New defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen’s mission is to return San Francisco to the defensive front lines in the NFL
SANTA CLARA — New San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen will have plenty of questions to answer in 2024, but there’s one issue that won’t be hanging over his head: where he’ll be calling plays from on game days.
After a 2023 campaign in which former coordinator Steve Wilks experienced major drama in the box before going down to the sidelines, Sorensen made it clear in his first media availability session that he will begin his defensive command of the Niners from field level.
“I was a player, and it feels good to be on the field and I want to look the players in the eyes and talk to them,” Sorensen offered. “I feel like that will be the right thing to do.”
For the 49ers, many of the problems on defense centered not so much on the type of coverage, but on the way in which they were being used. Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images
For Sorensen to prove that head coach Kyle Shanahan’s decision to fire Wilks after one season and promote Sorensen from the passing game specialist position was the right thing to do, the assistant must lead a return to absolute dominance for a defense that gave a step backwards last year.
Under DeMeco Ryans in 2022, the Niners led the NFL in fewer points allowed per game (16.3) and expected defensive points added (89.58), among other key categories. Although the 2023 team finished third in points allowed (17.5), it ranked ninth in defensive EPA (41.48) and consistently struggled against the run, especially in the playoffs. The EPA of San Francisco’s run defense fell from 40.96 in 2022 to 9.09.
In three postseason games, the 49ers gave up 5.1 yards per carry and 149.3 rushing yards per game to the Packers, Lions and Chiefs.
That contributed to Shanahan’s belief that the Niners needed to return to their roots with a coordinator already familiar with the scheme. Having been in the San Francisco assistant group since 2022 and having eight years of experience working under Pete Carroll with the Seahawks Before that, Sorensen has a long history of the principles that made the Niners’ defense one of the best under previous coordinators Robert Saleh and Ryans.
“I thought he was close to being ready last year, and he’s even better prepared now,” Shanahan said of Sorensen. “Having him in our building this last couple of years, really getting to work with DeMeco quite a bit during his first year and working with Steve last season, it really prepared him for this. He has been in this scheme; “He’s been through this couple of seasons and I just love where he’s at, from a football mind’s standpoint.”
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Having a coordinator already in the building was a priority for Shanahan after Wilks went through a difficult adjustment period last year. As Shanahan’s first outside hire for the job, Wilks acknowledged during the season that he was still learning what the coach wanted from the defense.
Specifically, Shanahan wanted a coordinator who could better link the defensive front to the secondary. Unlike Saleh and Ryans, who had experience coaching linebackers, Wilks’ specialty was more focused on the secondary.
Sorensen played safety for 10 seasons in the NFLworked as a high school coach for the Seahawks and coached the slot cornerbacks for the Niners. But, he has also been a special teams coordinator and was in charge of running the weekly “ball” meeting in San Francisco, where his job was to preach the importance of taking care of the ball on offense and stealing it on defense.
Leading those meetings gave Sorensen an opportunity to get in front of the entire team, which has been his biggest adjustment since taking on the title of defensive coordinator.
“To me, it’s just that you’re in charge now,” Sorensen said. “You have to plan your days differently. You have to plan for the rest of the group… In general, you are no longer just a position.”
Although Sorensen’s promotion has changed his day-to-day routine, his overall mission is not that complicated. He is tasked with getting the Niners back to basics. He says the goal is to help them get back to being “a strike-first, play-fast defense.”
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When asked about the issues facing the race in 2023, Sorensen declined to provide details, noting that the issues have been identified and noting they would be corrected. The other big task for Sorensen will be helping the 49ers get back to how they detail and play coverage.
In 2023, they played man coverage on 33.6 percent of defensive snaps, the lowest rate since Shanahan took over in 2017. Conversely, they played zone on 66.4 percent of defensive snaps, the lowest rate. high of the Shanahan era.
At its core, the Niners’ defensive scheme has relied primarily on a “Cover-3” zone with a lone safety deep, but that dynamic changed a bit last year. The 49ers played quarters coverage on 18.9 percent of snaps, also the highest rate under Shanahan, and played two back safeties on 47.1 percent of snaps, the second-highest rate under Shanahan.
But, it was not so much the type of coverage, but the way in which they were being used. Predictability was sometimes exacerbated by how loose the zones were, offering little time for pressure to reach the passer. That showed up in key situations, with the Niners allowing a 40.9 percent third-down conversion rate, their worst since 2017 and 24th in the league.
“The teams know what we are doing, we are afraid of that,” the linebacker confessed. Fred Warner. “But we need to execute it better… I think that’s the whole key to what we do, but there does need to be some adjustments there to make sure that we’re changing things a little bit, and I think that Nick will do a phenomenal job with it.”
Sorensen will have help, after Shanahan also hired the former head coach of the Chargers, Brandon Staleyto the defensive group. Staley He hasn’t yet received an official title for his position, but he will have a bigger role in shaping how the defense looks week to week.
Sorensen said the role of Staley will be taking a more “holistic” look at the defense, offering perspective on how the Niners deal with certain things and noting trends around the league and in what other clubs are doing. In the early days of the offseason program, Sorensen noted that Staley He has been more involved in the secondary, but also has experience coaching linebackers and in the coordinator position.
Like Saleh (“All gas, no brakes”) and Ryans (SWARM) before him, Sorensen has his keywords that he emphasizes to Niners defenders. In his first media session, he repeatedly alluded to “speed, violence, and finishing” as the foundation of what he wants from his defense.
As a first-year coordinator on a team desperate to clear the final hurdle and win a Super Bowl For the first time in 30 years, Sorensen knows that all eyes will be on him. For now, he doesn’t care about any of that. He has too much work ahead of him.
“We all know the standard here, and we all want to win,” Sorensen warned. “We all want to play great defense and that’s the expectation.”
2024-05-21 21:44:18
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