Why a top coaching candidate may not want a new job

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After losing a pair of superstars, a rising first-round draft pick, and several other key players during the 2025 season, the 49ers’ defense has turned into a liability.

The defensive line can’t generate pressure, the linebackers can’t tackle, and the safeties can’t cover. 

Add it all up, and San Francisco enters a playoff showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles with a defense that’s simply hard to watch. 

Despite all the issues for a compromised unit playing without Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and Mykel Williams, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh should be a top candidate for head coaching jobs around the league. 

Saleh, who left the 49ers in 2021 to coach the New York Jets, returned last offseason and has achieved the remarkable feat of turning a depleted unit into one that at times — even at key junctures of this season — has delivered competent performances. 

The 49ers allowed 340.2 yards per game (20th in the NFL), 232.4 passing yards per game (25th), and finished with the fewest sacks in team history (20). San Francisco accumulated just 16 takeaways (24th), tied for the second-fewest interceptions in the league with six, and somehow allowed just 21.8 points per game, a mark that ranks 13th among 32 teams. 

The fact that the 49ers won 12 regular-season games is a testament to their offensive prowess and stunning special teams turnaround, but Saleh deserves a significant share of the credit for keeping this team competitive. 

Bosa iced a Week 1 win in Seattle with a strip-sack of Sam Darnold, and Bryce Huff did the same in Week 2 against New Orleans. In Week 5, Alfred Collins’ goal-line strip of Rams’ running back Kyren Williams helped send the game to overtime, where the 49ers won with a game-sealing fourth down stop. The 49ers held the Falcons to 10 points, the Panthers to nine, and the Browns to eight, and even managed to keep a Week 18 matchup with the Seahawks close by limiting the NFC West champs to 13 points for the second time this season. 

Every smart owner looking for their next head coach should be on the phone with Saleh, who deserves a second shot at a top job after struggling to correct the institutional failures that have doomed the Jets for the last 15 years.

It’s fair to wonder if Saleh will pick up all those incoming calls.

The Ravens, Dolphins, Falcons, Titans, Browns, Giants, Raiders, and Cardinals are all looking for new leaders, but only the Baltimore job is particularly coveted. 

Three gigs (Cleveland, Las Vegas, and Arizona) are eerily reminiscent of the mess Saleh inherited with the Jets. Coaching the Giants would send Saleh back to New York, where GM Joe Schoen somehow kept his job even if it might cost New York a shot to land the best available candidates.

Is building around Cam Ward in Tennessee the right fit for Saleh? Is Atlanta, with Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback, the optimal landing spot? Does Saleh see something in Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa the rest of us don’t? It seems that teams betting on incumbent quarterbacks might be best served by hiring an offensive-minded coach.

The reality for Saleh is that unless the Ravens come calling, the perfect opportunity might never materialize. 

Jed York was the NFL’s punching bag when Kyle Shanahan became the 49ers’ fourth coach in four seasons. His first QB was Brian Hoyer, and Shanahan had his team playing for the Super Bowl in Year 3. 

For Shanahan, a first-time head coach, the lure of running his own team was simply so strong that red flags could be ignored. For Saleh, one of the NFL’s highest-paid coordinators who has experienced the other side of business, being selective might make more sense.

Whatever happens in this coaching carousel, Saleh deserves a shot at running his own team again one day. When that opportunity comes, he’ll want it to go better than it did with the Jets.