The 49ers made one of the best moves in the NFL this offseason and no one gives them any credit for it.
I’m not talking about Brock Purdy’s extension or George Kittle’s extension or Fred Warner’s extension or the Bryce Huff trade or the Deebo Samuel trade. All of those moves were fine in their own right, but none of them was the 49ers’ best move.
Bleacher Report recently came out with an article that ranked the NFL’s top 25 moves of the offseason, and nothing the 49ers did made the cut. Meanwhile, the Raiders trading for 34-year-old Geno Smith was the third-best move of the offseason, according to the article.
Meanwhile, the 49ers fired defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen and replaced him with Robert Saleh. Sorensen was one of the worst defensive coordinators in the NFL — he currently coaches special teams for the Dallas Cowboys. He might never coach defense again. Meanwhile, Saleh probably is a top 3 or 5 defensive coordinator in the league plus he has four years of head-coaching experience. He’s better than the first time he was with the 49ers.
Upgrading from Sorensen to Saleh is like upgrading from Gardner Minshew to Joe Burrow at quarterback. That’s how much better than Sorensen Saleh really is. So no matter what you think of the 49ers’ rookies or the players they lost in free agency, you can bet that the defense will be better this year than it was last year simply because Saleh is coaching it.
That’s a great move.