Did you hear the one about Brandon Staley shopping for orange juice, but he couldn’t get past the first aisle?
That’s because it said “concentrate.”
That’s just one of a dozen Staley jokes floating around the NFL about the young, now former head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, who rose through the ranks quickly, and seemed to flame out just as fast.
He was a whiz kid of a defensive coordinator, a rapid-riser, a protegee of Sean McVay, having served as the L.A. Rams’ lead defensive coach and seen as one of many future stars of the NFL when the Chargers hired him. Then, less than three seasons later, he was out of a head coaching job, fired before his third season was even concluded and left in NFL purgatory.
Ouch.
Staley, now 41, spent some time contemplating his next move and then was offered a lesser role as a defensive assistant coach with San Francisco, and he accepted, to the surprise of some.
Associated Press writer Josh Dubow sat with Staley recently for an interview (49ers assistant Brandon Staley looks for a coaching ‘reset’ after firing by Chargers) and Staley was candid.
“I don’t think looking at it as a reset is a bad thing,” Staley said. “I was really excited about the role. There is a lot of common ground in how to lead a football team. This is what I was looking for more than anything, an opportunity where you feel you’ll be aligned with the right people who do things the right way and you have a chance to improve, and where you also have a chance to affect a team that can compete for a championship. All those stars kind of aligned and it’s been energizing.”
Staley will work under new Niners defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen, who has never been a coordinator before. On top of that, he’s taking over one of, if not the, best defensive unit in the league, one coming off a Super Bowl appearance, albeit a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Can Staley handle being a second-fiddle to Sorensen, especially after having risen to those heights with McVay in Los Angeles with the Rams?
Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan is banking on them getting along.
“Nick knows who the defensive coordinator is, and Brandon does,” Shanahan said. ”Brandon is in a real good spot, just leaving from being a head coach and how he can help us in a number of roles. I think Nick feels very excited to have a guy on the staff who has called plays, who has done it at a number of different places and things. I think he’s helped him a lot in those ways. But no, there’s no really gray area of it.”
Steve Wilkes was fired after the Niners blew the Super Bowl, quite frankly. And now Staley knows they’ll be pressure on the defensive staff to deliver. There is one key thing that has kept the recent Shanahan Niners teams in contention, despite an ever-changing league. Staley believes he knows, at least on defense, what it is.
“They’ve always evolved,” Staley said. “I think since Kyle’s first season to now the defense has changed. … From Robert to DeMeco to Steve, and now Nick, I think you’ve seen a really nice evolution. That’s what’s important is that you don’t stray too far away from what makes you special. The style of play of this team is what’s made it special.”
