Despite the fact the San Francisco 49ers went toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LVIII, the team still saw fit to fire defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. With no other team jumping at the bit to snatch him up, it appears like Kyle Shanahan accurately judged Wilks' ability as a defensive play-caller.
That didn't stop Aaron Glenn and the three-win New York Jets from bringing in Wilks as their defensive coordinator in Year 1 of a new regime. Glenn wanted someone with past head coaching experience, and Wilks has a very long career in the NFL as both a coordinator and a fill-in head coach.
However, the Jets rank 30th in the league in points allowed this season, are near the bottom in pressure rate despite blitzing very often, and do not even have one interception on the season. All of this led to Glenn firing Wilks following a Week 15 loss in which they gave up 48 points to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Wilks may have been passable as a DC in San Francisco, but his disaster of a tenure with the Jets and the success Robert Saleh has had since he returned to the Bay Area show that Shanahan made the right move in canning Wilks back after 2023.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan made right move firing Steve Wilks as Jets part with DC
Wilks, who went 9-19 as a head coach in both a disastorous one-year stint with the Arizona Cardinals and an interim stint with the Carolina Panthers, helped the 49ers rank third in the league in terms of points per game allowed in 2023. However, the cracks started to show in the playoffs, and Shanahan wasn't overly loyal to him.
Wilks now has the dubious distinction of being a one-and-done coach at his last five NFL destinations (Cardinals head coach, Browns, DC, Panthers interim coach, 49ers DC, Jets DC). After 2025, it's hard to imagine he will ever get another coordinating job.
San Francisco, meanwhile, has been cooking with Saleh back in charge despite losing Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and Mykel Williams due to injuries. All signs point to a healthy 49ers defense looking just as unbeatable as it did before the Jets hired Saleh away.
The Jets have now hired two former 49ers DCs away from them, and all they have to show for it is a coach with a 20-36 record and someone who couldn't even get one interception in 15 games.