The San Francisco 49ers will square off against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, and while they will not see one familiar face, they will see another in defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, who was an assistant coach for San Francisco last season.
Staley served for one season as an assistant with the Niners, although it did not go all that well. He was not the team's defensive coordinator; that was Nick Sorensen, but he was seen as a coach who could help out with the big picture on defense.
Whatever the 49ers went with on defense last year, it just did not work out. The team struggled defensively, and Sorensen clearly was not ready for the responsibility of being a defensive coordinator. This is why neither of them came back for 2025, as the experiment can be deemed a failure.
It was not completely ill-conceived when it came to Staley because he had a reputation as a sharp defensive mind stemming from his time as the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams as well as his time as a head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
He got run out of Los Angeles when it became clear he was not very well-suited to be a head coach, but his defensive acumen has never been questioned which is why it was not a huge shock when he was hired by New Orleans to be their defensive coordinator which is a better situation for him than the one he had in San Francisco.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked about what it will be like going against Staley, and here is some of what he had to say:
"Brandon knows a lot of football, can do a ton of things in his scheme. How much of that stuff does he want to adjust for us? I mean, a lot of that he might do because of stuff he learned here, but that opens up other stuff."
Shanahan went on to say that he does not love going against former coaches of his, but he also said it can be overrated because maybe they will overanticipate what to expect and could end up hurting themselves in the process.
Surely, after the last few seasons in which the 49ers have not been wholly satisfied with their defensive coordinators and coaching staff, Shanahan must feel a lot better knowing he has Robert Saleh back as his defensive coordinator especially with how solid the defense looked in Week 1 against Seattle.
It will be fascinating to see the chess match between Shanahan and Staley this Sunday given their history together from last year and it should make for some interesting undertones between the two teams.