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Will the 49ers Try to Re-Hire Robert Saleh in the Next Few Weeks?

What an opportunity for the 49ers.

Grant Cohn

Oct 6, 2024; London, United Kingdom; New York Jets coach Robert Saleh reacts against the Minnesota Vikings in the first half at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Oct 6, 2024; London, United Kingdom; New York Jets coach Robert Saleh reacts against the Minnesota Vikings in the first half at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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What an opportunity for the 49ers.

The New York Jets, one of the worst franchises in football, just fired their head coach Robert Saleh just five games into the season. The Jets currently have the same record as the 49ers -- 2-3. And their defense is excellent. Their issue is their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. He's old and washed up. Saleh wasn't their problem.

But now he's a free agent, and the 49ers happen to need a defensive coordinator.

Their current defensive coordinator, Nick Sorensen, isn't doing so well. Nick Bosa called him out after Sunday's loss to the Cardinals for not adjusting quickly enough in the 49ers' defeats. Sounds like Sorensen is losing the confidence of the players.

If the 49ers defense struggles in the next three games -- against the Seahawks, the Chiefs and the Cowboys -- I could see the 49ers making a coaching change at the bye week. They may have no choice.

The 49ers possibly could replace Sorensen with assistant head coach Brandon Staley, who has a defensive background. But he's part of the current staff that isn't adjusting quickly enough mid -game. I don't see how promoting him would fix the 49ers' issues.

Saleh is a much better defensive coach than Sorensen and Staley. Saleh is one of the best defensive coaches in the league. Which means the 49ers need to make him an offer he can't refuse because he has the ability to save their season which already is on the brink of collapse.

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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.

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