Breaking: 49ers’ Coordinator Search Takes Shocking Turn: Latest Update Reveals Game-Changing Coordinator Search Twist
Kyle Shanahan had hoped to keep Nick Sorensen on the San Francisco 49ers’ staff after relieving him of his duties as defensive coordinator.
But the head coach will reportedly not get his wish. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco reported that Sorensen, who is set to be replaced by the returning Robert Saleh, is not expected to remain with the team.
Sorensen was under consideration to potentially move into the vacant special teams coordinator role.
“I just told him he is not going to be the defense coordinator,” said Shanahan at the 49ers’ end of season press conference “He’s under contract still and I’m really hoping that he’ll come back, but that’s got to be something he and his family feel good about too and the exact role that we end up carving out for him, which I’ll work on here over the next few weeks.
But that will not happen, with the 49ers continuing their search for Brian Schneider’s replacement in that role by interviewing New York Jets special teams coordinator Brant Boyer.
Boyer has served in that capacity for the Jets since 2016 but, with Aaron Glenn replacing Saleh as head coach in New York, his services are available.
New York’s special teams performance has varied during Boyer’s time in the role.
The Jets finished 24th in special teams DVOA this season. However, they were fifth by the same metric in 2023 and second in 2021. They were 21st in 2022 and 29th in 2020.
It has been feast or famine in recent years for the Jets under Boyer, but his experience of coaching special teams to a high standard still makes him a much better candidate than Sorensen, who has only coached one season as a special teams coordinator.
That came in 2021 with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who finished that season 31st in special teams DVOA and last in Expected Points Added in that facet of the game.
Giving Sorensen a shot in a role in which he has not proven he can excel when the 49ers have interviewed two ultra-experienced candidates in Boyer and Chris Tabor, along with two promising special teams assistants in Jett Modkins (Detroit Lions) and Chris Banjo (Denver Broncos) would make little sense.
Shanahan may be disappointed at losing Sorensen, but history says the odds of him improving what was a dismal special teams unit in 2024 would have been slim.
Saleh should improve the defense in his second spell as coordinator, and the 49ers now have a chance to make a hire to turn around the special teams. The loss of Sorensen is likely to ultimately be to their gain.
