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49ers DC Robert Saleh Tries to Stay Two Years Ahead of NFL Offenses

He's at least two steps ahead of the competiton.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh (left) greets San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner (right) after the game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh (left) greets San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner (right) after the game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

SANTA CLARA -- The last time Robert Saleh was the 49ers' defensive coordinator, the teams to beat in the NFC were the Rams and the Buccaneers, and their quarterbacks were Jared Goff and Tom Brady, respectively. And Saleh built his defenses to stop those offenses.

Since then, the NFC has changed dramatically.

Now, the team to beat is the Eagles, and their quarterback is Jalen Hurts, who scored nearly as many rushing touchdowns as passing touchdowns last season. Which means Saleh's defensive scheme needs to evolve.

"For sure it has evolved," Saleh said. "You're always trying to stay two years ahead of offenses. With the Jets, there were a lot of different things that we started to do. And even now, while we have some things from the Jets, there are things that have evolved over the course of the last four years here. And obviously with the league, there's stuff happening.

"So some things are the same, some things are the same from the Jets, some things are meshed, some things are coming in that are new. Like I said, we're trying to stay a couple years ahead. A lot of it may seem similar, but there's a lot of nuance that makes a difference."

During Saleh's first stint as 49ers defensive coordinator, most offenses operated out three-receiver formations and most quarterbacks were pocket passers. It was a passing league. So defenses sold out to sack the quarterback.

Now, the Eagles pass the ball less frequently that just about any other team. To beat them, you must be able to stop a zone-read rushing attack that has multiple tight ends on the field. Which means the defense must be big and stout. And that's exactly what Saleh is building.

He's at least two steps ahead of the competiton.

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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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