Why Robert Saleh could regret leaving the San Francisco 49ers

This was an interesting decision.

Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

The San Francisco 49ers will be looking for a new defensive coordinator after Robert Saleh left to be the head coach of the Tennessee Titans. The move is not quite a shock as Saleh was one of the top coaching options available. Still, it is fair to wonder if Saleh made the right decision for where he will coach for his second, and potentially last chance. 

Did Robert Saleh make the right move to leave the San Francisco 49ers?

Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

On one end, this was an obvious choice for Saleh. There are only 32 jobs available, so getting any of them is an honor that is hard to pass down. Beyond that, the main reasons that Saleh failed with the New York Jets were that he could not get the quarterback and offensive coordinator correct.

On the quarterback side, Cam Ward is already there, and he flashed much more than Zach Wilson. On the coordinator side, a lot of talk has centered around Mike McDaniel as the OC, which would give them one of the best in the NFL. If these two things are ironed out, there is not much that can go wrong. 

On the other end, Saleh also failed and was blindsided by his firing due to a meddling owner. The New York Jets notoriously have one of the worst owners in the NFL. While the Titans are not on that level, there is a lot of talk that their ownership group is the heart of the issue. Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports expanded on the league-wide reputation. 

Amy Adams Strunk has not developed the best reputation in hiring circles after firing a winning GM (Jon Robinson), a winning head coach (Mike Vrabel), a GM after two years (Ran Carthon), a head coach after 23 games (Callahan) and putting together an initially confusing front office setup, all while rarely speaking publicly and never taking questions from independent media.

Jonathan Jones

We are seeing firsthand in New England that maybe it was the owners and not Vrabel that were the issue with the past regime. Now, Saleh is tying his wagons to a group with a quick trigger and a funky front office setup. That is not what you want heading into your new job. 

If Saleh were offered a job with the Baltimore Ravens or Pittsburgh Steelers, you would understand why he would take it due to the ownership and job security aspects. The Titans do not quite present that, although the idea of Cam Ward must have appealed to Saleh. 

If Saleh fails with a quarterback that was taken first overall and showed promise as a rookie, he is on the fast track to a defensive coordinator role for the rest of his career. It will be interesting to see how this works out.