What Steve Wilks had to say About his Transition to the Sideline

49ers defensive coordinator gave this thoughts on his transition from the booth to the sidelines.

49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks will no longer be calling plays from the booth.

At least, he won't be for this week when the 49ers face the Jaguars. Wilks will be calling plays on the sidelines as his predecessors Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans have done. Wilks has always preferred the booth over the sidelines and has been thorough explaining why. But given how the defense has fallen off in their last couple of games, the hope is that his move will generate some improvement.

Here is what Wilks had to say about his transition to the sideline.

"I think we’re making a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be," Wilks said. "I just want to be able to communicate with the guys a little bit more during the game. Certain things that I'm seeing, I'd rather be able to talk to them directly than to communicate with coaches. I think our coaches do a great job, number one, throughout the week, but also in-game adjustments. That's one of the things that I've really pride ourselves on and how we communicate as a staff and making the right things throughout the game. So, it is just really with me just wanting to be able to communicate with those guys a little bit more.” 

On Wednesday, head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed that Wilks will be on the sidelines as they always have with their previous coordinators. 

"I kind of want him to be down and be near our players a little bit," Shanahan said. "They've had that more just with the linebacker communication in the past. And I want him to be down there so he can talk to the guys more."

Moving Wilks out of his comfort zone reeks of desperation on the 49ers part. I'm not really seeing how the move will help the schematic issues and the inconsistent execution from the players. But it sounds like something that Fred Warner doesn't mind at all and maybe even prefers.

"I think it will be a flawless transition, whether it be him giving the calls or staying with Johnny Holland," Warner said (h/t Nick Wagoner of ESPN). "Having him down there connecting with us on the field is going to be great. ... I think more so than anything, I think him just wanting to be down there as our leader of the group just to be down there and make adjustments on the fly, when need be, just being down there with us, looking at us in our eye when we're down there, just little things like that [will help]."

Warner is just one of several players to speak about the move, which I have said before that I wouldn't be surprised if it was the players who advocated for this to Shanahan. We'll see in time, and not just against the Jaguars, if the move actually fixes anything.