K.J. Wright shares why he insisted 49ers draft linebacker Jaden Dugger

Wed, Jun 3, 2026

San Francisco 49ers linebackers coach K.J. Wright speaks with reporters during the second week of OTAs on Tuesday in Santa Clara.

K.J. Wright shares why he insisted 49ers draft linebacker Jaden Dugger originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Video Transcript

Yeah, so I, I've done it every year.

So we all make a highlight tape of all the linebackers we're interested in drafting, free agents, and it's a combination of highlights and stuff they need to get better at.

And so I've done it every year, but this year was my first time showing the whole room what I see, how I'm evaluating guys, and it was a good one.

I'm, I'm sure you want the team to draft- Absolutely linebackers.

Oh, absolutely.

So how, how do you, like, sort of game it so that people will love your film and wanna draft one of your guys?

So I, I start off, first thing I show is how does this guy make plays?

Like, his tackling, the way he takes on blocks, his speed, his football IQ.

Like, I really try to paint the picture for Kyle to show this guy fits what we wanna do as a football team.

And so I put all the good stuff first, and at the very bottom, like, this guy is still a football player.

There is stuff he gotta get better at.

And so I show the get better stuff at the bottom.

But off the top, I wanna capture Kyle attention, 'cause if I don't, all right, let's go to the next guy.

Yeah.

What did you do about Jaden Dugger?

Dugger, I, I kid you not, when I watched Dugger, in the first 15 plays, I was like, "I gotta have this dude.

I gotta have him."

I just looked at his frame.

I looked at his speed, and he had this one play that not too many linebackers can make.

It was a reverse.

It started to his right and it went to his left, and s- most guys are late on reverses, but I saw this guy move to his right, and he went to his left so quick, and I put that as a second play, when I showed Kyle.

So long, athletic, smart.

His football IQ is something that y'all gonna love about him.

Really, really smart linebacker and, really good player.

I fell in love with him in the first 15 plays.

John Lynch obviously hinted that he, you drafted ultimately a prototype of yourself.

A, a mimic of myself?

Yeah.

we're, we're similar.

We're real similar.

Both tall.

He's faster than I am.

He's, longer.

I know I'm a long guy, but he got these long arms.

but I really love a smart linebacker, guys that can see the game good, guys that can anticipate, anticipate plays is something that I love.

And so when I saw that from Dugger, he can bend as well.

So watch Dugger when he makes tackles.

A lot of guys play high, really high.

He's a guy that can bend, sink in his hips, and find a way to still make really good plays.

How does ex- experience at other positions sort of help him at linebacker- I l- sort of understanding the defense and all that, yeah?

Yep, I love it.

So just to fill y'all in on Dugger's background, played safety in high school and in college.

All right, then he spent down to play on the ball linebacker, and this last year was his first time playing true stack linebacker.

And so you could see the rawness in him, and I love that type of stuff.

I like a guy that I could groom, that I could mold, that I could build, that I could teach how to strike and use their hands, and so he's just getting started, man.

He has a way to g- go, obviously, but this guy's gonna be a really, really special player.

I'm excited for him.

Is your, is your strong side spot a little bit of both of those things, playing on the ball and, and off?

Yep, not, yeah, I don't wanna get too talked about schematics, but they're gonna be versatile.

They're g- they're gonna be here.

They're gonna be there.

You gotta be asked to do different things in different situations, and so we know where Fred and Greenlaw gonna be.

They gonna be boom right there.

But this other guy, you gotta be able to have a nice toolbox to be able to stay on the football field, essentially.

And KJ, obviously stepping into the, to the head linebacker's role now, what, what have the last few years or couple years meant to you in terms of, like, getting you prepared to, to take on this role?

So thankful.

First of all, I'm just super thankful for Kyle Shanahan for, like, trusting me to bring me on this football team.

Like, Kyle doesn't know me.

He just know me from seeing number 50 make plays on him on Sundays- when I was with the Seahawks, but he doesn't know me.

And, thankfully, like, Sherman gave him a call and said, "Hey, man," like, I told Sherman I wanna coach, and he said, "I'm gonna call Kyle," and that's how this, this whole thing worked out.

And so first of all, thank him for trusting me and just to put me as a quality control coach.

If I ever become a head coach, like, and this first time coaches, be a quality control coach, right?

You learn how to coach.

You learn how to get organized.

You learn how to sit back and listen, do PowerPoint, visio.

Like, you really learn the basic fundamentals of football, right?

I got 11 years of playing, right?

Let's learn how to actually coach football, and this is a new profession that you're in.

So for him to trust me to, to now lead this room means the world to me.

Johnny Hyland has been everything to me.

Just for him to groom me, mold me, you know, you don't feel any egos.

Like, been super, super supportive, and every day I go in his office, "And Coach, what can I get better at?

What can I learn from?"

And he's been my rock throughout this whole transition.

Guys who were players who had the level of success you did maybe aren't always sure that they wanna get into the grind of coaching.

I- Did you have any, did you have any moments of doubt along the way?

That was me.

I got up in my press conference when I retired, and I said, "Guys, I don't know what I'm doing, but I know I'm not coaching."

I swear I said that.

But, when you retire, them days get long.

The 24 hours feel like 48 hours.

And I just wanna thank my wife too.

She, like, she know where my heart is.

She know what I wanted to do.

She said, "Babe, go.

Like, get out the house.

Like-" " you're getting on my nerves.

Go work."

I said, "All right, babe.

I'm, I'ma try this thing," and, thankfully that she gave me the green light to do it.

She said, "We- I'll take care of the kids, and we'll be good," and life's been great ever since I made this transition.

What has Raheem Morris's, influence been so far?Knowing you never wanted to coach and then obviously having that playing experience, how does that kinda make you relatable to those younger players?

Yeah.

So the beauty of playing and coaching is, like, anything that these guys have went through, I've experienced.

I know the stresses and anxieties of this profession.

I know what injuries feel like.

I know what getting benched feels like.

I know what getting a big contract feels like.

And so I can really connect with these guys and just guide them throughout this process, right?

And, so anything that they need, man, it stays between us.

Like, I want them to understand that you have that trust factor with me.

And, for me to be able to play and now coach, it definitely does help me out.

On that note, where does Nick Martin fit in that room?

His, his first year was, was pretty difficult.

Yeah.

Took him a while to get on the field, and then he had the concussion, kinda derailed things at the end.

Yep.

what is the next step for him and, and, and in working with him?

No doubt.

Just looking at Nick, Nick has a lot of tools when it come to his speed, when it comes to his physicality, right?

My, my job as a coach is to actually get the game to slow down for Nick, right?

'Cause he sees it and he moves so fast, but as a linebacker you gotta have speed, but you also have to have precision, precision too.

So to just be able to slow the g- the game down for him, help him be able to see it, diagnose, have really good key drill, that's gonna really help him take this next step.

But something Saleh said last year, you know, when he was first getting started, was he needed to slow down.

Slow down, yeah.

You know?

Like, well, what is the biggest- I guess, gap that has to be closed there for him?

Yeah.

So for example, if a team, they run inside or outside zone, right?

Once you see it and dissect it, all right, it's a run play, go make the play.

All right, we play Kyle Shanahan, we play Sean McVay, what y'all think they gonna do?

Run a boot.

They gonna fake run it and then run a boot.

All right, so to be able to just, to differentiate between those two is what you have to do as a linebacker.

So see it, every play isn't full speed.

They gonna motion you, jet you.

Just slow the game down, and with repetition, that'll come for him.

What have been your first impressions of Raheem Morris and, and the demands he asks of his staff for you guys?

I love Raheem Morris.

High energy.

He's a guy that holds guys accountable.

And, and, and I've been around some coaches, like, not scared to hold guys accountable.

He directs every single person, and that's something I can appreciate from a defensive coordinator, right?

So watching his energy, and just bringing a new scheme to us, right?

We've been running, you know, the Niners been running the same thing since Saleh was here, so 2019.

So just to have someone come in new and just bring in something different, it's been a breath of fresh air I think for this entire building.

Since it's more variables, I would guess, rather than give it away, what he's doing this year, right?

Exactly.

Doing, doing similar things, make it look different, but it's gonna be perfect for us.

I, I asked Saleh about you potentially going with him to Tennessee.

He said it was made clear to him immediately that you were off limits.

Was there, was there any conversation that Kyle had with you about like, "Hey, this is kind of the plan for you-" Yeah. "

of where he wants you to go?"

Yeah.

No, I mean, he told me right after the season, you know, "This is how I see things, and, this is the direction I wanna go as a football team."

And you know, the biggest thing was, my question was, all right, with Coach Allen.

And he said Coach Allen would be right there in the room with me helping me grow, grooming me along the way.

It's my first time.

And so as long as, as he was good and, and everything, it made sense, I was good with it.

So yeah, it was right after the season.

The, the other thing Saleh told me was that he compared you to DeMeco.

He said these guys are gonna be fast risers in the biz.

Have, have you, are you far along enough in your career that you allow yourself to think about, like, this is something that I'd like to get to eventually?

My, my goal is to be a really good linebackers coach for them seven, eight guys in the room right now.

How can I help these guys get better?

How can I help a Fred and Greenlaw, who are top Pro Bowlers and All-Pros, how can I help these guys get better at, at the linebacker position?

So that's my focus, taking guys that are already great, hey, let's get a little bit better.

Let's, I'ma add this to your game.

And helping guys like Larry Wirth and James Dugger to really take those guys to become the next Fred Warner.

Does Romello have the skill set to play, linebacker the way Dugger does?

And how involved No.

No.

Okay.

No.

Ro- Romello is a guy, I want R- well, I'm, not I want.

Romello is good at, like, going forward.

He's good at rushing that passer.

I also evaluated Romello height too.

Fell in love with the dude.

Loved his energy, loved the way he could rush the passer.

And he's a guy that could drop back into pass coverage, right?

But Dugger is a guy, true stack linebacker.

You stack the ball, you can spin down on the ball and play some sound backer, but he really is gonna excel off the ball.

Romello's a guy, choose a spinner, go that way, Romello.

Yep.

Seven to eight guys in that room, it's likely that five to six will stay when it's cuts are done.

How do you put that in the right perspective for those guys?

Yeah.

It's, you gotta be honest with them.

You gotta be honest.

And Coach Allen, he actually told me the first thing you have to do as a coach is be honest.

Don't, don't BS guys.

And so if I do see a guy that needs that extra coaching, "Hey, man, come to my office.

Let's talk.

Let's get this whole thing figured out."

And so my goal as a coach is that all these guys have a football building, like you got somewhere you can call home come September.

And so we know the nature of the business, and, I guess the best five will stay.

Some of your favorite coaches when you were playing, what, what'd you like about them?

Like, what was the- Shoot, where do I start?

Ken Norton Jr. was my favorite coach of all time, and he took a young pup from Mississippi and, and grew him into a badass football player.

And what I love most about Nort was he took the extra time with me outside of that block that we have as a football team.

"Hey, meet me here at 6:00 in the morning."

That ain't on the schedule, but he met me there.

He was honest with me.

He embarrassed me sometimes in front of the room.

I didn't like it, but when you push a player, right, they have no choice but to rise to the occasion or they gonna fold, right?

So a lot of pushing as a player, respectfully, goes a long way.

So that's what I really appreciated about Nort was the extra time.

Hey, push me.

Like, you're here to coach me.

Make me get better.

Can I follow up on that?

Do you see any of the guys on the current roster that have that type of mentality that you want to kinda have that same relationship with?

Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

And I know that when I look at, really it's all these guys.

Like, you know, I told them the other day, like, "I'm not here to be your friend.

I love you guys, but I l- I'm here to make y'all better football players.

All right?

That's, that's our relationship.

We gonna be cool and all that, but my job is to help you make a lot of money and be a Super Bowl champion one day.

All right?

That's my top priority for these guys."

Is Bruce Irvin a good comparison for Romello height?

Bruce and Romello, yes.

Yes.

You could say that.

Yeah.

He's, yeah, you know Bruce.

Yeah.

Bruce was a guy that West Virginia drafted in the first round.

Everybody thought the Seahawks was crazy for doing it, and then he showed, "Hey, I can rush the passer."

And he actually got mad 'cause we moved him to linebacker 'cause the room was so deep.

We had Cliff Avril, Clemons, Michael Bennett.

You need to get on the field, right?And one thing that I can preach about Raheem is he's gonna find a way to get the best players on the football field.

And so I'm excited for Romello's future.

He's definitely a Bruce Arians in comparison.

Yep.

Have you met any guys early, like, like, they did with you early on?

Like, you know, in the, in the morning, 6:00?

Oh, absolutely.

You had that- Jay- Jalen Graham and Tatum Bethune come to my office every morning.

And, be, look out, J- Tatum hasn't been healthy, but look out for Jalen Graham.

He's a guy that can play all three positions.

Right now he's at the Mike backer because Luke got the concussion.

So Jalen Graham has looked phenomenal.

The way he bends, the way he's seeing the game, his footwork.

He's doing an outstanding job for us this OTAs.

Is he sort of built for that, that strong side role as well?

He, he seems to have- Yeah d- done a lot of stuff in his, in his past too.

Yeah.

I, I love Jalen.

His, his background, he played nickel in college, so I love Jalen.

I stay as that star to the I can't tell, tell him too much.

But stay at this position and stay off the ball as much as possible for Jalen.

That's where he will excel on this football team.

Do you aspire to be a head coach one day?

I, I do know this, I do want to be a really good linebackers coach and I know that I do want to be a defensive coordinator.

I for sure know that.

And so I'm working towards that and we'll see.

We'll see once we get past that point.

Ask me when I become defensive coordinator.

Yeah.

What have been some of the biggest surprises about being a coach that you found, and how have you changed as a person?

Organized.

You gotta be organized as a coach.

I always wonder like, "Why these guys stay till like 9:00, 10:00 at night in OTAs?"

I'm that guy now.

I'm that guy.

It's about making sure I told my wife the other day.

I said, "Babe, I'm responsible for these guys in this room, and if not, if I'm not on point as a coach, they for dang sure not gonna be on point as players."

And so just being organized and just preparing them to just get better.

Like, what are you showing them?

Are you just showing them mess, or are you really showing them what you want them to do on the football field?

So just preparing them for that day is just my biggest focus.

Okay.

Appreciate it.

Yeah.

Thank you.