Former 49ers DC Steve Wilks Officially Hired by the New York Jets

Great to see him back on his feet. He's a good coach who deserves better.
Dec 17, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
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Finally, former 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks has found a new job.

The New York jets officially have named Wilks their defensive coordinator under first-year head coach Aaron Glenn. Wilks will call the defensive plays and presumably have the autonomy to run his defensive scheme, something he couldn't do on the 49ers.

The 49ers fired Wilks after just one season as their defensive coordinator because the defense regressed under him. The previous season under DeMeco Ryans, the 49ers defense gave up just 16.3 points per game -- fewest in the NFL. Under Wilks, the 49ers defense gave up 17.5 points per game -- third fewest.

Keep in mind, when Wilks became the defensive coordinator, the 49ers lost Jimmie Ward, Azeez Al-Shaair and Samson Ebukam and essentially replaced them by signing Javon Hargrave, who was not good. Plus Talanoa Hufanga went down midseason with a torn ACL. Under Ryans, he was an All Pro.

So there were lots of reasons for the defensive regression -- Wilks wasn't solely responsible for it. And despite the regression, they still gave up fewer than 18 points per game, which is outstanding. In the Super Bowl, Wilks' defense gave up 19 points in regulation and 22 points total to the Kansas City Chiefs and was fired a few days later even though the 49ers defense had never played Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid that well before.

To make matters worse, the 49ers fired Wilks late in the hiring cycle so he couldn't land another job, so he was out of the league for a year.

Great to see him back on his feet. He's a good coach who deserves better.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.