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Will Nick Sorensen be an Upgrade Over Steve Wilks as the 49ers DC?

Grant Cohn

May 10, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen holds a press conference before the 49ers rookie minicamp at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. Mandatory Credit: Robert Kupbens-USA TODAY Sports
May 10, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen holds a press conference before the 49ers rookie minicamp at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. Mandatory Credit: Robert Kupbens-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Kupbens-USA TODAY Sports
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Revisionist history says Steve Wilks was a miserable failure for the 49ers.

He didn't know their system. The players didn't buy into what he was preaching or play hard for him consistently. His run defense was no good. His pass rush was vanilla and his coverages were easier to read than a children's book. His defense disguised nothing.

And yet despite all of those valid criticisms, Wilks' defense still gave up just 17.5 points per game -- third-fewest in the league during the regular season. And then in the Super Bowl, he held the Chiefs offense to 22 points in regulation, which was impressive. But the 49ers blamed him for the loss and fired him.

And then they promoted Wilks' underling, Nick Sorensen, to defensive coordinator. They also hired Brandon Staley, who gave up 63 points to the Raiders last season, as the assistant head coach. So will the Sorensen-Staley combination be better than Wilks-Sorensen combination?

Theoretically, yes. This season's defense should be much more sophisticated schematically. Staley will help Sorensen disguise coverages before the snap and draw up simulated pressures that are the trend around the NFL. Instead of rushing the same four defensive linemen every play, sometimes the 49ers will drop a defensive lineman into coverage and rush a linebacker or a defensive back.

But Sorensen is still a rookie and Staley is still the guy who gave up 63 points to the Raiders. So they could have all the right intentions, but they still need to find a way to give up no more than 17.5 points per game, which won't be easy for those two.

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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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