The Pros of What the 49ers Have Done to Their Coaching Staff
Analyzing the pros of what the San Francisco 49ers have done to their coaching staff this offseason.
Transcript
00:00 What are the pros of what the Niners have done to their coaching staff this offseason?
00:02 Okay, a quick background on me. A lot of you know, I went to Stanford a long time ago. I did
00:09 a master's and a PhD in English literature. And Joseph Conrad, I wrote on Joseph Conrad,
00:17 and I can't read him anymore. The guy who directed my dissertation was a genius.
00:22 Ian Watt.
00:24 Ian Watt. He was a genius and the best Conrad scholar in the world.
00:28 And when I was writing my dissertation, which he didn't really like very much,
00:31 and he had every reason not to, he would say that one of the things a writer, a critic needs
00:39 is reality testing. That was his phrase, reality testing. Like, "Lol, you have an idea,
00:45 now it's on paper. What do I, what do I, Ian, think of it?" And either he would like it,
00:50 which was often not the case, or he liked it. But it had to be tested by another person.
00:57 Okay. Well, I think the Niners have done that. And I like it. Here you have Sorensen,
01:04 who's getting his feet wet, just learning, has ideas. But some of them may be
01:10 not fully formed, beginner ideas. He needs reality testing. And here you have a veteran
01:20 who has been a head coach, who apparently is very good at defense, who can say, "You know,
01:25 that's a really good idea. Or, you know, I don't like this for this reason, but what about this?"
01:30 And so it gives Sorensen the right kind of reality testing that you would want in a football
01:39 organization. And I applaud the Niners for that. Absolutely. Another thing is like the whole
01:46 bringing in an outsider to run in defense in a scheme that's not his, that was such a bad idea.
01:52 You set up Steve Wilks for failure. And even though he only gave up 17.5 points per game,
01:56 that defense still seemed like it underperformed. And they didn't really buy into what he was doing.
02:01 Now you have a guy who's been here. He was coached under D'Amico Ryan's. He knows the system.
02:06 Seems like you corrected that issue. And the only issue with Sorensen is that he's never called
02:10 plays before. But like you said, better to have an up and coming coach who hasn't been a head
02:15 coach failure than a guy with a bunch of excuses. I mean, a bunch of experience who's on the downside
02:19 of his career. So all that's good. But still there's a reason they didn't promote him last
02:24 year. And there's a reason they brought in Staley. There's a little bit of inexperience.
02:27 He hasn't really game planned against all the teams in the league. And that's why Staley's here.
02:32 Staley can help them do that stuff. Staley has game planned against, let's be real specific.
02:36 The Niners feel like they're the best or the second best team in the league and the Chiefs
02:41 are in their way. They've never beaten Mahomes. So they have to have some type of answer for that.
02:45 And I don't know if Brandon Staley is the answer, but he has faced him a lot.
02:49 He was a head coach in that division and he probably has a whole lot more to say
02:53 about defending the Chiefs offense than Sorensen does. So that makes sense.
02:58 Okay. I agree. And I'll go a little further and say, one, you mentioned Sorensen knows the system.
03:07 So it's not like poor Steve Wilks had to come in and relearn the grammar of the system.
03:12 Right. In addition, the players know him and Iggy, I'm telling you, I'm not in that organization,
03:20 but I would think the coaching staff, IE Kyle, went to the leaders of the defense, Warner, Bosa.
03:28 With thinking of promoting Sorensen, what do you feel about it?
03:32 I mean, wouldn't you think that's what you call doing due diligence?
03:37 Especially considering it seems like they didn't do that with Steve Wilks and they didn't,
03:41 and the players didn't buy in. You don't want to make the mistake again.
03:43 Right. So I'm thinking again, as a complete outsider now that he got the vote of confidence
03:51 from key players on the defense and they were able to go ahead with that. I'll play for him.
03:57 We respect him. He knows our system. I think inevitably that had to happen. And it's a very
04:05 good thing as opposed to Steve, poor Steve, they never bought into him ever.
04:10 And so that would be a big, big, big, I wonder if the Niners went up to the leaders of the defense
04:16 and asked about Staley as well. How would you feel about playing for Brandon Staley as a defensive
04:19 coordinator? And we know Nick Bosa's brother, Joey played for Brandon Staley for three years
04:24 and on the charters, maybe Nick had very definite opinions. It'd be interesting to know if they had
04:29 that conversation and if they did, that's a good thing. Yeah, you'll never find out, but not only
04:35 is it a good thing, it's necessary. Yes. You like giving the players what they want, but not a
04:41 hundred percent. Like, okay, you want someone that you know, you want someone that you like. Great.
04:46 But we still have our preference too. So we're going to sneak Brandon Staley in the back door
04:50 and he's going to be working with us and you don't have to worry about him. You won't have
04:53 any interaction with Brandon Staley, but he's going to be here. Absolutely. Iggy. And another
05:00 thing about Sorensen, he might be really good. Yes. We don't know about him. He could be another
05:06 Ryan's or Sala. No question. I mean, aside from the fact that we don't know about him, he could be,
05:12 excuse me, really good. The only difference between those guys, that's a great point.
05:18 Because when Sala and Ryan's were named defensive coordinator, both times I said, really,
05:23 there's no excuse. How do you know these guys are going to be good? The only difference is
05:27 in each case, the Niners were, had no hesitation hiring those guys. Sala, they got him real quick.
05:33 And then when he left, they promoted D'Amico Ryan's like right away with Sorensen. It seems like there
05:39 was a little hesitation and I don't know why. I mean, they know Sorensen a whole, I don't really
05:43 know him. They know him. So why, why, why did he need Staley? I mean, I can kind of get it, but
05:51 if you needed a sort of tandem, was there someone better who was just one guy like Dave Merritt,
05:57 the guy who was working under Steve Spagnuolo, who really had some, uh, candid things to say
06:03 about the 49. He was just making fun of the 49ers. That guy, I'm kind of interested in a coach like
06:09 that, but you brought in a tandem to sort of fill in each other's gaps, which could work.
06:14 It's a little outside the box, but I would have just gotten Merritt. I don't know.
06:19 Oh no, you couldn't get him. He has such contempt. He didn't have contempt for the 49ers. He had
06:24 contempt for Kyle. He was laughing at Kyle. You can't bring it would, it would the Trojan horse.
06:30 I mean, you couldn't bring them in. Maybe he talks, he couldn't do that. No, what I want to
06:35 say is, and here's as of today, which is the 5th of March. Um, I like what they did. So I'm ending
06:46 with the pros. It's unusual. It's creative. It's different. God knows how it'll work out. We'll
06:54 find out beginning in September, but I am actually feel kind of interested and positive about this.
07:02 Me too. Dad, Dave Merritt, he, you watched his clip that was after he was after his interview
07:10 with the 49ers for their defensive coordinator spot. Do you think he said that to their faces?
07:16 Yes, I think he did too. Do you think he took it? Like, he's like, okay, I'm not going to get this
07:22 job. It's not a real interview. I'm going to go and tell him what I really think of them on behalf
07:25 of Steve. No, I, uh, well on behalf of Steve, I think there was a certain solidarity there. Yes.
07:31 Black coach to black coach. Absolutely. But I think I, I know football coaches and I think
07:38 and I think his attitude was take it or leave it. This is how I feel. And if you guys have guts,
07:46 you'll be interested. That's how I think he was. It makes me that's why that's, I would have hired
07:51 that guy. I don't, you talk to me like that. I love you. That's amazing. You don't, you're just
07:57 trying to tell me what I want to hear. Oh, well, but what they did it their way. And it's very
08:03 creative.