Jaguar Report

Jaguars Head Coaching Search: The Pros and Cons Of Robert Saleh's Potential Fit

As the Jacksonville Jaguars continue to interview prospects for the open head coaching position, we take a look at the pro's and con's of each of the five candidates. In this edition, we examine San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator, Robert Saleh.

Kassidy Hill

The Jacksonville Jaguars are on the precipice of hiring a new head coach, one the franchise hopes can turn around fortunes and help bring the city hope.

Names have abounded in recent days, but the list—confirmed by the club—has been whittled down to five . Each has their strengths as well as their weaknesses. We examine the pros and cons that come with each coach and their potential impact on the Jaguars.

In this edition, we look at San Francisco 49ers Defensive Coordinator Robert Saleh.

Related: Would Urban Meyer Make Sense for the Jaguars?

 Background

  • Michigan State (2002–2003): Defensive Assistant
  • Central Michigan (2004): Defensive Assistant
  • Georgia (2005): Defensive Assistant
  • Houston Texans (2005): Defensive Intern
  • Houston Texans (2006–2008): Defensive Quality Control
  • Houston Texans (2009–2010): Assistant Linebackers Coach
  • Seattle Seahawks (2011–2013): Defensive Quality Control Coach
  • Jacksonville Jaguars (2014–2016): Linebackers Coach
  • San Francisco 49ers (2017–present): Defensive Coordinator

Saleh rose in the coaching ranks quickly. After spending time as a defensive assistant with college teams, Saleh made the jump to the NFL at 26 years old. Under then defensive coordinator Richard Smith (who is now with the Chargers and Gus Bradley as a linebackers coach), Saleh was promoted to assistant linebackers coach in 2009. 

Smith has worked with Dan Quinn and now serves as the linebackers coach under Gus Bradley, making it Saleh’s first foray into the coaching tree that he’d continue to climb. It’s also where he’d first work with Kyle Shanahan, who was the quarterbacks coach then offensive coordinator with the Texans from 2007-2009.

Saleh served as a quality control coach from 2011-2013 with the vaulted Seattle Seahawks defense, learning under Dan Quinn (who would hire Smith and Shanahan in Atlanta) and Gus Bradley. In 2014, he followed Bradley to Jacksonville where he eventually coached Myles Jack in his rookie season (2016).

After the 2016 season, which saw Doug Marrone replace Gus Bradley as head coach, Saleh was hired as the defensive coordinator with the 49ers under new Head Coach Kyle Shanahan, who by that point had seen the Seattle defensive scheme in some ways at Houston and a clear replication in Atlanta, and wanted it mirrored with Saleh in San Francisco.

During the 2019 Super Bowl run, the 49ers defense was sixth in the league in forced turnovers (27), second in total defense (281.8 yards per game), first in passing defense (169.2 yards per game), and fourth in sacks (48). This was the first time since 2003 that the 49ers finished in the top 10 in both scoring and yards per game.

Pros

One of the biggest selling points for Saleh however is that he very possibly has evolved beyond the constraints of the original defense which shaped him.

Again, we refer to our All 49ers counterpart here:

“In 2019, Saleh hired defensive line coach Kris Kocurek, who installed a Wide 9 defensive front — meaning four men on the line instead of five. This Wide 9 enhanced the 49ers pass rush and weakened the run defense — a smart tradeoff in the modern NFL, which is a passing league.

…

“These changes made the 49ers defense the second-best in the NFL. But the defense fell apart during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl -- gave up 21 points. Wasn’t good enough to hold down the Chiefs' offense for an entire game. And the 49ers lost.

“So Saleh changed his defense again this offseason. Saleh hired Tony Oden, a man-to-man coverage specialist who coached the Lions defensive backs from 2014 to 2017, and the Dolphins defensive backs from 2018 to 2019.

“This is Version 3.0 of Saleh’s defense. Saleh knows a defense can’t play purely zone coverage and win a Super Bowl anymore. Those days are over.”

So not only did Saleh change his defense for the second straight year, he then ran it during one of those worst injury rashes any NFL team has ever seen. Saleh has eight defenders still on the IR including Bosa, Ezekiel Ansah, Solomon Thomas, and Dee Ford; that doesn’t even include Richard Sherman, who missed 11 games this season with a calf injury.

Still, the 49ers finished the regular season with the 5th best defense in the league. They are the only team in the Top 9 in league defense that is not in the playoffs. That’s a credit to Saleh, who pulled together practice squad players and hobbled guys amidst an injury-ridden and pandemic season, and still hold teams to an average of 314.4 yards per game (opponents averaged 24.4 points per game).

And considering former General Manager Dave Caldwell and former Head Coach Doug Marrone spent the past two years bringing in, drafting, and signing players capable of running more of this Saleh "Version 3.0" scheme (CJ Henderson, K'Lavon Chaisson, Josh Allen, Sidney Jones IV, even moving Myles Jack outside) the pieces are in place to be successful. Now they just need a coach willing to make that change.

Another point of note; while the Jags would certainly be under Saleh’s purview if he becomes the head coach, it wouldn’t be his only focus. A head coach can’t afford to just be a coordinator. He must be a CEO, able to handle every aspect of the roster, facilitate locker room harmony and keep everyone moving in the same direction.

Having spent the past four seasons with Shanahan and General Manager John Lynch, Saleh has seen first hand how to succeed in those aspects and turn around a franchise. 

Cons

It’s so easy to fall in love with Saleh at first sight. The coordinator is a branch on a coaching tree that has spread its roots all over the NFL and was the man in charge of a unit that was largely responsible for putting the 49ers in the Super Bowl last year.

But…well, there’s really no polite way to say this…we’re not sure the Seattle defensive scheme of which this and so many others are based is actually any good.

It puts up record-breaking numbers one season, only to take a massive regression the next. It’s the reasoning for both hiring Dan Quinn and the bullet that fired Richard Smith in Atlanta. It’s the bar set in Seattle only to be what’s held Russ Wilson back in years since.

It’s the reason so many have been hired as head coaches only to be fired a few short years later. The only head coaches associated with the scheme that have been spared are Pete Carroll and Kyle Shanahan, and the latter is an offensive-minded guy who presumably isn't to blame for the swings the defense can take year to year.

The scheme is described differently depending on which coach one is talking to at any given time. In basic terms, it’s described as a 4-3 but Jaguars DC Todd Wash—who kept the system after Bradley implemented it in Jacksonville and still runs it with the Jaguars to the point—is brutally honest; it’s not a 4-3, because that could too easily be converted to a 3-4. Instead, it’s a five-man front—or what Wash calls a 50 under front—which was great a decade ago but has trouble keeping up in today’s NFL.

Our colleagues over at All 49ers when describing the system which was put into place at San Francisco in 2017, said it this way.

“It’s predictable and NFL offenses figured out how to beat it. So from 2017 to 2018, the 49ers defended the run well, but opposing quarterbacks shredded them.”

In fact, the defense seems largely predicated on being stocked with Pro Bowlers and elite talent. It’s easy to run what you want when Bobby Wagner (Seattle), Richard Sherman (Seattle and 49ers), Keanu Neal (Atlanta), Joey Bosa (Chargers), Nick Bosa (49ers), and Calais Campbell with Yannick Ngakoue (Jaguars) are making plays.

Saleh chats with Richard Sherman—who he's worked with at Seattle and San Francisco—during a game. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Without them?

Well, it certainly isn’t pretty. Why? Because the defense is intended to be physical and stop the run, which it can still do. But that doesn’t win ball games in today’s NFL, as the 49ers saw all too clearly when they gave up 21 points in the 4th quarter in route to losing to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV.

Published
Kassidy Hill
KASSIDY HILL

Home/News