The San Francisco 49ers are right in playoff contention, thanks in large part to the coaching staff. That may come back to bite them, though, as defensive coordinator Robert Saleh will likely be on the move this offseason.
Saleh's name has also come up in head coaching rumors, and it would not be a surprise if he was hired to be a head coach somewhere.
There are already going to be two openings with the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants, who already fired their head coaches this season, but there are other potential openings as well, like the Las Vegas Raiders, who may move on from Pete Carroll after one disastrous season.
One other potential opening to keep an eye on is in the NFC West.
No, the Los Angeles Rams will not be firing Sean McVay, and the Seattle Seahawks surely must be pleased with the job Mike Macdonald is doing, but the Arizona Cardinals may have no other choice than to move on from Jonathan Gannon.
Gannon has a 15-31 record as the head coach of the Cardinals, and his team has basically been in free-fall this season after a solid start to the year. The situation with quarterback Kyler Murray is odd, and it seems like Arizona may move on from Murray this offseason.
If the Cardinals did decide to get rid of Gannon, could they look at Saleh as a potential replacement?
Whenever a team fires a head coach, they usually try to find the remedy rather than the replica. Gannon has a defensive background and was a defensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles prior to joining Arizona, so the Cardinals may not want another head coach with a defensive background, which is what Saleh would bring to the table.
At the same time, Saleh seems to provide a different energy than Gannon and seems to be more energetic and joyful when things are going well, so the Cardinals could be attracted to that.
They must certainly be impressed with the job Saleh has done coaching a unit that lost its two best players in Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. Despite those massive losses, the 49ers have still played solid on defense and have held up well over the course of the season.
That reflects very well on Saleh and is going to make him attractive to a lot of teams, even though his first head coaching stint did not go great with the New York Jets.
The Niners would not enjoy having to face Saleh twice a season, though, so if Saleh does pursue another head coaching opportunity, let's hope that he stays out of the NFC West since the Niners are already going to have their hands full with the Rams and Seahawks.