49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks will have a different vantage point for this Sunday’s game against the Jaguars.
After the team’s winning streak hit three games with a Week Eight loss to the Bengals, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said that having Wilks move from the booth to the sideline was something that the team would discuss during their bye week. The 49ers are back from that bye and Shanahan revealed the result of those conversations on Wednesday.
Wilks will indeed be making the move in Jacksonville.
“We’re going to put him on that field this week, something we’ve talked about for a little bit,” Shanahan said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “I think there’s pluses to it and minuses to it, but we’ll see what we like about this week. . . . Just because of some of the stuff you do in the box, all the advantages to it, which are great. But I kind of want him to be down and be near our players a little bit. 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 guys a little bit more.”
The Steelers made a similar change last week when offensive coordinator Matt Canada worked from the sideline during their win over the Titans. The 49ers will be looking for the same kind of result after their shift in coaching operations.