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The San Francisco 49ers are looking for a defensive coordinator after firing Steve Wilks after one season.
The 49ers had a nice run on defense under Robert Saleh (2017-20) and then Demeco Ryans (2021-22). Both men went on to become head coaches, Saleh with the Jets, and Ryans with the Houston Texans.
Ryans was the linebacker coach under Saleh with the 49ers, so when he took over, he continued playing Saleh’s system.
That system is very similar to the one that Pete Carroll played in Seattle for many years with a lot of Cover Three Zone.
Wilks doesn’t come from that coaching tree and plays a different system.
So Wilks was a square peg in a round hole with the 49ers.
They drafted for the Saleh-Ryans philosophy for six years, and some of those players didn’t fit what Wilks likes to do.
So they want to get back to their roots, so this led to a rumor that maybe the 49ers would be interested in hiring Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
Well it really wasn’t a rumor, it was long-time Bay Area sportswriter Tim Kawakami, who has been around the 49ers for many years, thinking out loud that Ulbrich would be a good fit in San Francisco.
On paper, it makes sense for several reasons.
First off, he’s from the Bay Area. He was born in San Jose and went to Morgan Hill High School in Santa Clara County. The 49ers play in Santa Clara now.
Also, he played for the 49ers for nine years as a linebacker. so he has a strong bond with that organization.
But obviously, there are some major roadblocks to this happening.
First of all, he’s under contract to the Jets as their defensive coordinator. You can’t leave one team you are under contract to, to take the same job with another organization. The new job needs to be a promotion, like going from a linebacker coach to a defensive coordinator.
Secondly, even though Ulbrich is from the Bay Area, and perhaps would like a job back in his old stomping grounds, you get the sense that he wants his next job to be a head coaching position.
So why uproot his family from New Jersey to go to San Francisco, for the same job?
He’d probably love to relocate for a head coaching job, probably anywhere in the country where this is an NFL team, but why move for the same job, when your aspirations are higher?
And the 49ers’ job is one that comes with an incredibly high bar. They just lost the Super Bowl. Anything short of winning a Super Bowl next year is going to be considered a disappointment.
The Jets coming off a pair of 7-10 seasons, if they have a good season this year, with Aaron Rodgers and a strong defense, that isn’t as much heavy lifting as trying to be the defensive coordinator helping the 49ers to try and get over their recent struggles winning a championship.
So while it makes sense in some ways for Ulbrich to go to San Francisco, there are just as many reasons it doesn’t make sense.
February 21, 2024
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