Defensive Coordinator Robert Saleh Press Conference

Defensive Coordinator Robert Saleh

Press Conference – January 14, 2025

San Francisco 49ers

How impressed were you with S Marques Sigle?

“He did a really nice job. He came in, didn’t skip a beat. Marques is going to be a really good football player in this league. After the Rams game, felt like he needed to take a step back and just kind of absorb a little bit more and now he’s getting his opportunity. Obviously first game went pretty good.”

Your rookie defensive tackles have made some strides over the last month or so. What do you see from those guys particularly in the run game?

“The biggest thing is they’re learning in terms of the different blocking combinations that they can get. It’s a lot more complex than what they would’ve seen in college. They’re doing a really nice job disengaging faster than when it first started. They’ve gotten better every week. They’re very deliberate in everything they’ve been doing and we’re obviously really excited about their trajectory.”

On that last play, their last offensive play, are you thinking tendencies, who Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts likes to go to in that situation? What’s going through your head on fourth down?

“There are a lot of things. There’s a lot of recall, a lot of notes on that little sheet I have in my hand. Back in ‘23, we were set in the same situation two-by-two little hook route to the tight end. Not saying that that’s what we were thinking, it’s just one of those recall moments. But, they are who they were at that moment. And we had, you play your odds, you play your numbers, you play the down and distance and luckily it worked out.”

Last time you faced Seattle, you gave up 13 points, they ran the ball well and you didn’t force any turnovers. When you look back at your game plan from that game, do you feel like I need to be more aggressive to force turnovers or 13 points is 13 points?

“No. We need to do better on third down which means we need to do better on first and second down in terms of limiting the leaky yardage that we allowed. It felt like after the first quarter we settled in and played the run game very well. There were a couple of plays early in the game, obviously the third-and-two that went for 30 yards, the third-and-17 that inflated the numbers more than we would’ve liked. But, overall felt like we really settled in the last three quarters with regard to the run game. What we weren’t very happy about was our third down performance. And that’s where in every game when you could look at it, when offense is struggling on third down and defense is struggling on third down, you’re going to end up in a situation where they’re hogging the ball and it’s going to be hard to score. We were fortunate that we only gave up 13 points and we’re going to have to play a lot better to keep it that way.”

On that note, what are the challenges or benefits of playing a team twice in such a short amount of time?

“I’m not sure. There’s not a lot of new information, obviously we were their last game. So, you take what you have. They’ve had two weeks to kind of self-scout and come up with new things, so there are going to be some things that we have not seen and that they have not shown on tape. That’s the benefit of having the number one seed. But, at the same time, when it’s a division opponent, you know them, the players know each other, they know how they feel, they know the blocking. There’s just a familiarity. So, it’s always going to come down to a couple of plays that decide the game.”

There’s so much talk about a culture in this organization when it comes to president of football operations and general manager John Lynch talking about it and head coach Kyle Shanahan a little bit. I’m curious, did the culture here change at all while you were away or did you come back to the same place?

“Good question, man. Culture to me is always about the people. It’s not the words, it’s the people. And I think John and Kyle have done an outstanding job staying true to the people they want in this building. That goes from coaches, staff members, I mean everybody including players. And I think when you bring in the type of person you want, the culture will easily form itself, if that makes sense. And I think they’ve done a really nice job staying disciplined to that. And that locker room is filled with people built of the right character.”

At the start of the season, I asked you what your realistic expectation for a defense that was so young and it’s only gotten younger. Are you surprised at all with how they’ve been able to play? When you think of the tackle Marques Sigle made on Philadelphia Eagles RB Saquon Barkley or how CB Upton Stout has been able to make an impact out there. Has it been surprising to you with the youth and how much they’ve been able to produce?

“No (laughter). Coach [assistant head coach defense Gus] Bradley says it all the time that ‘the mother of learning is repetition.’ So, you trust that if they get enough reps, if they keep getting reps and they’re deliberate in their reps and they’re learning from their mistakes, you naturally are going to get better. Now, how fast they get better is you never know. But, it’s not surprising that a guy like Stout has improved throughout the year. He’s banked, I don’t know how many reps, but he’s got all the practice reps, OTAs, training, camp, practices, game reps, and he has been put in some really critical situations throughout the entire season. And he’s getting more and more confident with what he’s being asked to do. He’s recognizing more and more of what offenses are trying to do and he’s learning. So, naturally they’re going to get better. It’s exciting to see. We’ve done it before with young guys and the whole league has always seen the more young guys play, the faster they get. So, it’s exciting to see them, but it’s not surprising.”

It seemed like your communication in this game was really good. LB Garret Wallow and LB Eric Kendricks. And then in between series I saw you on the bench talking to the guys. Did you feel the need to be more communicative between series because you do have a young group and the stakes are pretty high?

“No. First off, [linebackers coach] Johnny [Holland] and [defensive quality control coach] K.J. [Wright], just an outstanding job preparing those two, and credit to Wallow and Kendricks with how hard they’ve worked since they’ve got here to get brought up to speed. So, an outstanding job in terms of preparation. And Kendricks is a veteran and Wallows is a veteran. They have a natural feel for football. I thought they did a great job with communication. We had a lot of things this week to try from a schematic standpoint, we were making a lot of adjustments on the sideline and those guys were able to absorb it. The guys were locked in all three levels and they really made it an easy game to coach because they were completely locked in, so they made it easy.”

In a week this tight. Have you interviewed for any head coaching positions?

“No, not yet.”

A lot has been made about LB Fred Warner’s practice window opening. What interactions have you had with him and what was the vibe when he stepped on the practice field yesterday?

“Fred?”

Yeah.

“Just pure energy. Fred’s the ultimate energy giver, so just having him out there is awesome. Yesterday was a little bit more tempo down, but today obviously with higher tempo it’ll be fun to get him out there and see him running around.”

Eric Hendricks gave K.J. a lot of credit for working extra with him. Did you know that that was happening behind the scenes or did you see that extra work that they were putting in for that game?

“Yeah. The assistant linebackers coach is responsible for anyone new in the building to just make sure they’re getting caught up while the position coach is working with the guys who are getting ready to play. So, K.J.’s put in a lot of hours with Eric and Wallow for that matter, to get them up to speed and when it was their time to step into the week, it goes to Johnny. And like I said, that’s why both of them did just an outstanding job in preparation over the last month with those two.”

Kyle Shanahan always talks about having to save RB Christian McCaffrey from himself sometimes because of how much he loves the game. Is there any of that between you and Fred Warner?

“No. You know, Fred I think it’s different. Like Christian, obviously he’s a high-volume back, where on defense it’s just different.”

Kendricks probably isn’t the player he was a few years ago. At one time he was one of the best linebackers in the league and I would imagine his professionalism and his communication still carries over. How nice is it to have that caliber of pro on the field?

“Oh, it is. I think it’s a force multiplier, right? His communication creates a calm to all three levels of the defense, gets people lined up and that’s where communication can excel at its fastest or be at its best. I thought, like I said, he was outstanding with regards to all the checks. I’m not sure he could be much better. Hopefully he can duplicate it this week.”