Taking a look at how each defensive coordinator has performed since Robert Saleh left
Robert Saleh hopes to break a trend he started when he left the San Francisco 49ers for the New York Jets head coaching spot in 2021. DeMeco Ryans lasted two seasons before leaving San Francisco for the Houston Texans head coach job in 2023.
The 49ers pegged Steve Wilks as Ryans’s replacement, but a style clash with Kyle Shanahan led to his departure after one season and one Super Bowl appearance. San Francisco hoped hiring Nick Sorensen to run the defense after several seasons on staff would carry on the on-field success without the off-field drama with Wilks.
That plan did not work. Sorensen is now the Cowboys’ special teams coordinator, and the 49ers are bringing Saleh back to be the team’s fourth defensive coordinator in as many years.
Statistically, how far has the 49ers defense fallen in the two years from Ryans to Sorensen? Some numbers have stayed consistent over the years, such as first downs per game (17.1 in 2022 to 18.8 in 2024), sack percentage (6.9 to 6.7), and third-down conversion rate (39.0 to 43.1).
However, there are some statistical similarities between the dip in numbers in 2024 and right before Saleh improved the 49ers’ defense from 2018 to 2019. This suggests that the San Francisco defensive woes last season came from personnel issues, much like the issues of the 2018 defense.
A potential 2025 turnaround for Saleh’s defense starts with forcing more turnovers. After Ryans’ and Wilks’ defenses were near the top of the league in forcing turnovers – Ryans 2022 defense forced a turnover on 15.3 percent of drives, Wilks at 15.5 – there was a steep decline in 2024 with Sorensen’s unit finishing at a 9.0 turnover rate, the 49ers lowest since the 2018 season, when the Saleh’s defense finished at 3.9 percent behind a pitiful (and NFL record) two-interception season.
Part of the lack of turnovers in 2024 and 2018 was the defense’s inability to get after the quarterback. The 49ers’ sack and pressure rate under Sorensen was near the rate under Wilks and Ryans—6.7 sack percentage and 20.5 pressure percentage in 2024 compared to 7.2/21.0 and 6.9/22.9 in 2023 and 2022—but Sorensen’s defense faced 105 fewer passes than in 2023 and 77 fewer than in 2022. That translates to 37 sacks and 117 pressures, both way down from the previous two seasons.
The 6.7 sack percentage in 2024 resembles the 6.4 rate Saleh got from his defensive line in 2018, although Saleh’s 2018 team forced pressure on 29.1 of opponent dropbacks. But, instead of the 2018 49ers adding to a secondary that only forced the two interceptions, San Francisco used the offseason to address the pass rush, drafting Nick Bosa and adding Dee Ford.
With the secondary largely untouched and a new-and-improved pass rush, the 2019 49ers forced a turnover on 14.1 percent of drives, while the sack percentage jumped two percent to 8.5. The increased pressure led to more turnovers in 2019, so the defense allowed fewer touchdowns per game compared to 2018, down to 19.4 points per game from 27.2. That turnaround from the defense helped lead the 49ers to their seventh Super Bowl appearance.
There are some similarities between the 2018 and 2024 defense, like talented veterans (Richard Sherman, Jimmie Ward, and DeForest Buckner in 2018 compared to Bosa, Fred Warner, and Deommodor Lenoir in 2024), some promising younger players (Warner and Ahkello Witherspoon in 2018 and Renardo Green and Malik Mustapha last season), with both units having their fair share of issues.
The 2018 team, however, used the offseason to get guys like Bosa, Ford, and Dre Greenlaw to turn a lousy defense into a championship contender. The 2024 49ers will have the same opportunity with plenty of cap space and good draft capital.
However – and possibly most importantly – the 49ers finally have the right guy back at defensive coordinator to try to repeat the same one-year turnaround he accomplished six years ago.