Ray Rhodes has come back to the 49ers to affirm what everyone suspected: He can make a difference only if the team once more has players who can make a difference, guys like Ronnie Lott or Pierce Holt in their prime.
The reshuffling of the Niners' coaching staff announced last week was inevitable, said coach George Seifert. What happened was that 62-year-old Bill McPherson got his wish and 42-year-old Ray Rhodes, back from a literally chilling experience in Green Bay, got McPherson's job as San Francisco defensive coordinator, the position Rhodes held with the Packers.McPherson, the defensive coordinator for five seasons, becomes assistant head coach to Seifert.
Now the 49ers still need some great players on defense, a concept mentioned by both Rhodes and Seifert.
Did anyone say free agents Seth Joyner of the Eagles and Rickey Jackson of the Saints? Absolutely. Then again, a year ago at this time, the 49ers were thinking about defensive end Reggie White, but White ended up with the Packers and Rhodes.
"When I got to Green Bay," said Rhodes, who went there from the 49ers before the 1992 season, "the personnel wasn't up to the peak of top-echelon teams. We went out and recruited Reggie White, and that turned the whole team around (defensively).
"Some people said one man can't do that, but what he did was bring up the play of the guys around him."
Rhodes played defensive back with the 49ers in 1980 then joined the staff under Bill Walsh in 1981, helping develop Lott, Eric Wright, Dwight Hicks and Carlton Williamson, the superb defensive backfield of the early '80s.
Two years ago, when 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren became the Packers' head coach, he took along with him Rhodes and Ray Sherman, the latter as offensive coordinator.
Seifert wanted Rhodes to stay.
"I left here for some reasons people wouldn't understand," said Rhodes, who kept his home in Fremont. "You have to get away and let people look at you from a different viewpoint. I felt it was important to establish what Ray Rhodes could do on this own."
He came back for reasons people could understand.
"Green Bay was a great football town," said Rhodes, "but the decision was made for personal reasons. My family comes first. I have two teenage daughters, and I feel their social life was really suffering."
Rhodes will have plenty to do with a 49ers defense that gave up 377 yards to the Cowboys in the NFC Championship game Jan. 23.
"We're definitely going to look for someone like Reggie White," Rhodes said. "You have to have impact players to win big games. Big-time players play well in big games.
"I think people fail to realize this is not the team I left (after the 1991 season). For the defensive line you had the Haleys, Fagans, Holts, Michael Carters and Tim Harrises. You don't replace guys of that stature overnight.
"We basically used the same system in Green Bay as they did here. But it's not schemes. Players win the games. I've always felt the best pass defense was a pass rush, and I'll never get away from that."
Asked what the 49ers, who have two first-round picks in the draft, would be seeking, Seifert said, "I guess if, of equal quality, a great defensive lineman, a great linebacker and a great defensive back were all there, we'd have a big fistfight over which one to take."