49ers oust Nick Sorensen, seek 5th defensive coordinator in 6 years

SANTA CLARA – Kyle Shanahan is changing out 49ers defensive coordinators for the fourth time in five years.

Nick Sorensen, like his immediate predecessor Steve Wilks, won’t return to that role after one season in it, a league source confirmed. Sorensen could be retained on Shanahan’s staff in another capacity for a fourth season.

The last-place 49ers (6-11) failed to generate turnovers with a defense that was a step too slow and out of place. In its closing act, Sorensen’s unit allowed a season-high 47 points and produced no takeaways or sacks in Sunday’s 47-24 defeat at Arizona.

NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco first reported Sorensen’s ouster.

The 49ers had no interceptions over their final seven games (six losses), and they recovered one fumble in their final 11 games (or two over their final 13).

“It’s not good enough. It’s hard to win games when you’re in the minus all the time or you’re just not taking the ball away,” Sorensen said last week. “We haven’t done our part there pretty much half the season.”

Sorensen’s removal follows Monday night’s firing of special teams coordinator Brian Schneider.

Among the DC candidates available: Jeff Ulbrich (formerly the New York Jets’ interim coach and a former 49ers linebacker, Gus Bradley (formerly the Indianapolis Colts’ DC) and Robert Saleh, who parlayed his term as 49ers defensive coordinator (2017-20) into a head-coaching role with the Jets, who relieved him four games into this fourth and final season.

DeMeco Ryans, who succeeded Saleh as the 49ers’ DC for two years, has led the Houston Texans to consecutive AFC South titles.

The 49ers had new starters throughout their front seven besides mainstays Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, while communication and assignment breakdowns littered the youthful secondary.

Warner acknowledged after Sunday’s game and again Monday that Sorensen will draw the brunt of criticism simply by being the coordinator but players deserved blame, too. “As a coach you have to be the one to hold the players accountable and I felt he did that and it’s his first season,” Warner said. “He’s got to look back and see where he could have been better in his role but as players we’ve go got to be way better this year.”

Only three teams allowed more points per game than the 49ers (25.6). The run defense proved particularly inept, yielding 24 rushing touchdowns (one shy of the franchise record) and 124.6 yards per game. The pass defense ranked eighth in yards allowed (317.4), but it lacked punch with a pass rush (Bosa had nine sacks, Leonard Floyd 8 ½) while the interception leaders were Warner and Deommodore Lenoir with two apiece.

Sorensen was a defensive assistant the previous two seasons and worked mostly with the defensive backs in 2023 under Wilks, who was fired two days after the 49ers’ Super Bowl loss to Kansas City.

Originally Published: January 7, 2025 at 6:46 PM PST