Anthony Lynn is in his second season as the 49ers assistant head coach/running backs coach. He joined the 49ers after spending the 2021 season as the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions.
Lynn worked closely with RB Christian McCaffrey in 2022, who was acquired in a mid-season trade from the Carolina Panthers. McCaffrey, who was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week twice (Weeks 8 & 14) and NFC Offensive Player of the Month once (December/January), registered 1,210 scrimmage yards and 11 touchdowns after joining the team in Week 7. FB Kyle Juszczyk also earned Pro Bowl honors for the seventh-consecutive season.
The 2021 Lions saw second-year RB D'Andre Swift register career highs in carries (151) and rushing yards (617) while finishing with the second-most receptions on the team (62). Rookie WR Amon-Ra St. Brown led Detroit with 90 catches for 912 yards and five touchdowns.
Lynn joined the Lions following four seasons (2017-20) as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. As the Chargers head coach, Lynn posted a 33-31 (.516) record while going 1-1 in the postseason. In his final season with the Chargers in 2020, Lynn worked with rookie QB Justin Herbert, who set NFL rookie records for most touchdown passes (31) and most total touchdowns (36) and was named the 2020 Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year and the PFWA Rookie of the Year. Herbert's 4,336 passing yards in 2020 were the second-most all time by a rookie.
In 2019, Chargers WR Keenan Allen and LB Melvin Ingram III went to their third-consecutive Pro Bowls, while DE Joey Bosa went to his second Pro Bowl in three seasons with Lynn as head coach. Allen set a team record for receptions in a single season (104) and the Chargers had two wide receivers reach 1,000 receiving yards in Allen (1,199) and WR Mike Williams (1,001). RB Austin Ekeler finished with 92 receptions for 993 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.
The 2018 Chargers finished with a 12-4 record, as the franchise reached the playoffs for the first time since 2013. In Lynn's first season with the Chargers in 2017, the team won nine of their final 12 games, including six of the last seven contests, after an 0-4 start. The nine wins over the 12-game span was the best mark for the Chargers since the team won the final 11 games of the 2009 season.
Prior to joining the Chargers, Lynn coached for the Buffalo Bills from 2015-16 as the assistant head coach, in addition to coaching the running backs. In 2016, Lynn served as the team's offensive coordinator for the final 14 games, before finishing the season as interim head coach in the team's final game of the season. In his two seasons in Buffalo, the Bills led the NFL in rushing yards (2,432 in 2015 & 2,630 in 2016), rushing touchdowns (19 in 2015 & 29 in 2016) and yards per carry (4.8 in 2015 & 5.3 in 2016).
Lynn went to the Bills after six seasons (2009-14) with the New York Jets. As assistant head coach/running backs coach in 2014, the Jets averaged 142.5 rushing yards per game, ranking third in the NFL. As running backs coach from 2009-13, Lynn worked with Chris Ivory, who set a career high at the time with a team-high 833 rushing yards in 2013. From 2011-12, RB Shonn Greene racked up 2,117 total rushing yards, the 10th-most among all players over that span. From 2007-08, Lynn worked as the running backs coach with the Cleveland Browns. In 2008, RB Jamal Lewis finished the season with 279 carries for 1,002 yards and four touchdowns. The year prior, Lewis added 298 rushes for 1,304 yards and nine touchdowns in his first season with Cleveland.
Lynn joined the Browns following a pair of two-year stints coaching running backs with the Dallas Cowboys (2005-06) and Jacksonville Jaguars (2003-04). RB Julius Jones registered the best two seasons of his career with Lynn as his coach in Dallas, finishing with 993 rushing yards in 2005 followed by a career-high 1,084 rushing yards on 267 carries in 2006. In 2004, RB Fred Taylor led Jacksonville with 1,224 rushing yards. The year prior, Taylor registered a career-high 1,572 rushing yards in his first season working with Lynn. Lynn began his coaching career with the Denver Broncos, where he worked as an offensive assistant and assistant special teams coach for three seasons (2000-02).
A native of Celina, TX, Lynn played running back at Texas Tech University where he earned All-Southwest Conference honors, rushing for 1,911 yards and 17 touchdowns on 481 carries. He entered the NFL after signing with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 1992. He later spent time with the Denver Broncos (1993-94, 1997-99) and the San Francisco 49ers (1995-96). He concluded his career in Denver where he won back-to-back Super Bowl championships (XXXII and XXXIII) with the Broncos, after playing in 83 career games. Lynn is married to his wife, Stacey. He has two children, son, D'Anton, and daughter, Danielle. D'Anton played cornerback at Penn State University, spent training camp with the New York Jets in 2012 and played for the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He spent two seasons (2021-22) as the safeties coach with the Baltimore Ravens and is currently the defensive coordinator at UCLA. Danielle is the COO of the Lynn Family Foundation and is the ambulatory program manager at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX.
