Who stood out the most for the San Francisco 49ers against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1? Perhaps it was defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, whose unit held the Seahawks in check for much of his team's 17-13 road win.
Despite fielding a group filled with rookies and new starters (outside of defensive end Nick Bosa, linebacker Fred Warner, and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir), the 49ers limited the Seahawks to 230 total yards on the day with two takeaways. Saleh received his share of credit following the game, from both fans and players.
"He's as good of a defensive coach in the league," defensive end Nick Bosa said after the win.
It was hard to know what to expect from the 49ers on defense coming into the game considering the amount of turnover they experienced from 2024, which included the departures of players such as linebacker Dre Greenlaw, cornerback Charvarius Ward, safety Talanoa Hufanga, and defensive end Leonard Floyd, among others. But while the unit may still experience some growing pains down the road, they looked like a typically rugged Saleh defense in Week 1.
"You could just feel the leading up to the game how important this is to him," Bosa said. "He's trying to get everything perfect before we step out on the field so that everybody knows. And with a lot of young guys, he was a little nervous coming in. We all were."
Saleh's first stint with the 49ers came to an end after the 2021 season, after which he took the head coaching job with the New York Jets. The 49ers went through three defensive coordinators from 2022 through 2024, starting with DeMeco Ryans, who is now the head coach of the Houston Texans, followed by Steve Wilks and Nick Sorensen. When the Jets fired Saleh in 2024, his return to the 49ers felt inevitable after they parted ways with Sorensen at the conclusion of the season.
Sunday's defensive performance showed why Saleh and the 49ers are such a good fit.
"It's huge," linebacker Fred Warner said Sunday. "I've talked about it all off season, just the confidence that you have as a player with such a dialed-in coach like that. It was great again having him back on the sideline making adjustments. I kind of had a feel for how he was going to call the game, so throughout the game when he was making calls, being on the same page, it was great. I mean, it wasn't perfect, but you love to learn off of a win."
Saleh was far from the only topic of conversation to come from a happy 49ers locker room on Sunday. In this version of 49ers Notebook, we'll also dive into the return of Christian McCaffrey as well as one particular rookie standout on defense and Deommodore Lenoir's words with the Seahawks. Let's get into it...
Return of the C-Mac
Is Christian McCaffrey all the way back to top form after missing most of 2024 due to injuries? Perhaps not, but he made his presence felt in extensive action against the Seahawks on Sunday.
McCaffrey, whose knee and Achilles issues limited him to just four games in 2024 after winning the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year award in 2023, finished with 22 carries for 69 yards and nine catches for 73 yards in his first game since December of last year. There was a nervous moment last week when McCaffrey appeared on the team's practice participation report due to a calf injury, but he was on the field for most of the game in Seattle.
"I'm real pleased," head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "I know we got a scare on Thursday but started feeling better, much better about it Friday and Saturday and I didn't get to talk to him about it. Seemed like it wasn't an issue and thought he had a hell of a game. It was awesome to have him out there."
McCaffrey accounted for most of the 49ers' 36 carries, while Brian Robinson chipped in with nine and quarterback Brock Purdy had five. He had to face a solid effort from the Seahawks' run defense, who limited the 49ers to 119 yards overall and 3.3 yards per carry.
"It's a really good defense, man," McCaffrey told reporters on Sunday. "I mean, you go to an NFL game, you never know how it's going to play out. You've just got to be ready for the ops. And we knew that was a good defense. They don't give up a lot of explosives, so some of them was just 'Stick your head in there and try to get as many as you can and stay on the field.' We had a lot of long drives, but overall I was just happy we got that win. They're not all going to be pretty, but it was good to come out with a win."
Still talkin'
Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir has had his share of words with the Seahawks' receivers in the past, with one of his latest rounds coming in an online back-and-forth with wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba over the summer. Lenoir told reporters that the Seahawks were jawing with him on Sunday, but that he didn't let it affect his performance.
"They said words, but I didn't let it get to me," Lenoir said. "I just kept playing my game, just trying to win the game."
Smith-Njigba had a big day on the stat sheet with nine catches for 124 yards but Lenoir and the 49ers came away with the win. Lenoir let his emotion show with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in the game after Bosa sealed the deal with a strip sack of quarterback Sam Darnold.
"It was just a great team win, hard-fought. I felt like we fought them all three phases," Lenoir said. "I was just showing emotion because I know what was going on this offseason where they kind of made this game about me and one of their receivers. But we came out and got the dub. That's all that matters."
Another Round 5 discovery?
The late rounds of the draft have been extremely kind in the past to the 49ers, who have been able to pluck impact players such as Lenoir, Hufanga, Greenlaw, and tight end George Kittle out of Round 5. Could safety Marques Sigle be the next in that trend?
It's way too early to say for sure, but the Kansas State product has been impressive so far and made an impact as a starter against the Seahawks in Week 1. Sigle, who was selected at pick 160 overall in Round 5 of the 2025 NFL Draft, finished with six tackles and a key fumble recovery in the win.
"Just do your job," Sigle told 49ers.com after the game. "We always preach about that -- if you do your job, everything's going to turn out good. So I did my job today and we ended up getting a dub."
Fellow safety Jason Pinnock told reporters that Sigle is among a group of young players that performed well throughout the preseason and have taken steps to earn the trust of the team's veterans.
"I live by a quote: 'Trust is earned by the drop and lost by the bucket.' That's why I tell him you've got to master every play," Pinnock said. "I love the kid, man. I'm proud of him. Get the rock the first game, get a little confidence going in, it's good."
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Sigle, "I saw him running around, making a bunch (of tackles). I see less out there during the preseason and stuff, getting ready for the next series. So I'm pumped to watch him on the plane, but it looked like he was flying around and making some good plays."
Sigle joined rookie defensive end and first-round pick Mykel Williams in the starting lineup, while third-round pick and nickelback Upton Stout saw plenty of time on defense as well. Linebacker Fred Warner said the energy of the team's young players helped light a spark on defense.
"It's so big, and when you have young players, you hope that they obviously play assignment-sound, but the thing that you cannot not show that tenacity, that relentlessness to the football," Warner said. "That's to their advantage in your youth, being able to just play with your hair on fire, and we needed that in a big way."