Will Brandon Staley Undermine 49ers DC Nick Sorensen?
Analyzing whether Brandon Staley will undermine San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen.
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00:00 Let's talk about how this could possibly go wrong.
00:02 Everything's hunky-dory with this setup.
00:05 The guy the players want, the message they want to hear, the voice they want to hear, and
00:11 the shadow coach behind him making sure everything's going okay, helping him adjust and game plan and all that.
00:17 That's great.
00:17 But if Brandon Staley ever undermines Nick Sorensen's authority in any way in front of the players,
00:27 this is doomed.
00:30 Think about it.
00:30 Let's say they're both on the sideline.
00:32 Nick Sorensen calls something.
00:35 Brandon Staley says, "Nah, nah, nah."
00:36 I mean, that's the kind of thing Kyle Shanahan does.
00:39 If he ever overrules them in a meeting, on the sideline, in a game, in a practice, and just makes it clear to Fred Warner and Nick Bosa that
00:47 Staley has the final say, "No, we're doing it this way," because he has a lot more experience than Nick Sorensen,
00:51 then Nick Sorensen is done.
00:54 And you could argue that these players aren't stupid, and they see this setup, and they're wondering,
01:00 "Who runs this defense?
01:01 If I get benched, am I going to talk to Nick or Brandon or Kyle?
01:07 Who has the final say here?"
01:10 And it needs to be Nick Sorensen.
01:12 So, Kyle's job and Brandon's job, well, Kyle's job is to make sure Brandon never steps on Nick.
01:20 Otherwise, there's just no point in even trying to do this.
01:23 Nick Sorensen, I mean, Brandon Staley doesn't exist.
01:27 No contact with the players, in the booth, doesn't talk to the media.
01:30 Shadow coach.
01:33 Got to empower Nick Sorensen or else he's going to get fired in a year, and they're going to end up promoting Brandon Staley anyway, or getting someone else.
01:43 And the problem is the Niners are...
01:46 Knowing Kyle, I have a feeling that Brandon Staley is already undermining Nick Sorensen's authority.
01:55 I mean...
01:56 Just feels like you have... You hired a coach who wasn't really ready for the job, and now you have a guy, like, breathing down his neck, and you have Kyle breathing down that guy's neck.
02:11 That's not a... That's uncomfortable.
02:15 So, I want to be positive about this. My first reaction was, "I don't like this at all."
02:20 You hire two defensive coordinators, but I'm trying to see it from the Niners' perspective.
02:23 He's hanging around, Brandon Staley. He's cheap. They don't have to pay him.
02:26 They could stick him up in the booth and have someone pretty smart...
02:29 Up there. I mean, he's got to be better than whatever the Niners had in the booth after Wilks came down last year, right?
02:37 So, as long as they can all work together and not step on Nick Sorensen, it could work.
02:43 It could work. I mean, it'd be interesting. I haven't had the time, but what did...
02:47 How did Brandon Staley do against the Chiefs the last three years?
02:51 Four years.
02:53 I'm guessing he had some pretty good games against them. Guessing. Don't know.
02:56 Because that's what the Niners are all focused on right now. How do we take down Kansas City?
03:01 [Music]