Today, Friday January 8th 2021, the Jets are set to interview 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. So far they have interviewed Eric Bieniemy, whom they passed on during the last search when the Johnson’s made one of the biggest blunders in our history by hiring Adam Gase, as well as Marvin Lewis, former head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals for 16 seasons, a long time. They still have many more interviews to go, showing the due diligence of Joe Douglas. He has truly heeded my request of climbing every mountain and leaving no stone unturned. One of the candidates left to be interviewed is my favorite candidate, current Bills offensive coordinator and former Jets QB coach, Brian Daboll. However, this article is about Robert Saleh.
Robert Saleh has been an NFL coach for 16 years, so he is definitely not inexperienced. He attended North Michigan University, as a native from Michigan, and played tight end for four years there. Saleh started his coaching career in the collegiate ranks with Michigan State University, again staying in his home roots of Michigan. At Michigan State he was the offensive assistant/tight ends coach in 2002, and then the defensive assistant/ defensive lines coach in 2003. Since then, its been all defenses for Saleh. In 2004 he became the defensive assistant/ defensive lines coach at Central Michigan University. Seemed he didn’t want to leave his home state.
He finally does however when the NFL comes calling. Saleh spend six years with the Houston Texans, serving as an interim coach (2005), a defensive assistant (2006-2008), and an assistant linebackers coach (2009-2010). As their linebackers coach, he oversaw the development of Brian Cushing, who was the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2009. In 2009, both Cushing and DeMeco Ryans were Pro Bowlers and ranked top 10 in the NFL in tackles.
After his time with Houston, Saleh spend 3 years with the Seattle Seahawks from 2011-2013. He was a defensive quality control coach. As we know, in 2013 the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 48. The Seattle defense was famously nicknamed the “Legion of Boom.” The following season, Saleh became the linebackers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and remained their linebackers coach until 2016. There he is credited for the continued development of Paul Posluszny. Posluszny in 2015 was 5th in the NFL with 133 tackles, as well had 13 tackles for loss. In 2016, Saleh’s linebackers helped Jacksonville’s defense rank 5th in passing yards allowed (215.3) and 6th in opponent rushing average (3.82).
From 2017 on, Saleh has held the position he currently has as defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers. Since with the 49ers, it has been very interesting. He had an incredible year in 2019, and a good 2020, but in 2017 and 2018 his defenses ranked average or below average. In 2017, Saleh’s overall team defense ranked 25th, passing and rushing defense both 22nd, and 25th in scoring defense. Again, there were bright spots, as his defenses did hold opponents to under 100 rushing yards 7 times that season, as well was among the league leaders at getting into the opponent’s backfield on running plays, finishing tied for 5th in the NFL by forcing 53 rushes for negative yardage. However, the rankings in general do rank towards the bottom of the league.
2018 was similar for Saleh. Bright spots, but overall average to bad rankings. In 2018 his defense ranked overall 28th, however did better against the pass and were ranked 11th. They were 14th against the run, but 28th in scoring. Saleh’s defense did finish the season with 37 sacks, the most by the 49ers since 2013. Saleh’s defense ranked in the top half of the league in rushing yards per play allowed (4.09- 7th), opponent completion percentage (63.5- 10th), yards per play allowed (5.42- 11th), net passing yards per game allowed (233.3- 11th), yards per game allowed (346.6- 13th), rushing yards per game allowed (113.4- 14th) and passing yards per play (6.45- 14th). Not towards the top of league, but not bad either. DeForest Buckner had a career high 12 sacks and was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career.
Now 2019. That was the season Saleh and the 49ers shined! The 49ers defense was ranked 8th overall, 1st in the entire NFL in pass defense, 17th in rush defense, and 8th in scoring. Saleh was named Coordinator of the Year by Sporting News when his 49ers defense ranked 2nd in the NFL in total yards allowed per game (281.8), the fewest total yards allowed per game by the 49ers since 1997 (250.8). The 1st overall in passing defense was the lowest passing yards allowed per game since 2009 when surprise, it was done by our New York Jets. The 49ers also were tied for 2nd in the NFL in 3rd down percentage allowed (33.3) and tied for 5th in sacks (48.0), the most by the 49ers in a single season since 1998 (51.0)! They also ranked 7th in both opponent completion percentage (61.3) and opponent quarterback rating (83.0). A very impressive season indeed. Rookie Nick Bosa had 47 tackles, 9 sacks, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumble recoveries and 2 passes defensed. Bosa is incredible so Saleh doesn’t deserve too much of the credit, but he deserves some. Bosa was named AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, and was also named a starter in the Pro Bowl. Arik Armstead (10 sacks), Bosa (9 sacks), DeForest Buckner (7.5 sacks) and Dee Ford (6.5 sacks) made the 49ers the only team in the NFL to have 4+ players with 6.5+ sacks in 2019.
In 2020, the 49ers have had another good season on defense. They rank 17th overall, but 4th against the pass and 7th against the run. They were 17th in scoring. Fred Warner has consistently put up over 100 tackles since 2018, but like Bosa he is a tremendous athlete and talent. Saleh deserves some of the credit for that, but not most.The team was descent in getting to the quarterback, with Kerry Hyder and Arik Armstead doing the most damage. Bosa tore his ACL toward the beginning of the season and that hurt their pressure numbers. One player to credit Saleh on is UDFA Emmanuel Moseley. He has played well the last few seasons. Its one thing to get good production from a star, its another when its from a UDFA.
Overall, the 49ers defense under Robert Saleh has played well when they have top talent, but when they don’t, they tend to be average or below average. It is hard to gauge from that since good to great coaches get the most out of all of their players, not just their stars. Over the last 2 seasons, Saleh’s defenses have been toward the top of the league in both defending against the run and in passing defense. In 2018, they were about average, and in 2017 they ranked toward the bottom of the league. Saleh has only been a coordinator with the 49ers, everywhere else he has had smaller roles. His best traits are his fiery attitude that we have all seen from the sidelines, as well as his player camaraderie. The Jets have said they are looking for a CEO type and not as much a top coordinator, so if he can sell Douglas on these abilities and has good people he wants to bring in, he may be the next head coach of the New York Jets, but if he doesn’t, don’t get your hopes up.