Could Brandon Staley end up with NFC West rival after 49ers fire defensive coordinator?

Former Rams DC Brandon Staley is favorite to replace Steve Wilks as 49ers defensive coordinator

As soon as the San Francisco 49ers lost the Super Bowl, that felt to me like the end of the road for Steve Wilks. It would be interesting to see what they would have done if they had won the Super Bowl because Wilks was toeing the line already, but they didn’t and Kyle Shanahan’s micro-management of Wilks in the playoffs was a telltale sign that the end was coming: The 49ers fired Wilks on Thursday despite having a top-three defense and reaching the Super Bowl.

SI’s Albert Breer immediately thought of Brandon Staley as the most obvious replacement.

People will say a lot about how firing Wilks is unfair, but the 49ers may have had the most talented defense in the NFL and a shot to be top-5 no matter who the coordinator was last season. Needing to stop Patrick Mahomes in overtime, Wilks didn’t have the answers, even necessitating Shanahan to call a timeout to change the defense on a key play. San Francisco’s defense played subpar in the playoffs and being one of the few coordinator hires in Shanahan’s history who he didn’t know before, the writing was on the wall that if the 49ers didn’t win it all, there would be a change.

It also allows the 49ers to keep surprising teams next season because nothing else about San Francisco is likely to change.

Staley had the number one defense as the coordinator of the Rams in 2020, launching from that into being the head coach of the Chargers starting in 2021. He was fired in the middle of last season and has yet to sign with a team, potentially even waiting out the 49ers job.

It would give San Francisco a unique look at Sean McVay’s offense next season.