 record. He was hired by the Lions not long after, and in his one year in Detroit, the team finished 22nd in total yardage and 19th in rushing yardage.