Ex-Jets head coach Robert Saleh returns to 49ers as defensive coordinator, report

It’s never too late to come home.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan certainly believes that, as he is set to hire his first 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to the same role, according to The Athletic. Saleh served as Shanahan’s 49ers defensive coordinator for Four Seasons from 2017 to 2020, a span that included San Francisco reaching the Super Bowl Liv during the 2019 season, before becoming the head coach of the New York Jets in 2021.

Saleh was in the mix for head coaching jobs with the Dallas Cowboys, It was their first in-person interviewand he interviewed with the Jacksonville Jaguars Also. However with Jacksonville zero in Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen After Firing general manager Trent Baalke on WednesdaySaleh opted to return to where he launched his NFL head coaching career instead of waiting for the official announcement that the Jaguars were hiring Coen.

Saleh was 20-36 in just under four seasons as the Jets’ head coach after his Week 5 shot in 2024. However, his defense was never really the problem in New York. After having the worst defense in the league in 2021, Saleh’s teams have been top-five defenses in each of his last three seasons.

The Jets drafted Zach Wilson second overall in the 2021 NFL Draft out of BYU, but he never panned out. That’s why the team traded for a 40-year-old Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers in 2023. He tore his Achilles in Week 1 this season, then the team floundered offensively in the team’s first full season. Rodgers with the Jets in 2024.

New York actually had a top-five defense in almost every key metric in 2024 before Saleh’s firing, but the unit fell apart after his release.

After an injury-plagued 2024 season in which the 49ers were the NFL’s No. 29 scoring defense (25.6 points per game allowed), they returned to right ship in 2025.