The San Francisco 49ers will take members of their staff to the Combine this week with the biggest question about their team having nothing to do with the draft.
General manager John Lynch will speak to the media on Tuesday, and when he does so, he should face a raft of questions about the Niners' vacant defensive coordinator position.
The 49ers fired Steve Wilks in the wake of their overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 58.
Mike Silver of The San Francisco Chronicle posted on X (formerly Twitter) last week, that there's a belief in NFL coaching circles that head coach Kyle Shanahan is preparing to replace Wilks from within.
Save for that nugget, there has been radio silence on the 49ers' search for a defensive coordinator, and the fact the role remains vacant hangs over everything as they prepare to refresh a championship roster that came up agonizingly short in Las Vegas.
While the 49ers have most of their starting spots on the defense filled, they have issues to address on the defensive front, at slot cornerback and perhaps even linebacker in the wake of Dre Greenlaw's Achilles injury.
Given the system the Niners run on defense is unlikely to change, they can go into free agency and the draft with a knowledge of what players would be best suited to help them resolve those problems.
But it's typical to have the insight of a defensive coordinator when it comes to adding players to the defense, as Wilks did with the selection of safety Ji'Ayir Brown with the 49ers' top pick in the draft last year and the signing of cornerback Isaiah Oliver in free agency. Oliver was cut last week after a hugely disappointing debut season with San Francisco.
Maybe the lack of an announcement indicates the hire is indeed an internal one and Wilks' successor is already providing their thoughts on how to attack the problems the Niners have on defense.
But until a coordinator hire is made public, the vacancy is a cloud that will continue to hang over the 49ers' offseason.
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