Steve

Wilks

Shanahan scheduled a surprise press conference to announce the news earlier today. The move comes as a bit of a surprise given how well San Francisco’s defense played in Wilks’ first and only season as the defensive coordinator. The 49ers finished the regular season ranked third in points allowed and 10th in EPA per play allowed. Shanahan also said he did not expect any moves within the coaching ranks as recently as Monday, though he noted that he hadn’t talked to any of his staff members about the matter yet. Though the 49ers’ defense arguably came up short in the Super Bowl, they held Patrick Mahomes to 19 points in regulation. Shanahan notably called a timeout late in overtime, seemingly to switch a defensive play called by Wilks. Even if Shanahan didn’t like Wilks’ calls on defense, the move feels more akin to making Wilks the scapegoat for the loss than anything else. San Francisco will now have to hire a third defensive coordinator in as many years. Wilks, who got multiple head coaching interviews during the playoffs, should be able to quickly land another job in the NFL.

The Chargers put in a request to speak with Wilks earlier in the week, but they’ll now have competition as the Falcons have also thrown their hat into the ring. The long-time defensive coordinator joined the 49ers last offseason after being passed on for the Panthers’ head coaching gig despite a 6-6 record as their interim coach during the 2022 season. Wilks was one-and-done as a head coach with the Cardinals in 2018 but has received multiple endorsements across the league as a high-end head coaching candidate. It’s possible more teams target Wilks in the coming days as we’re still early into the coaching cycle.

There is no shortage of vacant head coach positions this year, and there are few assistants more qualified than Wilks. In what seems like a yearly tradition, Wilks could be yet another San Francisco assistant to depart in the offseason for a head coaching job.

The 49ers replace DeMeco Ryans with another 4-3 base guy who won’t change a lot of the structure of the defense. Wilks’ Panthers finished 25th in defensive DVOA in 2022, but he took over after Matt Rhule’s firing and four of Carolina’s best five single-game scores came with Wilks in charge. Wilks doesn’t have a very long history as a coordinator -- one season in Carolina in 2017, and one season in Cleveland in 2019 -- but his reputation proceeds him and this is a nice rebound for the 49ers.

The 49ers requested an interview with Wilks before former defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans was officially named head coach of the Texans. It’s safe to say Wilks looks like an early favorite to land the job, as Rapoport pointed out the 49ers have a need, and Wilks is hoping to land a head coaching job. The 49ers have seen their last two defensive coordinators go on to head coaching gigs, and could help Wilks accomplish the same goal. Wilks has already announced his plans to coach elsewhere in 2023 after losing out to Frank Reich for the Panthers’ head coaching job, despite going an impressive 6-6 last season. He also has experience as a DC, serving in the same roles with the Browns (2019) and the Panthers (2017).

Which, uh, isn’t technically vacant yet but it sure seems likely that DeMeco Ryans will be gone soon. Wilks did great work with the Panthers as their head coach and definitely would appear to be a prime candidate to keep the 49ers defense as their current levels. Wilks was 6-6 with the Panthers last season and has also been an NFL DC with the Browns in 2019 and Panthers in 2017.

Unsurprisingly, the guy who performed well as the interim Panthers coach this past year will look for a better path to a head coaching gig again. Wilks probably deserves a DC job somewhere at the very least, and it’s at least a bit surprising that nobody else gave him an interview in this cycle. Combining Reich and Wilks appears to have been a bit of wishful thinking by the Panthers.

As Breer notes in his tweet, this is his own opinion and not a report. Still, the Panthers have had second interviews with both Wilks and Reich, and would benefit from the two co-existing on the same staff. With Wilks already having the support of the locker room for the head coaching role, it’s likely the only way this would work would be with Wilks as head coach and Reich as offensive coordinator. This situation could become an interesting one to monitor as the Panthers reach the home stretch of their coaching search.

A interim coach, Wilks led the Panthers to a 6-6 record and nearly made the playoffs after a miserable start to the season. Panthers players seemed to respond to Wilks, playing inspired, plucky football over the regular season’s final two months, after Christian McCaffrey was traded to the 49ers. Wilks, who served as Cardinals head coach for one season, seemingly has a shot to land the full-time job. NFL insider Josina Anderson reported the Panthers have “explored” staffing scenarios for Frank Reich, the former Colts head coach who should be considered a favorite to land the Carolina job.

As Glazer noted, Wilks would be a serious contender for this job had he defeated the Bucs in Week 17 and gone on to win the NFC South crown. Instead, the surging Panthers were stifled by Tampa Bay and knocked out of the playoff picture. With a number of strong head coaching candidates available this offseason, it would seem absurd for the Panthers to stick with Wilks going forward. He will more than likely be let go once Panthers GM Scott Fitterer has decided on his next head coach. Wilks will interview for the job on Tuesday per The Athletic’s Joe Person.