Set Number: X164496 TK1
Former Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks is reportedly heading back to the NFL.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Wednesday that the New York Jets are hiring Wilks as their new defensive coordinator. He will join Aaron Glenn’s staff as the new head coach attempts to turn things around in New York in 2025.
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Meanwhile, the #Jets are working on a deal to make #Broncos assistant Chris Banjo their new special-teams coordinator, as @mikeklis9news reported. Banjo lands a coordinator gig after interest from multiple teams. https://t.co/2rCs8KkDNB
Glenn will surely be involved on the defensive side of the ball considering he was the defensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions the last four seasons, but Wilks is an experienced and veteran leader with plenty of stops on his resume.
He was the head coach of the Cardinals for just one season in 2018 but was fired after the team went 3-13. He was also 6-6 as the interim head coach of the Carolina Panthers during the 2022 campaign.
In addition to collegiate stops at Illinois State, Appalachian State, East Tennessee State, Bowling Green, Missouri and Notre Dame, Wilks was the secondary coach for Washington, defensive backs coach for the Chicago Bears, defensive backs coach for the San Diego Chargers, defensive backs coach and D.C. for the Panthers, D.C. for the Cleveland Browns and D.C. for the San Francisco 49ers throughout his lengthy career.
Wilks was most recently in San Francisco for the 2023 campaign as the team’s D.C. as it advanced all the way to the Super Bowl before losing to the Kansas City Chiefs.
San Francisco finished third in the league in points allowed and eighth in yards allowed that season but still chose to fire him after the Super Bowl loss.
The Jets would surely love a defense to perform at that level.
They were 5-12 during the 2024 campaign with a defense that finished 20th in the league in points allowed. Anything but a significant improvement would be a surprise given the decision to go with a defensive-minded head coach in Glenn, and now Wilks will look to help bring in that improvement during yet another stop in his career.
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