The Chicago Bears’ coaching staff has undergone some changes this offseason, and on Friday it appears that another coach has headed elsewhere as special teams assistant Derius Swinton has a new job title.
That job is special teams coordinator for the San Francisco 49’ers, where he will join the coaching staff of new head coach Chip Kelly in the Bay Area. Swinton will replace Thomas McGaughey, who was not retained after leading one of the worst special teams units in the NFL in 2015.
The move was first reported by Matt Barrows, the 49’ers beat writer for the Sacramento Bee.
As for Swinton, his loss will be an interesting one for the Bears to deal with. Joining the staff in 2013 under head coach Marc Trestman and special teams coordinator Joe Decamillis, Swinton was one of the few coaches retained when the new John Fox regime took over. During his time in Chicago, the special teams unit slowly improved, and they took a huge step forward in 2015 as they were one of the higher-ranked groups in the NFL.
Swinton is not the first coach to leave the staff during the offseason. Offensive coordinator Adam Gase became the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, and he ended up taking offensive assistant Bo Hardegree with him to South Beach to be his quarterbacks coach.
