Have the 49ers Improved Their Defensive Coaching Staff?

This offseason, the 49ers have fired Steve Wilks, promoted Nick Sorensen to defensive coordinator, hired Brandon Staley to help him and also hired former Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright as a defensive quality control assistant.

Has the defensive coaching staff improved?

Clearly, the 49ers don't think Sorensen on his own is better than Wilks right now. Otherwise, they wouldn't have hired Staley. Remember, the 49ers had Sorensen last year and hired Wilks anyway, presumably because they thought Sorensen wasn't as good or wasn't ready. When the 49ers lost three games in a row last season and moved Wilks from the coach's booth from the sideline, they could have fired him right then during the bye week and promoted Sorensen if they thought he'd be a better play caller, but they didn't.

Sorensen never has called plays in his life. And K.J. Wright has never been a coach before. So the big addition to this staff is Staley, who had one good season as a defensive coordinator in 2020 with the Rams. The past three seasons when he was the head coach of the Chargers, his defenses were not good.

So no, the defensive coaching staff hasn't improved on paper. It's possible it could exceed expectations and Sorensen could be an excellent play caller and the 49ers should have promoted him sooner. We'll see.

But this Sorensen-Staley arranged marriage feels like a one-year experiment until the Jets potentially fire Robert Saleh. Because if Saleh becomes available next year, I'm guessing the 49ers would move heaven and earth to bring him back.