The 49ers have hired Nick Sorensen as their new defensive coordinator, while Brandon Staley is the team’s newest coaching staff.
ESPN reports that the 49ers have given Staley a job on the defensive staff and promoted Sorensen to coordinator.
For the past two years, Sorensen has worked as an assistant in San Francisco. He was the nickels coach and defensive pass game coordinator the previous season. He is being elevated to defensive coordinator in place of Steve Wilks, who was let go following the 49ers’ Super Bowl defeat.
For the first time, Sorensen is taking on the role of defensive coordinator. He was previously the defensive backs coach in Seattle and the coordinator of special teams in Jacksonville. He also spent ten years as an NFL defensive back, playing with the Dolphins, Rams, Jaguars and Browns.
Staley was fired as head coach of the Chargers in 2023, after two and a half seasons on the job. He has previously been a defensive coordinator for one season, with the Rams in 2020.
Lynch left Santa Clara to participate in a few interviews before traveling to Indianapolis this week for the NFL Scouting Combine. He laid out the expectations for the 49ers’ new defensive coordinator.
“We like who we are, what we do as a defense,” Lynch said. “I don’t think we want to have some wholesale departure from that. We like the style that we play, a four-down front that attacks.
“Having said that, I think you always have to evolve and you look at an opportunity like this to look into the different ways that we can evolve. Oftentimes, a lot of these ideas come up in these interviews.”