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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