The biggest addition for the San Francisco 49ers this offseason has arguably been defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. It's a reunion, of course, since Saleh was the defensive coordinator in San Francisco for four seasons (2017-2020) before leaving to become the New York Jets' head coach.
In light of the departure of many key defensive players for the Niners, it's worth wondering if Saleh was fully aware of the mass exodus that was coming before he came back. Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saleh was not caught-off guard by what happened:
"To be clear, Saleh isn’t blindsided by the mass exodus. Most of these moves were covered in his job interview in January.....Saleh was aware of the 49ers’ offseason financial recalibration that general manager John Lynch revealed to reporters last month. The release of [Leonoard] Floyd and [Maliek] Collins were cost-cutting moves, but they were also made after both players were reasons for last year’s run-defense struggles."
It's also not as if the 49ers' defense was all that great last season, finishing bottom-10 of the league in in points allowed (29th), sacks (23rd), third-down conversion rate allowed (24th), takeaways (26th), red-zone touchdown rate allowed (31st) and rushing touchdowns allowed (31st).
Injuries played some role in those struggles, but it can be argued an overhaul on that side of the ball was looming.
The band-aid was just fully ripped off as part of the broader cost-cutting plan this offseason.
Kyle Shanahan is fully aware he could lose Robert Saleh again
Saleh is the 49ers' fourth defensive coordinator in as many years. He surely has aspirations to be a head coach again, and at the NFL owner's meetings on Tuesday, head coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged the prospect of losing Saleh again, and quickly:
"You understand that's his ultimate goal, and that is for almost every coach," Shanahan said. "If we had a hell of a year and we lost Saleh to another team, I'd be happy for him, disappointed for us, but I think that would mean we were doing some pretty good things, too. That's something that you've got to be prepared for in this league... it's something everyone's got to deal with."
The Niners brought in former longtime NFL defensive coordinator Gus Bradley as a defensive assistant this offseason. In naming that the team's most underrated offseason move, ESPN's Nick Wagoner pointed to the idea of Saleh leaving:
"If Saleh has success and takes another head coaching job, Bradley would then become an obvious candidate to take over as coordinator in San Francisco or for Saleh wherever he might land."
If Saleh can dramatically turn around the 49ers' defense in 2025, making chicken salad out of something not nearly as (metaphorically) edible, he will have teams lining up to interview him for head coaching jobs.
Shanahan is not shying away from the possibility the reunion could be a short one.
Read more from Niner Noise
manual