The San Francisco 49ers reportedly have hired Nick Sorensen as their defensive coordinator and hired Brandon Staley as well.
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00:00 It's Saturday, March 2nd, 2024, and the 49ers finally have hired a defensive coordinator.
00:08 It's Nick Sorensen. They promoted him from within their staff.
00:12 In addition, they've hired Brandon Staley, the former Chargers head coach,
00:17 presumably to be their assistant head coach.
00:21 Let's talk Sorensen first.
00:23 He seems like a really good coach. He was with the Seahawks for almost a decade as their DB coach,
00:29 so he has pedigree, learning under Pete Carroll.
00:32 Then he went to Jacksonville as a special teams coordinator.
00:34 Then he came to the Niners, and last year he was their pass game coordinator and nickels coach.
00:39 Their pass defense was good. I mean, their pass rush wasn't good, but their coverage was pretty good.
00:49 Diamandor Lenore really flourished as a nickel back for the first time in his career,
00:53 so Sorensen gets credit for that.
00:55 The issue that makes this complicated is Brandon Staley. Why is he here?
01:00 Who hires two defensive coordinators at the same time?
01:03 Right? That's what they did.
01:05 They hired two defensive coordinators, and the question now is, what does Staley do?
01:09 Who has more power? Is Staley here to look over Sorensen's shoulder while Kyle looks over Staley's shoulder?
01:15 You already had a situation with Steve Wilks where he was kind of neutered as a coach.
01:21 Whatever instincts you have, don't follow them. Just do what we want you to do.
01:26 And now you have the next guy in that role who has been on the staff for two years,
01:32 but it seems like, again, are they letting him trust his instincts, or is it do exactly what we say,
01:38 and Brandon Staley's going to monitor you, and Kyle's going to monitor Brandon Staley?
01:43 Seems like maybe this coordinator has even less power than the previous one,
01:47 which the previous one was neutered, as I said.
01:52 Does this move scream confidence to you?
01:55 They could have promoted Nick Sorensen last year instead of Steve Wilks.
01:59 He was on the staff, but they didn't. Okay, fine. Maybe he wasn't ready.
02:02 They could have promoted Nick Sorensen weeks ago. It's been like three weeks since they lost the Super Bowl.
02:08 But they interviewed, or they tried to talk to Spagnuolo, and they may have reached out to Bill Belichick,
02:16 and they interviewed Dave Merritt. It frankly doesn't seem like Nick Sorensen was their first choice.
02:23 Maybe he was, but if he was their first choice, why is Brandon Staley here?
02:29 Seems to me that their first choice was one of these former coaches, former head coaches who's been fired.
02:36 I don't know why they want that. Seem like they wanted someone with a little bit more experience, like Brandon.
02:42 Seems like they wanted Brandon Staley. Let's put it like that. I'm guessing the organization, the front office,
02:48 the head coach wanted Staley. I'm guessing the players freaking don't. I mean, it's Brandon Staley.
02:57 How much confidence does he inspire? He got run out of LA. He was freaking terrible with the Chargers.
03:05 He coached some really good players, Derwin James, Khalil Mack, Joey Bosa.
03:10 I'm thinking the Niners players wanted Sorensen. That's their guy.
03:16 And the Niners front office sort of gave the players what they want.
03:21 All right. We'll promote your guy, but we're also bringing in Brandon Staley, our guy.
03:29 And we won't call him the defensive coordinator, but he's the assistant head coach, presumably.
03:36 Seems pretty important. So he's in the building, but he's not necessarily directing, interacting directly with the players.
03:46 Seems clumsy at best. A little awkward. Still, I like Nick Sorensen.
03:52 It just seems like they're not really setting him up to succeed.
03:55 The question is, will Nick Sorensen be the Niners defensive coordinator a year from now?
04:01 It's fair to wonder and to be skeptical because a year from now, Robert Sala might be available.
04:08 And does kind of seem like the way they made this hire right now, they could pivot again in a year if they want to.
04:15 I mean, they absolutely could. So Nick Sorensen, congratulations on being promoted to the Niners next designated scapegoat and defensive coordinator.
04:26 But you're also the designated scapegoat. I mean, you got Brandon Staley breathing down your neck in case you do something wrong midseason.
04:33 They're going to replace you with Brandon Staley midseason.
04:36 So you better figure out where you're going to stand in the booth.
04:40 I would say not the booth. Probably want to be on the sideline. What could go wrong?
04:46 Good luck, Nick.
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