Robert Saleh parlayed his time as 49ers defensive coordinator into the head-coaching job with the Jets. After he was fired on Tuesday, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was asked for his reaction to the news.
“I sent him a text, but I haven’t gotten to talk to him,” Shanahan told reporters. “And yeah, I was pretty shocked. That stuff throws you off, especially when they’re competing for first in the division this week and I think they’re up there on defense and have got a pretty good team and a chance to have a hell of a year. So that was pretty surprising.”
Defensively, the Jets had been doing very well. Offensively, not so much. But that wasn’t Saleh’s domain. And he was in the process of taking authority from quarterback Aaron Rodgers’s friend, Nathaniel Hackett.
The whole thing makes no sense, other than the fact that the Jets were the ones who did it. And it won’t be a surprise if they make it to the playoffs with Jeff Ulbrich as defensive coordinator.
It won’t be easy, however. The defense has lost the benefit of having both Saleh and Ulbrich, and Ulbrich will now be distracted by the coaching responsibilities.
And while Saleh reportedly won’t coach elsewhere this year, he becomes a candidate to re-join the 49ers as defensive coordinator in 2025 — if Shanahan decides that another change at that job is warranted.
