The San Francisco 49ers season ended with the team continuing its trend of either reaching the NFC Championship Game or winning 6 or fewer games. Coming off a disappointing 6-11 campaign, the 49ers are shifting their focus to the NFL offseason with a few top priorities in mind.
San Francisco immediately made changes to the coaching staff after the regular season ended. The team fired special teams coordinator Brian Schneider and announced defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen wouldn’t be retained next year.
After some early concern that Robert Saleh could take a head-coaching job with the Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco reunited with its former defensive play-caller. The club officially announced his return this past week, welcoming back the architect who created one of the best defenses in the NFL from 2017-’20. With Saleh back on board, the focus now shifts to providing him with more help.
According to Tony Pauline of SportsKeeda, 49ers coaches working at the Shrine Bowl have made it clear that a “major priority” this offseason is to increase the team’s speed on defense. Specifically, the organization wants to be much faster in the secondary next season.
Saleh’s hire also comes with the expectation of more “innovation” on that side of the ball. San Francisco attempted to make things work with Sorensen and Steve Wilks as its former defensive coordinators, but neither brought Saleh’s defensive creativity nor did they have the same trust that Kyle Shanahan has in Saleh.
In addition to the team’s plans to get faster defensively while implementing more diverse looks and using less of the base package, the 49ers are also hoping to re-sign linebacker Dre Greenlaw. Nearly a year removed from his torn Achilles suffered during Super Bowl LVIII, the team will make every effort to bring him back to pair with All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner for the 2025 NFL season.
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