SANTA CLARA – The 49ers defense will look significantly different on Sunday.
During the bye week, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Steve Wilks discussed whether Wilks’ stance should be changed during games.
And when the team returns to action in Week 10 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Wilks will be on the sidelines with the players.
“We’ll get him on the field this week,” Shanahan said Wednesday. “We’ve been talking about this for a while. I think it has advantages and disadvantages.”
Wilks was hired from outside the organization to replace DeMeco Ryans as defensive coordinator.
Ryans was hired as head coach of the Houston Texans and Wilks was passed over for the Carolina Panthers job after serving in the interim role during the second half of last season.
Wilks came to the 49ers and was tasked with learning the defensive scheme they already had in place. The transition hasn’t been smooth, as the 49ers have lost three straight games.
During the offseason, Wilks said he preferred to sit in the dugout and direct the team’s defense from there.
“It just takes the emotion out of the game where I can always try to stay ahead of relegation,” Wilks said.
The 49ers’ two previous defensive coordinators, Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans, called plays from the sidelines.
“I kind of wanted him to be down there and be around the players a little bit,” Shanahan said of Wilks. “They’ve had that a lot in the past with linebacker communication. And I wanted him to be down there so he could talk to the boys a little bit more.”
Wilks will forego the view from above the field, where he can get a better look at route concepts and pass coverage in the defensive backfield.
But Wilks will now have the advantage of being able to quickly communicate with veteran defensive players like Arik Armstead, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Tashaun Gipson and others.
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