49ers DC Nick Sorensen backs team’s decision to cancel joint practices with Saints

Aug 15, 2024, 8:57 PM

SANTA CLARA, CA - AUGUST 04: San Francisco 49ers Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen speaks to the media after the San Francisco 49ers Training Camp on August 4, 2024 at SAP Performance Facility in Santa Clara, CA. (Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

(Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

BY AMILIANO FRAGOSO

San Francisco 49ers Beat Writer

The 49ers coaching staff made the tough decision to cancel joint practices with the Saints earlier this week, a choice made due to mounting injury concerns. But while the team would have benefited from the two days, Nick Sorensen believes it was the right call in the end.

The San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator backed his team’s decision to nix joint practices with the New Orleans Saints, marking the first time SF won’t hold them during the preseason since the pandemic. But for Sorensen, and other members of the 49ers, it was a culmination of things that led to this being the right call.

Mainly, staying home allows them to focus solely on themselves ahead of Week 1 against the New York Jets.

“I think [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] made the right choice. I think just situationally, I think it was kind of a culmination of things. The decision was about, ‘Is it what’s best for the team to make us ready for Week 1?’ And I think it was just the right decision. How he explained it to everybody was exactly what he felt and I think it was the right choice.”

Nick Sorensen weighs in on Kyle Shanahan’s decision to cancel joint practices with the Saints pic.twitter.com/CanOEu22f5

— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) August 14, 2024

Others agree wholeheartedly with the coach, including star cornerback Charvarius Ward.

When asked if the man known as Mooney was upset about the cancellation, his answer was succinct and to the point.

“No, I was not,” Ward said bluntly, sending a chuckle throughout the media.

But the reason for Mooney was slightly different: Yes, it would have been a good test against a conference foe with a storied past. However, it doesn’t beat the comfort of your own home.

“I just want to stay in my comfort zone. You know, we focused on ourselves and getting better, we gonna compete against each other. I think we would have got the same amount of good work down there as we would have up here.”

#49ers Mooney Ward was not upset at all that joint practices were canceled

— 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙎𝙁𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 (@TheSFNiners) August 14, 2024

Now entering Year 8 in the NFL, Ward’s mindset is now of a veteran in the league, beginning to understand how to preserve his body better for the duration of an elongated season.

So the 49ers stay put in Santa Clara, finishing off their practice schedule Friday before the Saints will make the trip to The Bay for a showdown Sunday. This will make the second time under coach Kyle Shanahan that the 49ers will not hold joint practices with another team during the preseason. SF hosted the Denver Broncos in 2017, then hit the road for trips to Houston (2018), Denver (2019), Costa Mesa (Chargers 2021), Minnesota (2022), and Las Vegas (2023).

Nick Sorensen enamored with Dee Winters, Malik Mustapha

The NFL preseason is a time for coaches to do some live-football recon on both the present and future of their units. That is the case for Nick Sorensen as well, fully fixated on two young defensive standouts.

Rookie safety Malik Mustapha was one of the big winners Week 1 of the preseason. The Wake Forest product produced the goods lsat Saturday, racking up three combined tackles on defense and another on special teams. His best play came on a fourth-&-1 at the goal-line, halting the running back in his tracks. But while it wasn’t a prefect game by any means, Mustapha showed the fire and instincts that intrigued the 49ers and Sorensen from the beginning.

“Someone who cut it loose the entire game and played physical. The stuff that we saw on tape in college and why we loved him. Really a violent player. He played smart too, as far as being able to communicate and be in the right spots. He didn’t hesitate and played with a violent finish that you saw, everyone saw. It was really cool,” the coach said about the rookie.

“Someone who cut it lose, the entire game. That he didn’t hesitate, and played with the violent finishes.” – Nick Sorensen on 49ers rookie S Malik Mustapha.

Here are back to back plays from Mustapha coming from depth and playing fast without hesitation. pic.twitter.com/r4Atg35mBy

— Kyle Posey (@KP_Show) August 14, 2024

Another project that stood out was Dee Winters, for both good and bad reasons.

The second-year linebacker also had a productive day at the office, finishing with six combined tackles, including one TFL. He also had a plethora of mistakes that led to big gains for the opposition. Winters left Tennessee with the worst Pro Football Focus grade of the 49ers’ defense (28.8).

Despite the poor analytical scoring, Nick Sorensen saw a lot of promise from the LB pupil.

“He was fun. I mean, he played hard. He was flying around. It wasn’t perfect, some of the execution stuff, but
just seeing him, like I said, just taking that next step to cut it loose. You saw that, so it was fun to see.”

Sorensen shares his overall assessment of the 49ers’ defense thus far pic.twitter.com/UDcjpBg006

— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) August 14, 2024

The 49ers covet players with raw physical, and athletic, talent that they can harness. Sorensen and the coaching staff believe they can teach the fundamentals of playing sound 49ers football to anyone willing to learn. Winters is one of those players, like a sponge in almost all football settings.

So it’s okay if he has a bad or a bad series at this juncture: He’s still learning from the ahead of him on the depth chart. But as long and he corrects it, and that he has in the coaches’ eyes.

“It’s just assignments sometimes, and just knowing where to line up and just being in the right spot, just like the fundamental details. And then once you have that, and that second nature, that’s when you see him really flying and taking the shots. And we want to play like that all the time. So it’s just, how can we cut it loose like that as consistently as possible,” Sorenson explained.