Tag: Nick Sorensen

49ers defensive coordinator gets vote of confidence from Kyle Shanahan

Robert Saleh back to the 49ers? Don’t bank on it.

An interesting potential wrinkle was thrown into the San Francisco 49ers’ season on Tuesday when news broke that the New York Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh.

Saleh was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator through the 2020 season before the Jets made him their head coach. As the 49ers’ defense has struggled in 2024, there have been some questions about whether new DC Nick Sorensen is up for the task of righting San Francisco’s defensive ship.

Concerns about Sorensen combined with Saleh hitting the free agent market made a potential mid-season reunion between the 49ers and their old DC a popular talking point on social media. Head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked about Sorensen on Tuesday in a press conference and gave the defensive coordinator a strong vote of confidence.

“I think Nick’s doing a real good job,” Shanahan said. “I’ve been impressed with him since the beginning. Each week, I like how he handles the defensive staff. I like how they set up the practices and I’ve liked his game plans and I liked how he’s called it. So I’ve been real happy with Nick so far.”

Defensive end Nick Bosa after the 49ers’ 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals mentioned that he didn’t think the club made the right in-game adjustments. Shanahan also pushed back on that in his Monday conference call, again backing his most recent DC hire.

While there may be some question marks around Sorensen as he wades into deeper waters in his first season as a coordinator, it’s clear the 49ers aren’t ready to make a dramatic change to their coaching staff. Given some of their roster limitations and injuries on the defensive side, it makes sense that Shanahan wouldn’t want to hit the eject button on the DC just yet.

However, if players continue expressing doubts about Sorensen’s management of the game, the 49ers may try turning to a more trusted voice like Saleh’s if they determine a change is necessary.

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How 49ers are preparing for potentially missing Fred Warner in Week 5

Fred Warner has missed the first two days of practice this week..

The San Francisco 49ers in Week 5 may have to do something they’ve only had to do one other time in the last seven seasons: play without linebacker Fred Warner.

Warner injured his ankle late in the first half of the 49ers’ Week 4 win over the New England Patriots. He didn’t return to action in that game, then missed the first two days of practice leading up to a Week 5 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals.

There’s still a chance Warner is able to suit up, but defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen said the team is preparing as though they won’t have their three-time All-Pro roaming the second level.

“Yeah, it’s not really counteract, it’s just next man up,” Sorensen said. “You’ll never fully replace Fred. Not saying we are, it’s just, the next guy’s got to practice and he’s got to operate. We’ve had some injuries. There’s adversity and there’s opportunity. So with that, the next guy gets a chance and they step up and you saw that even losing (DT Javon) Hargrave. We’ve had guys step in and (LB De’Vondre) Campbell play and not having (LB Dre Greenlaw) Law. Like you just asked about Malik Mustapha playing without having (SS Talanoa Hufanga) Huf, Huf’s played one game. So guys get opportunities and we expect them to perform and they expect themselves to, too. So at practice, that’s really where you get those reps and hone your skills. And with Fred and without Fred you’ve got to communicate and guys are doing that.”

It’s unclear exactly how the 49ers will replace Warner if he can’t go.

Campbell may be a factor at the Mike LB spot. LB Dee Winters has also started working in with the starters as a Will LB. He’s a candidate to jump into the lineup even if it is Campbell at MLB. Rookie Tatum Bethune is another option to jump into a starting role. It appears Campbell and Winters would be the two frontrunners to be the three-down players though.

It doesn’t seem likely recently-re-signed second-year LB Jalen Graham will factor in with the starting group, although with veteran Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles dealing with an injury and missing Thursday’s practice, the 49ers may not have a ton of choice with Graham. DaShaun White is the lone practice squad option. He may be elevated for the game, but he won’t likely see the field defensively.

Ideally the 49ers won’t need to rely on their LB depth, but getting by without starters has defined their season on both sides of the ball so far. Sunday they may once again need to lean on their ‘next man up’ mentality.

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How 49ers adjusted defensive scheme after loss of star DL

An interesting defensive adjustment helped the 49ers win on Sunday.

It seemed inevitable the San Francisco 49ers were going to need to try something different schematically given how the first three weeks went.

The 49ers in those games were dreadful on third downs and allowing the third-most yards per play in the NFL. It was a far cry from the dominant efforts we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from San Francisco’s defenses.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated some schematic changes may be necessary, especially once defensive tackle Javon Hargrave went down and dramatically altered the strength of the 49ers’ pass rush on the defensive front.

One of those schematic changes popped up in Sunday’s win over the Patriots when the 49ers started blitzing heavily.

Per ESPN Research, the 49ers blitzed on only 14 percent of opposing quarterback dropbacks through the first three weeks. That number skyrocketed to 33 percent against the Patriots and quarterback Jacoby Brissett on Sunday.

In an ideal world the 49ers won’t need to throw as many blitzes at a QB to get pressure on them. However, the NFL is about adapting and San Francisco’s personnel dictates something has to be done differently with its defense.

Perhaps the blitzing sticks and they become a more blitz-heavy team. Perhaps they do something a little different each week where we see new wrinkles to the way they attack opposing offenses.

Whatever they did Sunday worked like a charm, though. The Patriots went at a paltry 3.5 yards per play and their lone touchdown came off a 49ers fumble that placed them at San Francisco’s 27 to start the drive.

So far, so good on the schematic adjustments on defense. Now they need to find the right button to push against a much better Arizona Cardinals offense in Week 5.

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Kyle Shanahan hints at potential schematic shakeup for 49ers defense

Could the 49ers’ personnel force them to make big-time schematic changes on defense?

There may be significant change coming for the San Francisco 49ers’ struggling defense.

Since Week 2 we’ve seen the 49ers mix up their personnel to try and help that unit. Rookie defensive backs Malik Mustapha and Renardo Green have gotten some run. Second-year linebacker Dee Winters saw time in De’Vondre Campbell’s Will LB spot in Week 3 before exiting with an ankle injury.

Now a bigger alteration could be on the horizon following defensive tackle Javon Hargrave’s injury. His absence leaves a sizable hole in an already thin defensive line, and the 49ers may not have the personnel to make up for his absence in the current iteration of their defense.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday in a press conference indicated Hargrave’s season-ending triceps tear may act as a catalyst for some scheme changes.

“I thought our D-Line last week affected the quarterback the most that they had in their three games,” Shanahan said. “I thought that they had one of their better games. But it’s a huge loss, losing Javon. Guys are going to have to step it up and when you don’t have the rush, then you’ve got to turn to other things schematically.”

The number of players the 49ers can realistically rely on to ‘step up’ in Hargrave’s absence is small. Defensive end Nick Bosa will need to look more like a Defensive Player of the Year. DE Leonard Floyd will need to look more like he has the past four seasons. The entire defensive tackle rotation will need to be better. It’s going to be a group effort, but it’s hard to imagine the 49ers are going to affect the quarterback at the rate their current scheme requires.

Perhaps the club experiments some with a 3-4 defensive front. That’s something assistant head coach Brandon Staley has done during his career as a defensive coordinator and head coach.

They may have to alter things in the secondary as well changing when and how much they run zone coverages vs. man coverages.

Whatever it winds up being, all the possibilities have to be on the table for the 49ers. They weren’t playing championship-level defense to start the year even with Hargrave in the mix. Now they have to figure out how to do it without him, and that just might require San Francisco to make big changes in how its defense operates.

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49ers depth chart: DC reveals who 3rd starting cornerback will be

We know now who the 49ers’ 3 starting CBs will be.

The nickel cornerback spot was one of the few starting lineup questions for the San Francisco 49ers heading into training camp.

Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir were both locked in as starters, but the nickel CB job was up for grabs with a handful of contenders. As camp and the preseason churned on, veteran Isaac Yiadom and rookie second-round pick Renardo Green emerged as the top options to earn starting jobs.

Defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen told reporters after Friday’s practice the club has an answer at that spot. Rather than playing coy, Sorensen divulged the 49ers would lean toward the veteran as the third CB.

“Well how we’ve been going has been how it started out, with Ike (Yiadom) and DMo (Lenoir) and Mooney (Ward),” Sorensen said. “And then we’ve been rotating guys through and getting a lot of reps with them as well. But that’s how it’s going right now. And Renardo (Green) rotating in.”

Lenoir and Ward figure to be the two outside corners in the 49ers’ base defense. In the more commonly-used nickel packages, Yiadom will take over an outside spot while Lenoir kicks inside to the slot.

Green worked primarily in the slot during his first training camp. If he rotates in it would likely be in the slot with Lenoir staying outside.

This is in line with how the 49ers approached the third CB job last year. They didn’t have a rookie, but they had veterans Ambry Thomas and Isaiah Oliver.

Thomas would play outside in nickel with Lenoir in the slot. If Oliver was in, he’d play in the slot with Lenoir outside.

Nickel CB was a pretty significant problem for the 49ers last season. Ward and Lenoir were both very good, but their third CB spot was up-and-down all year.

This season they have some options again, but they’ll lean on Yiadom who is coming off his best season as a pro. If he picks up where he left off with the Saints last season and Lenoir continues his ascension toward being a Pro Bowl caliber slot CB, the 49ers will have solved a significant issue in their secondary.

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49ers defensive coordinator drops hint on how 53-man roster will go

Expect the 49ers to lean toward younger players when making their final roster cuts.

The San Francisco 49ers won’t have to make any final roster cuts until after their preseason finale against the Las Vegas Raiders.

This year is unique for the 49ers since they have a slew of roster spots that are yet to be spoken for. That’s particularly true on the defensive side of the ball where a couple of starting jobs are among the stack of available roster spots.

Defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen on Wednesday in his press conference actually offered some insight into his thinking on the 53-man roster.

New practice squad rules allow teams to keep veterans around on an expanded 15-man unit. Sorensen said the new rules push teams to favor younger players over veterans when it comes to final cuts.

“Oh, it makes a huge difference,” Sorensen said. “It wasn’t too long ago you only had five practice squad players and there were so many limitations on that. The standard elevations now that you can do with players and how many times you can do it, I think it’s smart because back in the day or even in those days not too long ago, you would play through injuries. You wouldn’t report them or you would just play through them. Where now it’s you can be smarter because you can standard elevate guys. You’ve got guys that are in your program that you’re developing, the 16 and six of them are veterans, which I think also extends the careers of these guys that all feel like you could play longer if you just had a chance that you could hang around.”

This is noteworthy at a handful of positions. At linebacker a player like Curtis Robinson may now fall into a bucket where he’s let go at final cuts in hopes of returning him to the practice squad. Cornerback Rock Ya-Sin may have the same fate. The same may go on the other side of the ball for offensive linemen Chris Hubbard and Brandon Parker. Wide receivers Chris Conley and Trent Taylor may fall into that mix as well.

San Francisco may decide to roster some of those veterans, but Sorensen gave some clarity on how the 49ers defense could ultimately shake out at those hotly-contested positions. That philosophy may permeate to the other side of the ball as well.

Don’t be shocked if at final cuts some capable veterans are let go in favor of younger players. The practice squad provides an opening for those vets to return, and the 49ers appear ready to take full advantage of that.

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How veteran CB Isaac Yiadom made strong impression with 49ers DC Nick Sorensen

Isaac Yiadom made an impression on the #49ers by doing something DC Nick Sorensen had never seen immediately after signing.

It didn’t take long for veteran cornerback Isaac Yiadom to raise eyebrows in the 49ers’ facility. In fact, it took about as little time as it can possibly take.

Defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen spoke with media following Wednesday’s practice and talked about how Yiadom made an immediate impression with the 49ers by getting a workout in right after signing his contract.

“I think with Ike, he came into the league and he kind of bounced around for a while. But everything we had heard about him and you see is what he’s been when he got here,” Sorensen said. “He’s kind of self-made, like he works. He’s very serious. I think when he came to sign, he actually like went and got a workout after he signed. I’ve never seen that, but that’s him. I think that’s what’s kind of shown up with who he is and he’s very meticulous and the stuff that showed up later in the year with him and how he competed against a lot of really good receivers. I think it’s been awesome that we’re seeing that now too.”

While the hard-nosed work ethic caught the eye of the 49ers new DC, it wasn’t going to be enough to earn him a roster spot. However, he’s continued making his mark throughout his time with the club.

“He’s very technical. He’s very strong,” Sorensen said. “I think he’s a guy that’s also, like we talk about Mooney being strong and a tackler, he’s got that in his history as well. He’s a tough guy. He’s physical. He plays with his hands. He’s violent. He communicates. He sees things before they happen and that stuff has shown up.”

Yiadom was a largely unheralded signing by the 49ers late in free agency. His contributions as a pro have largely come on special teams, but he’s coming off his best defensive season which provides some optimism that he may have reached a point in his career where he can be a starting CB on a good defense. He’s also a high-quality special teams player.

It looks like Yiadom has an inside track to a roster spot in a crowded CB room. If he keeps making good impressions though he could wind up earning a starting spot.

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Fred Warner on what he loves about 49ers new DC Nick Sorensen

Fred Warner is a big fan of new 49ers DC Nick Sorensen.

There’s been an incredibly high standard set for the 49ers’ defense since they first made a deep playoff run in 2019. From that 2019 season on they’ve regularly been one of the league’s best units. Last season they slipped some and the club moved on from defensive coordinator Steve Wilks in the offseason.

Instead of hiring an external candidate to replace him, the club went with Nick Sorensen, who’d been on San Francisco’s staff since 2022 as a defensive assistant and defensive passing game specialist. While Sorensen wasn’t the hottest name on the market, his hire was one 49ers linebacker and defensive leader Fred Warner liked.

Warner joined the Candlestick Chronicles podcast on behalf of health technology leader, Abbott, and their ‘Beat Malnutrition’ campaign with Real Madrid, and explained what adjustments he’d have to make with a new DC at the helm.

“For me specifically I do have the green dot so I’m the one that’s hearing that communication with the defensive coordinator,” Warner said. “That does take time to develop that connection and I know it’s gonna be seamless with Nick. I think having him around the building these last couple years has been awesome.”

Having that established relationship with the team’s defensive signal caller should be helpful for Sorensen who is stepping into a role that experienced some turbulence last season. Getting on the same page not only with head coach Kyle Shanahan, but also with Warner and the 49ers’ defensive personnel is paramount to Sorensen’s success.

While Warner will still have to build that in-game relationship with the DC, he gave plenty of reasons why he believes Sorensen was the right hire.

“I love Nick, I love what he’s about,” Warner told Candlestick Chronicles. “Love the fact that he’s played the game for a long time,  understands ball, is a great leader, and understands that we haven’t played our best defense as of late and that we need to return to that. And so it’s been crystal clear what the standard is moving forward, and yeah, I’m really excited about it. I think it’ll be a great hire and move going forward.”

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DC Nick Sorensen explains Brandon Staley’s role on coaching staff

49ers DC Nick Sorensen has enjoyed having Brandon Staley on the coaching staff. But what is Staley’s role going to be?

The 49ers interviewed former Chargers head coach Brandon Staley for their defensive coordinator opening this offseason. They hired Staley, but not for the DC job. That went to 49ers defensive pass game specialist Nick Sorensen.

Sorensen is a first-time coordinator while Staley earned a head coaching job because of his time as a defensive coordinator with the Rams. The hires led to some questions about how Staley will fit in a coaching staff that already has a defensive coordinator, but Sorensen on Friday in his first press conference explained what Staley will bring to San Francisco’s defense.

“He has experience as a coordinator, he has experience as a head coach, so he sees things holistically,” Sorensen told reporters. “He knows how to build plans. Just getting him in here and spending extra hours just talking football with him, he’s very bright and is really a humble guy who is smart and knows football. That’s been really awesome and helpful for me.”

The 49ers’ DC went on to explain what Staley’s role would be.

“He’s been helping me overall,” Sorensen said. “He’s been involved with pretty much everything, as far as, ‘here is where we did this’ and I’ve been kind of talking him through how we play certain things, watching things throughout the League and what other teams do. Some of the things that he did, asking would this fit or would it not fit in our defense? And some things I was already familiar with from just watching different defenses.

“You naturally see other defenses do things. He’s been more connected with the DBs and the nickels, but he also has experience elsewhere with defensive ends and outside linebackers. But with the staff that we have, I think for me it’s going to be really helpful that he’s done it before and he’s had success and he’s been a head coach as well. So, like I said, it’s been great.”

One of the reasons the 49ers moved on from DC Steve Wilks after last season was because he never quite got on the same page with his defensive personnel and what the team wanted to do on that side of the ball. Hiring an internal candidate made sense given those issues, but bringing in Staley added a potential variable that could cause an issue.

It sounds like the early portion of Sorensen’s move to defensive coordinator has been aided by having Staley around though. Having that many good defensive minds in the building will ultimately benefit the 49ers as long as the Sorensen-Staley relationship remains as good as it has started.

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Seahawks great KJ Wright says he’s joining 49ers coaching staff

Wright will also get to work with one of the best linebacker groups in football.

Former Seahawks linebacker KJ Wright says he’s joining the 49ers coaching staff as an assistant linebackers coach.

Wright broke the news himself in his most recent podcast, which came out this morning.

Wright will be working under Nick Sorensen, who has replaced Steve Wilks as San Francisco’s defensive coordinator.

Sorensen previously worked with the Seahawks in a variety of roles from 2013-2020, including as their secondary coach for four years. This past season he served as the Niners’ defensive pass game specialist and nickels coach.

Wright will also get to work with one of the best linebacker groups in football. The combination of Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw is as tough as they come at the inside linebacker spots.

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