Kyle Shanahan expects Steve Wilks to return as 49ers DC in 2024

The San Francisco 49ers enter another offseason full of questions to be answered, one of those being if Steve Wilks will return next season.

While the organization’s brass will meet over the coming week and months, Wilks is expected back for another run.

San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan shared that the hope is for most of the coaching staff to return for the 2024 season. That includes defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, fresh off his first season with the organization.

“I haven’t talked to anybody yet, but yeah, I expect all our coaches to be back,” Shanahan said Tuesday when asked about Wilks returning.

Kyle Shanahan was asked if there's any reason to think Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks won't be back next season pic.twitter.com/esad7gcodK

— KNBR (@KNBR) February 13, 2024

Initially, however, Shanahan was non-committal about the coach returning, stating that those talks hadn’t started with the team brass.

“We’ll talk about a ton as this week goes,” Shanahan stated. “We’ll talk about a ton in the offseason. I mean, where we want our team to be, our defense, our offense, special teams. And that’s a lot of conversations, a lot of film, a lot of personnel and salary cap things we got to discuss. I haven’t even watched the game yet to tell you the truth.”

As of now, it would be a surprise to see Wilks leave the Red & Gold after only one season. While the defense regressed in the run game (21st in yards per rush), they were still fifth in rushing yards allowed per game, and fourth overall in points allowed (18.8).

“I thought they were a number of reasons we got this far,” Shanahan said about Wilks’ defense this season.

The 49ers have already lost key personnel on the coaching staff, with Klint Kubiak and James Cregg departing for positions elsewhere. Prior to Steve Wilks, the 49ers lost two DCs in two seasons (Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans) to head-coaching jobs.

Key offseason dates for the San Francisco 49ers

• Tuesday, Feb. 20th – Teams can begin franchising players until Tuesday, March 5th
• Tuesday, Feb. 27 – NFL Combine begins
• Thursday, March 13 – The 2024 free agency signing period begins at 1 p.m. PST

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