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Brandon Staley Discusses His Role on the 49ers Coaching Staff

"It will be kind of a combination of all my roles in the NFL."

Grant Cohn

Nov 6, 2023; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley looks on against the New York Jets during a football game at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 6, 2023; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley looks on against the New York Jets during a football game at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
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SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers hired Brandon Staley this offseason and recently revealed his official title: assistant head coach/defense. Which is kind of vague.

So this week, Staley was asked to explain his role on the coaching staff. Here's what he said.

Q: What will your role be on this coaching staff?

STALEY: "We'll work through all the seasonal rhythm stuff, but I think I'm going to be here from Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, whatever they need me to do. It will be kind of a combination of all my roles in the NFL, but I'm going to be working primarily on defense. I'll be with a lot of the different position groups, mostly in the secondary. And then working with Kyle closely on a lot of other things."

Q: How much have you been able to talk to Kyle Shanahan about personnel and scheme?

STALEY: "That has been the aspect of the job that I have enjoyed the most -- teaming up with Kyle and John and doing what's going to be best for the Niners, and that encompasses a lot of different things. "

Q: Did you have to have a conversation with Nick Sorensen and tell him you understand that he's the defensive coordinator?

STALEY: "No, I don't think so. That has been defined by Kyle and John. What it's really about is putting a group together that is committed to the Niners. That's certainly what I'm committed to -- helping this team in whatever way Kyle and John see best. And Nick has been fantastic. And we have a great group of guys on this coaching staff."

Q: I imagine you'll be on the booth because Nick will be on the field?

STALEY: "I don't know that. I think we'll take the next couple months, training camp -- we've got a lot of time to make those decisions."

Q: You were on the field when you were a DC, weren't you?

STALEY: "I was."

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Grant Cohn

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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