The Cons of the What the 49ers Have Done to Their Coaching Staff
Analyzing the cons of what the San Francisco 49ers have done to their coaching staff this offseason.
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00:00 One potential downside, the new defensive coordinator is Sorensen, who's been on the staff.
00:07 Maybe he's not good at it. We don't know. He was on the staff last year and they went for Steve
00:16 Wilkes instead of him. So clearly they weren't all on him last season. In addition, they brought in
00:25 Brandon Staley, who got fired at the head coach at the Chargers and deserved it. It seems like
00:34 to help him or like a two-headed defensive coordinator, something like that, which is
00:40 a little amorphous. But if they were all in on Sorensen, I don't know that they would have brought
00:48 in this other guy. And I don't know how good the other guy is. He got fired after he gave up a
00:53 million. What was it? Sixty something for the Raiders. Sixty three. He got fired in season.
00:59 So it's possible. I'm not saying I know, but it's possible they're not very good. You go, Iggy.
01:06 Well, I don't understand about the move, I guess, or it could work out. But now they're sort of
01:11 telling us that Nick Sorensen is going to be a better play caller than Steve Wilkes and that
01:16 just Nick Sorensen needs just a right-hand man to sort of, you know, throw, bounce ideas off.
01:23 Okay. Well, you could have made that switch with Steve Wilkes last year. I mean, the Niners seemed
01:27 pretty down on Wilkes throughout the season. It was clear that they were going to scapegoat him
01:32 if something went wrong at the bye week. They made him change spots where he called plays.
01:37 Why didn't you just make Sorensen the play caller then and say, Wilkes, you're no longer going to
01:42 call plays. You can, we can still call you the defensive coordinator, but your job now is to be
01:47 a soundboard and is to help Nick because we think Nick's better than you. I don't understand that.
01:52 Why did it just happen now? It could have done it at any time. I see what you mean. The timing is
01:59 odd. I'll tell you another potential downside to this. Again, it's unclear what Staley's role is,
02:09 but Iggy, you know, players and I do, they're going to be looking at the defensive players,
02:16 Red Warner, Bosa, who has the power, who has the power on defense. And this is not something that
02:24 can be legislated by the organization. Either Staley or Sorensen is going to have the power
02:31 and someone is going to have to assert himself and the players are going to have to believe in him.
02:36 So this is yet to be determined. And as you know, if they're in a game or if they're in a team
02:44 meeting and Staley, who was theoretically not the defensive coordinator shows up Sorensen,
02:54 that's it for that defensive squad. They'll be lost and they'll be angry. So Staley has to be
03:03 very careful that he only talks privately to Sorensen. Can't do it in front of the team.
03:11 Because right now you could, you could paint Staley as a guy who's doesn't have much authority,
03:18 just an idea guy. But as soon as he overrules or contradicts or corrects Nick Sorensen in front
03:25 of players, now he's the boss, whether he is or isn't. That's right. Can't do it. He just took
03:31 the defense. He just took ownership of the defense in front of everyone. That's right. And it's an
03:35 explosive situation, something like that. It's explosive. And it could lead to chaos on the
03:43 defense. And you don't want that on a very good defense. So these are possible downsides.
03:49 One more thing. So you elevate Nick Sorensen because he knows the defense great. You bring
03:54 in Brandon Staley, he runs a whole different scheme. So Staley can help Sorensen maybe with
03:59 game planning, talking about other teams and what to look for and adjustments and stuff.
04:04 But when it comes to running this scheme, there's nothing Staley can tell him just like there was
04:09 nothing Wilkes could tell Nick Sorensen. Like he's on his own on that one. This is just another
04:14 outsider. Just another outsider. Okay. Yeah. Who was a head coach who got fired? Like Wilkes?
04:21 Who was, you know, it's funny. I think of Staley on the sideline, Iggy, when this,
04:26 when he wasn't doing well, he looked so bewildered. Didn't he? Or am I reading into him?
04:31 Completely bewildered. Completely bewildered. And part of me wonders if the Niners, I mean,
04:36 Kyle doesn't really care about, well, he wanted Staley. If Staley didn't have such a bad reputation,
04:42 would he be the defensive coordinator right now? Or are they sneaking him in the building because
04:45 everyone would be down on him? Yeah. You know what I mean? He's sneaking him in. I know.
04:51 And another thing that you and I have talked about is the last two, I'm for the moment going to call
05:00 Staley, the defensive coordinator. I know Sorensen technically is. I'm going to call him.
05:06 The last two defensive coordinators the Niners have brought in have been failed head coaches.
05:11 Right. Salah and Ryan's weren't. They were up and coming, really bright guys. And these two guys
05:19 on the decline. Guys who failed. D'Amico and Salah had not failed. No, they were great. And they were
05:27 energetic and they were young. And that idea is these guys, it's like they're out in the ocean
05:32 and they grab onto a log. Save me. Save me. Yeah. The Niners just gave Brandon Staley a life vest.
05:40 Exactly. Absolutely. Otherwise he would have been doing nothing this year.