Robert Saleh didn't consider taking a defensive coordinator job with any other organization once the San Francisco 49ers expressed interest. On Thursday, he shared his excitement about returning to the team—eight years after his initial stint began and four years after leaving to become the head coach of the New York Jets.
Looking at the 11 selections the 49ers made in the 2025 NFL Draft, it's already clear that Saleh, now tasked with revamping a disappointing 2024 defense, has had an influence. The first five selections were used to add defensive playmakers—six in total. Three of those first five were used on defensive linemen, as Saleh aims to recreate the kind of domination in the trenches that helped define his first run with the team.
Having worked for multiple NFL teams—the Houston Texans, Seattle Seahawks, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Jets—Saleh has developed a deep appreciation for the level of communication and collaboration that head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch demand.
"This organization, and no pun intended, [is] the gold standard with regard to collaboration and communication," Saleh said. "Most buildings maybe spend a week in terms of communication between the scouting department and coaching staff with regards to the draft. This organization will spend three to four weeks just grinding on tape, offense, defense, special teams, and going deep into the seventh-round, undrafted-free-agent type players, and I think that's why this organization has had so much success finding Day 3 picks that come to fruition, and even undrafted free agents that end up having success in this league.
"When it comes to finding players, this organization does a phenomenal job with collaboration. And let's be very real, there's still a process that needs to be followed. The board fell our way from a defensive standpoint."
He also acknowledged that the 49ers had offensive players graded higher than some of the defensive ones they selected, but those players were off the board before San Francisco was on the clock again.
"I was standing in the back of the room like, 'Hey, I got a guy,'" Saleh said with a laugh. "It happened the way it happened, but there was tremendous collaboration through the process."
He added, "It's always been this way here. Kyle and John do an unbelievable job. You'd be hard pressed to find people who do it as good as they do."
As for last season's struggles, marked by several injuries, only six wins, and the team missing the playoffs for the first time since 2020, Saleh, having now experienced the challenges of being a head coach himself, expressed empathy for what the 49ers went through.
"There's a lot of empathy for what happened to the group last year," Saleh said. "There was a lot of things that, through the halfway point, this defense was playing some really good football, and there were a lot of injuries, and the wheels kind of fell off during the last four weeks of the season. So, for the coaching staff and the players, there's a lot of empathy in terms of like, 'Man, you're doing your best. It just didn't work out.'"
Despite the adversity, Saleh still saw a lot of fight from the defensive players last season, even praising his predecessor's efforts to keep the team competing on the football field.
"These guys played their butts off," Saleh said. "I thought [former 49ers defensive coordinator] Nick [Sorensen] and those guys did a really nice job. It's just bringing in this youth, getting them caught up to what the standard is, and doing our best to uphold it."