Linebacker K.J. Wright spent 11 years in the NFL. He played 10 of them with the Seattle Seahawks, starting 140 games for them during that time and emerging as one of the most important players on what was one of the best and most influential defenses of his era. He then played one year with the Las Vegas Raiders before signing a one-day contract to retire as a Seahawk.
Now, he's moving into a new role with the team's biggest rival. Wright announced earlier this week that he is joining the San Francisco 49ers' coaching staff.
"It is true," Wright said on his podcast, K.J. All Day with K.J. Wright. "I am the new linebacker assistant coach/defensive quality control coach of the San Francisco 49ers. I am thoroughly excited. I am really, really happy for this opportunity. I'm really, really happy for the Niners organization believing in me. Trusting me with their franchise. [I've been] competing against those guys since day one. My first-ever NFL game was against the Niners. … Here I am, 13, 14 years down the road about to be coaching for them."
Wright, though, also made clear that this move has nothing to do with any animus toward his former franchise.
"This isn't some vendetta move," Wright said. "This is a really cool opportunity for me."
The Niners have a history of pursuing former Seahawks as free agents (Richard Sherman, Malcolm Smith) and coaches (former Niners defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and newly promoted defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen both worked in Seattle), and Wright is the latest to join that list.
San Francisco's coaching staff has been picked over by the rest of the league over the past several years as the league has pursued Kyle Shanahan's assistants on both sides of the ball. DeMeco Ryans was another recently retired linebacker who joined San Francisco's coaching staff in 2017, and he worked his way up to becoming defensive coordinator and eventually landed the Houston Texans' head-coaching job. Things may not happen exactly the same way for Wright, but he's getting an opportunity to join one of the most respected staffs in the league; and like he said himself, that is really cool.
