How Robert Saleh Will Remake the 49ers Defense this Offseason

The 49ers defense could look much different next season under Robert Saleh.
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA;  New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh during the first quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh during the first quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images / David Gonzales-Imagn Images
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The 49ers defense could look much different next season under Robert Saleh.

Of all the players he coached on the 49ers from 2017 to 2020, only two remain under contract: Fred Warner and Nick Bosa. The rest are players who were acquired after he left to coach the Jets.

Now that Saleh is back, he will have a major voice when it comes to the defensive personnel. And it's possible that he may not see some of the current players as fits for what he wants to do.

Take Leonard Floyd, for example. The 49ers signed him last year to a two-year contract because assistant head coach Brandon Staley worked with him in the past and recommended him to the front office. Staley most likely will not return this year, which means Floyd might not, either. He's horrible against the run and he'll be 33 next season. If he doesn't get released, he might have to take a pay cut and a demotion because he can't start at defensive end for a team that wants to have a good run defense.

Then there are Maliek Collins, Yetur Gross-Matos and Jordan Elliott -- three other defensive linemen the 49ers signed last year. All of them were disappointments and none of them have guaranteed money left on their deals. Which means the 49ers cut release any of them or all three.

I'm guessing the 49ers will re-sign Dre Greenlaw to a one-year deal considering Robert Saleh knows him and had a hand in drafting and developing him.

I'm also guessing the 49ers won't re-sign Talanoa Hufanga or Charvarius Ward because they were acquired after Saleh left and he doesn't know them. Don't be surprised if they follow DeMeco Ryans to the Houston Texans.

In the draft, look for Saleh to add an explosive edge-rusher, a run-stuffing defensive tackle and a three-down linebacker who can replace Greenlaw in a year, or the next time he gets injured.

Overall, expect Saleh to add speed to the defensive line, the linebacker corps and the secondary. The 49ers are much slower as a team than they were when he was here last.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.