Kyle Shanahan said he’d look inside and outside of San Francisco 49ers headquarters to find the replacement for Steve Wilks, who he fired on Wednesday morning after one season as the team’s defensive coordinator.
Wilks had two challenges when he arrived last year. He was asked to coach a scheme he wasn’t familiar with. And his background is with cornerbacks whereas the 49ers’ system has put its emphasis on the front seven defenders.
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“I just think it has to do with the way we play linebacker and stuff like that,” Shanahan said. “And the way that Fred (Warner) and Dre (Greenlaw) have done it here over the years and the way we’ve coached it. There’s no one way to do things, but you want to tie things together. Steve was always working to do that. There’s no doubt about that. But it was just for his background and how it ended up with us, it was just — it was harder than it needed to be.”
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So who’s the right fit? Here are nine candidates, including some rather familiar names, listed in alphabetical order.
Bill Belichick, former New England Patriots head coach
Yes, Belichick’s defenses have emphasized coverage over pass rush whereas the 49ers have the opposite philosophy. And Belichick likes 3-4 fronts whereas the 49ers — including, significantly, Nick Bosa — prefer to have four down linemen. But if a six-time Super Bowl champion coach is available, wouldn’t you at least put out a feeler? We know there’s mutual respect between The Hoodie and Shanahan from what both men said following the 2017 trade of Jimmy Garoppolo. “He was a great guy to deal with,” Shanahan said. “It’s always hard to get trades done, but when you deal with someone who’s just about football and pretty simple and everything else, it’s easy to get stuff done. That’s why it’s really fun dealing with someone like Bill when you’re trying to make two teams better.”
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Pete Carroll, former Seattle Seahawks head coach
This makes too much sense. Carroll was born in San Francisco and he’d get a chance to play his former team twice a year (and face Jim Harbaugh in the preseason!). And if Shanahan’s looking for continuity on defense? Well, the scheme the 49ers have used in recent years is based on the aggressive defense Carroll ran when he was San Francisco’s coordinator in 1995-96. Shanahan said he’s always been a fan of Carroll’s units. “It’s extremely tough to get explosive (plays) on,” Shanahan said in 2017. “It’s tough to go against. They make you work for everything and it’s something that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every week. It’s something that if you do over and over and over again, it’s hard not to get better at it.”
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Johnny Holland, 49ers linebackers coach
Holland arrived with Shanahan in 2017 and he’s the only defensive assistant who’s been in San Francisco through the Robert Saleh, DeMeco Ryans and Wilks defensive regimes. That is, he knows how the system works, and as a linebackers coach and former linebacker, he’d be a good bridge between the back and front ends of the defense. Holland, however, also has been dealing with multiple myeloma and had to take time away from the team in 2021. He’s been back in a full-time role for the past two seasons.
Chris Kiffin, Houston Texans linebackers coach
Kiffin checks two big boxes. He spent two seasons in San Francisco (2018 and 2019) and he coaches linebackers. He also advocated for one of the players he coached in college, Azeez Al-Shaair, as an undrafted free agent in 2019 (it turned out to be a steal) and worked with Kris Kocurek and the defensive line during his time in San Francisco. He spent 2023 helping Ryans run a similar defense in Houston.
Kris Kocurek, 49ers defensive line coach
He’s the most prominent, cherished — and perhaps well-paid — assistant on Shanahan’s staff. If Wilks didn’t work out because he was too focused on the back end of the defense, in Kocurek the 49ers would have a coordinator who specializes in the other end. The hitch: Defensive line coaches often prefer to be just that — defensive line coaches. “I know what Kris majors in,” Shanahan said Wednesday. “I know what he loves to do. His passion is D-line. He doesn’t go outside of that a lot. But Kris is a hell of a coach and he’s capable of doing a lot.”
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Marquand Manuel, New York Jets safeties coach
Manuel ran the Atlanta Falcons’ defense from 2017 to 2018 and before that was a Falcons assistant at the same time Shanahan was in Atlanta. More than that, Manuel is a Carroll disciple who got his first coaching job with the Seahawks in 2012. He’s spent the last three years coaching under another Carroll protege, Saleh, in New York.
Richard Smith, Indianapolis Colts linebackers coach
If Shanahan wants experience, he might like Smith, 68, who specializes in linebackers and who’s been a coordinator with the Miami Dolphins, Texans and Falcons. He’s also overlapped twice with Shanahan — with the Texans from 2006 to 2008 and the Falcons in 2015 and 2016.
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Nick Sorensen, 49ers defensive passing game/nickels coach
Sorensen is not a prominent member of the coaching staff but he’s had his hand in a lot of different areas over the past two seasons. He filled in at times for Holland with the linebackers in 2022, and he’s also worked with the defensive backs and nickel backs. He even runs the team’s weekly “takeaway” meetings called “The Ball.” All of which has given Sorensen a unique, global view of how the defense is run.
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Brandon Staley, former Los Angeles Chargers head coach
Staley also runs a 3-4 defense. Bosa made it clear when the 49ers drafted him in 2019 that he prefers to play in a four-man front and rush from a three-point stance. It’s also a possibility that Bosa has received ho-hum reviews about Staley and his system from older brother Joey, who was an outside linebacker for the Chargers the last three seasons. Still, Staley is a disciple of Vic Fangio, and Shanahan has sought Fangio’s counsel in the past.
Cory Undlin, Texans defensive passing game coordinator
There are a lot of former 49ers defensive assistants scattered around the league. Undlin, who was in San Francisco in 2021 and 2022, stands out because he’s also a former defensive coordinator — for the Detroit Lions in 2020. Other former 49ers assistants around the league include Jets linebackers coach Mike Rutenberg and Jets senior defensive assistant Tony Oden.
Mike Vrabel, former Tennessee Titans head coach
Vrabel also has coached 3-4 defenses, although perhaps his Ohio State roots would win over Bosa. Vrabel’s coaching background is with linebackers and defensive linemen and, as a six-year head coach and longtime NFL player, he might arrive with a command that Wilks didn’t have. However, it’s not as if the Titans’ defenses flourished in recent years. They finished eighth in yards allowed in 2018, Vrabel’s first season there, but never landed in the top 10 in that category since.
(Top photos of Bill Belichick, Johnny Holland and Pete Carroll: Maddie Meyer, Chris Unger, Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
