The Cowboys are expected to hire Nick Sorensen as their special teams coordinator, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports.
Under new head coach Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas is seeking to replace John Fassel, who left to become the Titans’ special teams coordinator.
Sorensen, the 49ers’ defensive coordinator last season, worked with Schottenheimer in 2021 with the Jaguars. Schottenheimer was the passing game coordinator and Sorensen was the special teams coordinator.
Schottenheimer and Sorensen also were together with the Seahawks from 2018-20.
Sorensen, 46, joined the 49ers in 2022 as a defensive assistant before becoming the team’s defensive pass game specialist and nickels coach. He was defensive coordinator for only one season.
The 49ers hired former Jets head coach Robert Saleh for a second stint as defensive coordinator, and former Jets special teams coordinator Brant Boyer will become the 49ers’ special teams coordinator.
The 49ers have filled their vacancy at special teams coordinator.
The team announced the hiring of Brant Boyer on Monday. The team dismissed Brian Schneider after the end of the 2024 season.
Boyer spent the last nine seasons as the special teams coordinator with the Jets. He worked under several head coaches during his time with the AFC East club and opened the last four seasons on Robert Saleh’s staff.
Saleh was fired before the end of the 2024 season, but the two men will be working together again with the 49ers. Saleh was hired as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator last week.
Boyer spent a decade as a player in the league and broke into coaching with the Browns as an intern in 2009. He also worked for the Giants and Colts before moving on to the Jets.
Robert Saleh and the 49ers were waiting for the former Jets head coach to be out of the mix for head coaching jobs before making his hire official. The Raiders hiring of Pete Carroll and the Cowboys promotion of Brian Schottenheimer on Friday made it official.
Saleh will return to San Francisco as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator, the team announced.
He interviewed with the Cowboys, Jaguars and Raiders and appeared a front-runner for the job in Jacksonville. Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen began negotiating with the team again Thursday after they fired General Manager Trent Baalke.
Saleh canceled his flight to Jacksonville late Thursday for a second interview scheduled for Friday, and the Jaguars hired Coen.
Saleh spent four-plus seasons as the Jets’ head coach, going 20-36 in his time in New York. The team fired him five games into the 2024 season.
Saleh initially joined the 49ers in 2017, and his “all gas, no brake” defense became one of the top units in the league within two years. His work in San Francisco landed him the Jets’ job, and it could lead to a second opportunity as a head coach after the 2025 season.
Yes, former Jets coach Robert Saleh will be returning to the 49ers as defensive coordinator. But the dust won’t fully settle until the head-coaching jobs for which he’s under consideration are filled.
Although he canceled his flight to Jacksonville after all signs pointed to Liam Coen, Saleh remains in play for the head-coaching openings in Las Vegas and Dallas. He has interviewed for both jobs.
That said, the Cowboys reportedly are focused on Brian Schottenheimer. In Las Vegas, the rumor mill has been pointing to Pete Carroll. But until both jobs are filled, Saleh remains in play.
If, in the end, others are hired by the Cowboys and Raiders, Saleh will be back in the job that positioned him to become the head coach of the Jets.
The 49ers interviewed Brant Boyer for their special teams coordinator opening, Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.
The 49ers are seeking to replace Nick Sorensen.
Boyer has served as the Jets’ special teams coordinator since 2016, working under three full-time head coaches. The Jets hired Aaron Glenn as their head coach earlier this week, and Boyer apparently won’t survive another head coaching change in New York.
He began his NFL coaching career in 2009 as a training camp intern for the Browns and had the same role with the Giants in 2010. The Colts hired him as assistant special teams coach in 2012, and he was in Indianapolis for four seasons.
Boyer was a linebacker and core special teams player for the Dolphins (1994), Jaguars (1995-2000) and Browns (2001-03) during his playing career.
Robert Saleh apparently isn’t getting a second chance as a head coach in this hiring cycle.
Saleh is headed back to San Francisco, returning as the team’s defensive coordinator, TheAthletic.com reports Thursday night.
He interviewed with the Cowboys, Jaguars and Raiders and appeared a front-runner for the job in Jacksonville. Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen began negotiating with the team again Thursday after they fired General Manager Trent Baalke, and Coen now is expected to become the Jaguars’ head coach.
Saleh canceled his flight to Jacksonville late Thursday for a second interview scheduled for Friday.
The Jets fired Saleh five games into his fourth season, going 20-36 in his time in New York.
Saleh initially joined the 49ers in 2017, and his “all gas, no brake” defense was became one of the top units in the league within two years. His work in San Francisco landed him the Jets’ job, and it could lead to a second opportunity as a head coach after the 2025 season, depending on how it goes.
Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area recently reported the 49ers had offered to make Saleh the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the league.
Now, they have their man.
The Lions have added a wide receiver to their offseason roster.
The team announced that they have signed Ronnie Bell to a future contract. He will be part of their 90-man roster once the Super Bowl is in the books.
Bell was a 2023 seventh-round pick by the 49ers. He played in all 17 games during his rookie season and he caught six passes for 68 yards and three touchdowns in those appearances. He had two catches for 22 yards in nine 2024 games, but was waived in late November and closed out the year on the practice squad.
Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Kalif Raymond, Antoine Green, and Tom Kennedy are also set to be on the offseason roster in Detroit.
Last month, a California appeals court overturned the rape conviction of former NFL defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield. On Friday, a judge nevertheless refused to release him from prison.
Via the Associated Press, Santa Clara County’ Superior Court Judge Hector Ramon ruled on Friday that he was unable grant bail to Stubblefield or set him free because the appeals court has yet to officially send the case back to the trial court for action.
The formal action, known as a remittitur, is expected next month.
It seems odd, and unfair. The ruling from the appeals court wipes out the conviction. Shouldn’t that be enough? And if there’s a magical piece of paper that needs to be pushed from the higher court to the lower court, why wait?
“As he sits here, everything has been vacated, he has been convicted of nothing, and a legally innocent man is sitting in prison because we’re waiting on a time clock,” said attorney Ken Rosenfeld, who represents Stubblefield.
Stubblefield has served more than four years of a 15-to-life sentence imposed after his conviction. The verdict was overturned because prosecutors used “racially discriminatory language” during the trial. Specifically, they said that police didn’t search Stubblefield’s house for a gun that was allegedly used in connection with the crime because doing that to a Black man would “open up a storm of controversy.”
The 1997 NFL defensive player of the year and the 1993 NFL defensive rookie of the year, Stubblefield played for the 49ers, Washington, and the Raiders in an 11-year career.
The case could be re-filed, and Stubblefield could be tried and convicted again. Until he is, he’s not guilty of anything.
We made a little stir last month by suggesting that the Bears should call the 49ers about a possible trade for coach Kyle Shanahan. Meanwhile, the Bears have spun the dial on the telephone to call the Steelers about a possible trade for coach Mike Tomlin.
Here’s the next question. Who else did the Bears call?
The deeper message of our Shanahan blurb was that the Bears should call any team that might be a year away from a coaching change. We specifically mentioned the 49ers and Shanahan, the Ravens and John Harbaugh, and the Dolphins and Mike McDaniel. (In response to that, a coach from a different team reached out to ask why he wasn’t mentioned.)
In 2022, many chided the Commanders for calling every single team to see whether its starting quarterback is available in trade. But the Commanders decided to be comprehensive, given that they’d been frozen out of the prior year’s inside job that sent Matthew Stafford to the Rams. It was smart to make sure they weren’t missing anyone as they looked for a quarterback in 2022.
The Bears should be comprehensive, too. And if they wasted their time to call a team whose coach publicly said “save your time,” why wouldn’t they call other teams, too?
Two weeks ago, Jay Glazer of Fox reported that multiple teams are interested in trading for Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. While the Vikings surely wouldn’t ship him to a division rival, why not make the call?
Teams looking for coaches usually look at coordinators who have never been coaches, fired former head coaches, or college coaches. Rarely do teams target coaches currently coaching other teams.
They should. Beyond creating the impression that every stone is indeed being turned, it’s a path toward getting a coach who has proven that he can get the job done well enough to not yet be fired by his current team.
The Jets have cast a wide net in their search for a new head coach, but one of their intended candidates for the job was not interested in the opportunity to speak to them.
Brian Costello of the New York Post reports that 49ers quarterbacks coach Brian Griese has declined the Jets’ request to interview for the position.
The 49ers job is the first one that Griese has had as a coach at any level. He joined Kyle Shanahan’s staff in 2022, so he’s worked closely with Brock Purdy during Purdy’s rise from seventh-rounder to starter.
While Griese has passed on that opportunity, plenty of others have been more agreeable. The Jets are holding several interviews on Friday and they’ll be up to 15 total interviews once they are completed.
