Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen Press Conference

Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen

Press Conference – October 3, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

You’ve seen Arizona Cardinals QB Kyle Murray for a couple years. What have you noticed differently about him this year?

“I started to see him progressing last year, just how he operates in the pocket and how he gets through his progressions. He’s still dynamic as anything, as far as being able to move, get outside the pocket, create. But I think, you’re seeing him grow like any quarterback. He has the arm strength, he always has. He’s had the mobility, he always has. But like seeing how he can work through his progression and make all those throws has improved.”

By adding Arizona Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr., what has that done to their offense?

“Really good route runner. He’s obviously polished. They’ve got really a lot of weapons along with obviously [Arizona Cardinals RB James] Connor in the run game and [Arizona Cardinals TE Trey] McBride. I think they should be getting him back. He’s a really good young tight end. And then even [Arizona Cardinals WR Michael] Wilson on the other side. I just think they have a balance of weapons, starting at the quarterback spot, that makes them a tough team to go against. And they run the ball really well. They have an identity and that’s what they want to do. You can see it with how many yards they get, how many carries they desire to get which seems like. Shoot, they did it to us last year, last time they played us.”

I don’t know if there’s a way to quantify this, but how well is DB Deommodore Lenoir playing now that he knows exactly what he’s going to be doing every week because last year there was a lot of different guys in the nickel and all that? How well is he playing?

“He’s improved a ton. I think he’s playing great. And you said it really good actually, that it’s hard to quantify if you’re just looking at stats like a lot of people. You don’t realize it until you actually really watch the tape and understand what he’s doing for us and what he allows us to do defensively. Really pleased with Demo.”

How’s S Malik Mustapha looking to you? You guys played him 62 snaps last week?

“He did a great job. [S Talanoa Hufanga] Huf couldn’t go and he stepped in and did great.”

LB Fred Warner has been playing lights out every game, but now he’s dealing with that injury. He’s been kind of not really in practice so far. What are you kind of doing to kind of counteract dealing with that with this week against the Cardinals and then having a short week next week?

“Yeah, it’s not really counteract, it’s just next man up. You’ll never fully replace Fred. Not saying we are, it’s just, the next guy’s got to practice and he’s got to operate. We’ve had some injuries. There’s adversity and there’s opportunity. So with that, the next guy gets a chance and they step up and you saw that even losing [DL Javon] Hargrave. We’ve had guys step in and [DL De’Vondre] Campbell [Sr.] play and not having [LB Dre Greenlaw] Law. Like you just asked about Malik Mustapha playing without having Huf, Huf’s played one game. So guys get opportunities and we expect them to perform and they expect themselves to, too. So at practice, that’s really where you get those reps and hone your skills. And with Fred and without Fred you’ve got to communicate and guys are doing that.”

What has impressed you most about DL Sam Okuayinonu?

“Sam O, he impressed me a ton last year, actually, just watching him. It’s tough with D- Linemen and I think we might have talked about this in the offseason because they’re not going against anybody, but with Sam I was excited just watching him in his individual and how explosive he was. So that’s one thing you want to see with D-Linemen is how explosive they are, especially ends because you can kind of project like, what’s this guy going to do against an O-Lineman? Can he get off the ball? And then with that explosion, is he going to be able to set an edge and be as violent as you would expect based on what you’re seeing? So now we get to training camp and he’s starting to do it, then he gets hurt so you don’t fully get to see it. So now we’re getting to see him do it in the games. I’m not surprised, I’m pleased. But this is kind of what we imagined he could be based on what he had shown us in a short amount of time because he got here late in the year last year. So with him playing hard, being explosive and just being himself, it’s been really cool to see.”

Does your confidence grow in him with every practice rep?

“Absolutely. Like I said, he got here and then you saw him in the spring. Then in training camp he was doing a nice job and got injured pretty quickly and you lost all that time. So with him, he’s still growing. He’s still young to football. His story’s a pretty cool story about how he came here. I think he was 12 or 13, but he’s still new to football and he keeps growing and keeps getting better. So, I think with him, he’s got a really high ceiling.”

DL Nick Bosa got about nine pressures last game. He didn’t get a sack until about two-and-a-half minutes left in the game. Was that him wanting to stay in to get that sack to reward him for a hard day’s work?

“No, I think he just missed like three of them. He was in there and he was finishing the game. I don’t think it was anything like that. A lot of times the other guys cleaned it up, but Nick can always get better. He could’ve finished those. We knew going into that when you watched [New England Patriots QB Jacoby] Brissett, I was getting flashbacks of [former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben] Roethlisberger. It wasn’t just the number either. It was just the way he moved. And we knew it was going to be tough and we had to get the second guy to get there. You always want to strain to finish, but it was visible with Brissett. So it was tough that he fell off a few times and it was good that he got it at the end.”

Kyler is almost an opposite because he can escape a lot easier?

“With him you’re not touching him. With Brissett a lot of times he can get off and he can break tackles. Kyler can too, but with Kyler it’s tough. He’s extremely dynamic, really, really quick.”

When you’re putting together a game plan and the other team doesn’t know who you’re going to be lining up there at linebacker, specifically Fred, are there certain things that you think like, well, “Fred’s on the field, they’re not going to do this, but if he’s not on the field, this is an area where they might do some different things?”

“We’ll find out I guess in the game.”

Do you prepare for anything like that?

“We’re preparing for what we have, and it doesn’t change a whole lot. Maybe a little bit, but we’ll see.”

Your guys’ blitz rate’s going up every week. I think it’s started at nine and it’s now like at 33-percent. When you watch Kyler against the blitz, what does he look like? What’s the challenge this week bringing extra pressure against a guy like him?

“It’s famine or feast with any call really. You could think something’s really good. There’s always calls you want back, ‘oh this would’ve been good there.’ I think offenses feel the same way. There’s certain things you like if they don’t do this or they do this. So I think it just depends on the situation really and the plan. Sometimes that does change in-game based on how we are playing and how our guys are playing and some of the things they’re doing.”

How difficult is it to contain a quarterback like Kyler in the pocket and does rushing five sometimes help that effort?

“Yeah, it can. Absolutely. I think a lot of guys do, do that. He’s hard. He is. Those guys are hard to deal with because he does have the arm strength and he can escape like a freaking punt returner. He’s got elite quickness and doesn’t have to have his feet set to throw the ball. So you have to be disciplined and you have to just keep running. You just have to keep going, regardless of who’s going. Even if you’ve got four, three, five, six, you have to keep going. Even in coverage too, really everybody, any of those guys that can extend plays. It’s one of those track shoes type days.”

With S Ji’Ayir Brown and Malik, what are some of the challenges of being a young safety in this league?

“A young safety, I would say the toughest thing maybe in being somewhere new and being young is having your voice and taking control because you do have to be a good communicator back there. And I think both of them have done a great job. I think that was something we noticed really early with Tig. He’s got great command. He’s very confident. He puts the time in and he is very smart. So that was something also with Malik that we saw. These guys, they stepped right in. And Huf was the same way as a young safety. And those are really important qualities as a safety because you’re kind of back there seeing things. You’ve got to help direct. So I think those are things you look for guys that can lead and make calls and make sure that they’re communicating across the board because you’ve got to get from corner to corner and everyone in between to be on the same page with the backers.”

How is DL Evan Anderson progressing?

“Really, really pleased with Evan. We made a decision last week and he’s consistently gotten better. The 19 snaps he got, he did a nice job for us.”