The San Francisco 49ers are expected to hire Robert Saleh as their new defensive coordinator, according to The Athletic.
Saleh, who held the same role with the 49ers between 2017 and 2020, has been out of work since getting fired by the New York Jets in October.
He has interviewed for various head coaching roles in the past few weeks and was thought to be a leading candidate with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
However, that race took a wild turn Thursday when Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen rejoined the race and closed in on a shock move across Florida, despite agreeing a new contract in Tampa.
Saleh was due to fly to Jacksonville on Thursday for another interview with the Jaguars but cancelled his flight once the Coen news had emerged.
Now he is primed to return to San Francisco with Kyle Shanahan and retake the reigns of the defensive system he created in 2017.
The San Francisco 49ers are expected to hire Robert Saleh as their new defensive coordinator
Saleh created one of the NFL’s meanest defense with the 49ers between 2017 and 2020
The 49ers fired Nick Sorensen earlier this month after just one season in the role and were seeking their fourth defensive coordinator in the past four seasons.
DeMeco Ryans left after his second season in the role in 2022 to become head coach for the Houston Texans and Steve Wilks was fired after the 2023 season when San Francisco went to the Super Bowl.
The 49ers regressed this season under Sorensen as the injury-filled unit struggled to create turnovers, stop the run and create consistent pressure on the quarterback.
San Francisco has run a similar system for the past several years to the one started during Saleh’s tenure, but Shanahan said he wants a coordinator who can better adapt to the personnel and is open to changing scheme.
Saleh helped build a defense that was one of the league’s most dominant units the previous few years. He was Shanahan’s first defensive coordinator in 2017 and struggled the first two seasons.
But after the team drafted defensive end Nick Bosa in 2019 and implemented the ‘wide nine’ scheme that featured edge rushers lining up wide and focusing on getting up field, the defense took off.
San Francisco went to the Super Bowl in the 2019 season and still had a strong season the following season when Bosa missed almost the entire year with a knee injury, leading to Saleh getting the head coaching job with the New York Jets.
Saleh was fired midway through this past season, but the Jets had a strong defense under his tenure.
