It was a rocky first couple years for the 49ers defensive coordinator. Some fans may have wanted him gone.
During the Kyle Shanahan era, the San Francisco 49ers have had two one-and-done defensive coordinators.
Robert Saleh is grateful he’s not one of those defensive coordinators.
The 49ers’ defensive coordinator is grateful he didn’t suffer the same fate as Steve Wilks and Nick Sorensen: the 49ers ran out of patience. And there were times you thought they might. During his press conference Thursday, Saleh said he was indebted to the organization sticking behind him in those more difficult years:
“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.”
Saleh didn’t exactly light the world on fire in his inaugural season as defensive coordinator; 25th overall in points allowed, 24th overall in yards allowed, 29th in first downs; the list goes on. Then again, 2017 was a mess in its own right as Kyle Shanahan was trying to turn around the roster and fix the mistakes of the previous regimes.
2018 was even worse for points allowed (28th), but there were solid, if minor, improvements across the board. Considering it was a nightmare season where the team lost starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in Week 3, an “S” for satisfactory might be generous—depending on who you ask.
Unfortunately, the defense did have some untimely misfires. Against the Green Bay Packers, for instance, some (strange) penalties and bending of the defense allowed them to secure a go-ahead win. There was also the Heat-O-Meters, which, even with the Packers game, had fans’ growing frustration with some of the miscues. Blown leads and “communication issues” seemed more regular than anyone would like.
It’s safe to say that by the end of 2018, some fans had had enough of Robert Saleh. There is so much that Kyle Shanahan had to state in his season-ending press conference that Saleh would be retained. The 49ers drafted Bosa in the following NFL Draft, and all of a sudden, Saleh’s defense is lights out. Unfortunately, the same character flaw: blown leads and communication issues, would be the 49ers’ undoing in the Super Bowl that same year.
Of course, by then, Saleh was on his way to being a head coach and would have only one more year with the team before leaving for the New York Jets.
So when he says he’s indebted to the organization for sticking behind him those years? There was a lot to warrant this being like a Wilkes or Sorensen.
Saleh’s right to be grateful. Most coordinators don’t survive those numbers—especially not in San Francisco.