Panthers Wilks Football

Former Carolina Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks is set to become the 49ers defensive coordinator. Butch DIll/Associated Press

The San Francisco 49ers are hiring former Carolina interim head coach Steve Wilks as their new defensive coordinator.

A person familiar with the choice said Tuesday that Wilks will fill the void created when DeMeco Ryans was hired as head coach in Houston. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the hiring hadn’t been announced.

NFL Network first reported that Wilks got the job.

Wilks is a longtime defensive backs coach in the NFL and has served as defensive coordinator in Cleveland and Carolina before becoming interim coach for the Panthers this season. He also was head coach for one season in Arizona but was fired after going 3-13 in 2018.

Wilks joined the Panthers staff in 2022 and took over as coach after Matt Rhule was fired following a 1-4 start to the season.

Wilks got Carolina back in contention in the NFC South by going 6-6 but the Panthers were eliminated from playoff contention after blowing an 11-point fourth-quarter lead to Tampa Bay in Week 17.

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Wilks was a candidate for the full-time job in Carolina that instead went to Frank Reich. Now Wilks has a shot at running the NFL’s best defense from the 2022 season with hopes of using that as a steppingstone to a head coach job the way Ryans and predecessor Robert Saleh did.

San Francisco Coach Kyle Shanahan was looking for a coordinator who would keep as many defensive assistants as possible and run a similar system to the one that was so successful under Ryans.

TITANS: Coach Mike Vrabel has shaken up his coaching staff and announced that he promoted Tim Kelly to offensive coordinator from passing game coordinator.

Vrabel also announced several new hirings and changes to his existing staff.

The Titans added Charles London from Atlanta to replace Kelly, hired last year as the passing game coordinator, as the new pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Chris Harris is the new defensive passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach.

Vrabel also has hired the franchise’s first full-time female coaching assistant, adding Lori Locust as defensive quality control coach from Tampa Bay along with Justin Hamilton in the same position.

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Tony Dews is switching from coaching running backs and two-time NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry to tight ends, while Luke Steckel moves from coaching tight ends to the Titans’ new run game analyst. Quarterbacks coach Pat O’Hara now is the passing game analyst.

Jason Houghtaling takes over as offensive line coach. Tennessee still must hire a running backs coach.

BILLS: Pro tennis player Jessica Pegula has revealed that her mother, Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres co-owner and president Kim Pegula, went into cardiac arrest in June and is still recovering while dealing with significant language and memory issues.

In an essay that The Players’ Tribune published Tuesday, Jessica Pegula detailed for the first time the medical crisis that abruptly removed her mother from the public eye and suggested that her mother may not resume the same level of involvement in the family’s sports franchises.

Kim Pegula, she wrote, went into cardiac arrest while sleeping and received lifesaving CPR from another daughter until paramedics arrived and restored her heartbeat. The family previously said only that Kim Pegula was receiving medical care for “some unexpected health issues” that arose shortly after she celebrated her 53rd birthday on June 7.

“My mom is working hard in her recovery, she is improving, but where she ends up is still unknown,” Jessica Pegula, 28, wrote.

She said she decided to write about her mother’s ordeal after Bills player Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field during a Jan. 2 game in Cincinnati in what Pegula described as “some bizarre, messed-up, full circle moment.”


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