49ers Promote Assistant Coach to Defensive Coordinator, Add Brandon Staley to Staff, per Report

The 49ers found their new defensive coordinator—and added Staley to their coaching staff.

With the NFL scouting combine underway and the start of the new league year fast approaching, the San Francisco 49ers briefly turned their attention to their coaching staff. 

San Francisco reportedly plans to promote defensive passing game specialist Nick Sorensen to the role of defensive coordinator, and add former Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley to the coaching staff, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday morning. 

For a second straight offseason, the 49ers, who watched 2022 defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans accept a head coaching position with the Houston Texans last offseason, then fired 2023 defensive coordinator Steve Wilks three days after Super Bowl LVIII, replaced a key coach on the defense. 

This time, San Francisco reportedly is making the hire internally with Sorensen, an NFL coach since 2013 who joined the 49ers’ staff as a defensive assistant in 2022. He was promoted to the role of defensive passing game and nickels coach in 2023.

Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan has an impressive track record with defensive coordinator hires, as the likes of Robert Saleh and Ryans departed San Francisco to accept head coaching positions with the New York Jets and Texans, respectively, after running the show for San Francisco’s defense. 

Meanwhile, Staley joins the 49ers staff after a disappointing 2023 campaign that saw his Chargers team stumble to a five-win season, resulting in his firing back in December. Prior to his tenure as Chargers coach, Staley was the defensive coordinator for a 2020 Los Angeles Rams team that finished first in the NFL in points and yards allowed. 

Schefter reports that Staley will have a “prominent staff role” with the 49ers.