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49ers HC Kyle Shanahan Says Brandon Staley is Doing a Good Job

The 49ers defense has been a disaster since they fired Steve Wilks.
Grant Cohn|
Nov 12, 2023; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley gestures during the first half against the Detroit Lions at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images
Nov 12, 2023; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley gestures during the first half against the Detroit Lions at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images | Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers defense has been a disaster since they fired Steve Wilks.

Under Wilks, they gave up just 17.5 points per game -- third fewest in the NFL. That wasn't good enough, apparently. So they fired him, promoted Nick Sorensen to defensive coordinator and hired Brandon Staley to help him.

Technically, Staley is the 49ers' assistant head coach. Realistically, he's here to hold Sorensen's hand. Sorensen never has been a defensive coordinator before this season. He was the Jaguars special teams coordinator in 2021 -- that's his only coordinator experience.

Meanwhile, Staley was the defensive coordinator for the Rams in 2020 and the head coach of the Chargers from 2021 to 2023. So he has experience.

But Staley's experience hasn't seemed to help Sorensen or the 49ers this season. Through 13 weeks, they have given up 24.6 points per game -- ninth most in the NFL.

This week, Shanahan was asked about Staley's contribution to the 49ers' down season. Here's what Shanahan said, courtesy of the 49ers p.r. department.

Q: What was assistant head coach/defense Brandon Staley's role this season? How has that developed and have you been happy with what he's added?

SHANAHAN: “Yeah, I think Brandon's done a real good job. He helps us out in all types of areas, works with the nickels probably the most. Real good at helping [defensive coordinator] Nick [Sorensen] with the game plan and stuff like that. Does our ball meeting.”

Q: Has he helped develop elements of the defense or has it still been mostly the stuff that you've been doing?

SHANAHAN: “I think we have different wrinkles and stuff each year. I wouldn’t say that's just Nick. That's stuff we do as a group, but Nick's been a part of that group.”

MY TAKE: The 49ers will fire both Sorensen, Staley and defensive line coach Kris Kocurek at the end of the season, hire a new defensive coordinator and let him drastically change the 49ers' defensive scheme. No more Wide 9.

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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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