Defensive Coordinator Robert Saleh Press Conference

Defensive Coordinator Robert Saleh

Press Conference – May 8, 2025

San Francisco 49ers

So, how’s it feel to be back?

“Oh, it’s been great. It’s been great. A lot of the same faces, but it’s been pretty cool.”

Does it feel at all like 2017, just as far as all the changes that happened on defense and all the rebuilding that you have to do?

“No. From a talent standpoint, [DL Nick] Bosa is here, you’ve got obviously [LB] Fred [Warner], [DB Deommodore Lenoir] DMo, [CB] Renardo [Green]. There’s a lot of really good talent on this defense, so it’s not nearly as what ‘17 was.”

What’s the difference between you now and you when you left here?

“I don’t know. Obviously, I’ve gone through the head coaching stuff and you learn a lot going through that. But I’m happy to be back in this chair where I get to coach a little bit more football and not deal with all the administrative stuff that comes with being a head coach. The perspective, I guess, especially, and that’s what was exciting about coming back. Just being in a building where I was once a coordinator and now having head coaching experience, to have that global view. So, there’s a lot of empathy for understanding what [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] is going through and trying to help him out best I can. But it’s just, I guess more experience.”

Have you lost, was there a temptation to go somewhere else where you’re working for another head coach or another situation?

“No, and I mean that. I have a tremendous amount of respect for this organization. Obviously, starting at the top with [CEO] Jed [York], he’s phenomenal. Kyle, his family, [president of football operations/general manager] John [Lynch], [president of 49ers enterprises and EVP of football operations] Paraag [Marathe], they gave me so much. And during the first two years, if you think about those first two years as D-Coordinator in ‘17 and ‘18, it wasn’t easy. And it could have been very easy for them to move on from me. And so, there’s a, I’m indebted to this organization, to those men for the rest of my life. They stuck with me and we made it happen. We did what we needed to do, and the rest is history. I’m excited about the opportunity to get the chance to do it again with them.”

Has your defensive scheme evolved at all since you were here the last time?

“Yeah, for sure it’s evolved. You’re always trying to stay two years ahead of the offense. And when we went to the Jets, there were a lot of different things that we started to do. And even now, while we have some things from the Jets, there’s stuff that has evolved over the course of the last four years here, and obviously with the league that there’s stuff happening. We’ve, over this offseason, a lot of really cool concepts, a lot of really cool things. So, some things are the same, some things are the same from the Jets, some things are meshed, some things are coming in that are new. So, it’s like I said, we’re trying to stay a couple years ahead. A lot of it may seem similar, but there’s a lot of nuance that makes a difference.”

You said you try to stay a couple years ahead. What exactly does that mean? Does that mean that you have to kind of project where you think offenses will be?

“For sure. There are always trends with offenses, and you can get an idea of what they’re trying to do and what they’re trying to get done. You’re just trying to pick up on those trends. I don’t want to get into too much detail, but you’re always trying to stay ahead of them.”

Could you get into a little bit of detail with the younger guys? Obviously, a few weeks since the Draft. What are you thinking of the rookies so far?

“Excited to get them out this weekend, for sure. A really cool group of kids that are coming in, all are going to have an opportunity to compete, to get significant playing time this year. But, it’s exciting to get a, just the injection of youth to go along with a lot of the veterans that we have on this football team. So, it’s exciting. It’s going to be fun to work with them.”

Jed sort of joked about it, but how much of a role did you actually have in terms of this Draft?

“That was the other reason why it was exciting to come back. This organization, and no pun intended, with it being the gold standard with regard to collaboration and communication. Most buildings maybe spend a week in terms of communication between the scouting department and coaching staff with regards to the Draft. This organization will spend three to four weeks just grinding on tape, offense, defense, special teams, and going deep into the seventh-round, undrafted free agent type players. And I think that’s why this organization has had so much success finding day-three picks that come to fruition, and even undrafted free agents that end up having success in this league. So, when it comes to finding players, this organization does a phenomenal job with collaboration. And let’s be very real, there’s still a process that needs to be followed. The board fell our way from a defensive standpoint. There were a lot of guys on offense that were graded higher that offense was excited to go get, but they got pulled off the board, And I was standing in the back of the room like, ‘Hey, I got a guy.’ It happened the way it happened, but there was tremendous collaboration through the process.”

Has it always been like that, or has the Draft process evolved over time?

“It’s always been this way here. Kyle and John do an unbelievable job. You’d be hard pressed to find people who do it as good as they do.”

This defense, obviously last year, it fell off. So, when you were here last time, you preached extreme violence, all gas, no break. Do those principles need to be reinforced here now?

“I think it’s going to come just with all the youth. There’s a lot of empathy for what happened to the group last year. There was a lot of things that, through the halfway point, this defense was playing some really good football and there were a lot of injuries and the wheels kind of fell off during the last four weeks of the season. So, for the coaching staff and the players, there’s a lot of empathy in terms of like, ‘Man, you’re doing your best. It just didn’t work out.’ But you still see it all. These guys play their butts off. I thought [Dallas Cowboys special teams coordinator] Nick [Sorensen] and those guys did a really nice job. And it’s just bringing in this youth, getting them caught up to what the standard is and doing our best to uphold it.”

Can you describe what your role was when you joined Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur last year? Did that new perspective help you for this, for coming back to this role?

“Yeah, you know I joke with Matt, I think it was more therapy for me than I was a help for him. But it was just trying to give him a defensive perspective regarding, looking at the, from an offensive standpoint, watching the defense. Giving them thoughts on rules and what may or may not work. But I’m, again, forever grateful for Matty for opening the door to his building and allowing me the opportunity to work there just because of the, from a mental space. It was, like I said, more therapeutic than anything for me.”

Following up on that, when you took some time to kind of reflect on your time in New York, what did you learn about yourself as maybe a man or a coach? A little bit of both?

“You learn a lot. I’ve said it before, there is no handbook for a first-time head coach. There’s no handbook for your first time going through life, right? You learn a lot through the process. You figure out a lot about yourself. You understand and pick up, if you look inward and you look in the mirror you can identify some of the things that you did wrong and some of the things that you’d like to do differently. But yeah, there’s, anytime you get an experience that’s different than the ones you’ve always experienced, you have an opportunity to grow. And so, there’s been a lot of self-reflection and growth in that regard.”

You may lean on some rookies this year. What would you like to see from those rookies in this rookie camp?

“Just come out and compete. No expectations right now. They’ve got a long way to go with regards to understanding what we do. One, the standard at which we play, and the style of ball that we expect them to play. And then on top of that, you’ve got the scheme and understanding all the nuance that we’re going to ask out of them. And so, they’ve got OTAs, training camp, and it’s going to be a crash course. And if any of them are worthy, they’ll be on the field Week One.”

Anytime that you go from, in any profession, a two to a one, going back to a two is not always easy. Was there ever hesitation or doubt, thinking, “Maybe I should just sit out a year rather than go back to be an assistant and wait for another head coaching opportunity in year?”

“No. We’re creatures of habit. I couldn’t imagine waking up, and it sounds good. Wake up every morning, take my kids to school, go golf, and then go watch tape. But no, coaching ball was always the option one.”

When John and Kyle, or whoever it was, reached out to you, did they remind you, “Hey, remember we could have fired you?”

“(Laughter) He never has to remind me. It’s always on my mind.”

Your first stint here, there was so much talk, especially after they signed former NFL CB Richard Sherman, about tall corners. And obviously, I think the height profile seems to have changed. Has the scheme changed a little bit to where that six-one to six-three corner may no longer be the exact prototype anymore?

“It was that, you’re right, in ‘17 and ‘18 and then as we evolved in ‘19, there was a major shift in the way we did things. So, when we first got here, we installed the Seattle system as I learned it. And then as a staff, we kind of evolved. We brought in the wide-nine and we started implementing some quarters and then our third-down-pressure package completely changed. And so, the profile has changed at all three levels. I’m not going to detail out what those profiles are, but over the course of the last, call it eight years, eight, nine years, it’s changed significantly.”

Some of the guys that you picked, you drafted, drew comparisons to guys that you coached in the past. LB Nick Martin to Denver Broncos LB Dre Greenlaw, DL C.J. West to Denver Broncos DL D.J. Jones. Do you agree with those comparisons and was that sort of a conscious thing for you to look for types that have worked on this defense in the past?

“No. You’re always going to have a comparable, just to give people reference. But they are their own individual players, the way they’ll be used. For me, I don’t want to pigeonhole any of those guys to being, even though those are great football players, why can’t they be more, you know? And so, they have a unique skillset and unique traits that probably remind people of those players. But, they are their own individuals and it’s going to be exciting to see how they turn out.”