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Why the 49ers Tried to Hire Bill Belichick as Their Defensive Coordinator

The 49ers reportedly tried to hire Bill Belichick as their defensive coordinator. As if one of the greatest head coaches of all time would accept a subordinate role at 72 years old. Of course, Belichick turned down the offer.

Grant Cohn

2017: Bill Belichick celebrates after Super Bowl LI where the New England Patriots vs The Atlanta Falcon at NRG Stadium, Houston.
2017: Bill Belichick celebrates after Super Bowl LI where the New England Patriots vs The Atlanta Falcon at NRG Stadium, Houston. / Bob Breidenbach / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The 49ers held an extensive search for the next defensive coordinator this offseason before they settled on promoting internal candidate Nick Sorensen.

First, they tried to hire Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo after he wiped the floor with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan in the Super Bowl. Because if you can't beat them, hire their defensive coordinator, right? Unfortunately for the 49ers, Spaguolo stayed with the Chiefs after they gave him an extension.

Then, the 49ers reportedly tried to hire Bill Belichick as their defensive coordinator. As if one of the greatest head coaches of all time would accept a subordinate role at 72 years old. A subordinate role under Kyle Shanahan, a coach he beat in the Super Bowl in 2017 when Shanahan was the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.

Of course, Belichick turned down the offer.

And then finally, the 49ers promoted Nick Sorensen to defensive coordinator. So Sorensen was their third choice at best. That's why they also hired Brandon Staley as the assistant head coach. They're not confident in Sorensen. He needs help. He's a consolation prize.

The 49ers could have promoted Sorensen to defensive coordinator in 2023 but they felt he wasn't ready or good enough. That's why they hired Steve Wilks. Which means Sorensen is the defensive coordinator because Wilks got fired and Spagnuolo and Belichick spurned the 49ers.

Seems like Sorensen doesn't have much job security. If he struggles early in the season, he could get replaced during the bye week by Staley. And if Sorensen struggles in the playoffs, the 49ers could fire him and replace him with another former head coach who gets fired next year.

I wonder how Sorensen feels about everyone knowing he was the third choice.

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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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