The Tennessee Titans have hired 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to be their new head coach, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Tuesday. The move marks the fourth head coaching hire of the ten spots to open up in the 2026 NFL offseason.
Saleh, 46, was previously the head coach of the Jets from 2021 to 2024. He’s cut his teeth on the defensive side of the ball, serving as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2020, returning to the role for the 2025 season after New York fired him as head coach.
Of the four NFL head coaches hired thus far, three of them have been head coaches in the league before, and two of them are defensive-minded coaches. With Tennessee having brought in Saleh, let’s evaluate and grade their new hire.
Grading the Robert Saleh Hire
For much of his tenure as the Jets’ head coach, Saleh was doomed by abysmal quarterback play. Zach Wilson was the team’s primary starter for those first two seasons, and he stepped into the starting role again after Aaron Rodgers, the slam-dunk trade acquisition New York made in 2023, suffered a season-ending injury on the opening drive of the season.
In 33 starts, Wilson had a 57.0% completion percentage with 23 passing touchdowns to 25 interceptions, as well as a passer rating of just 73.2. Rodgers stepped onto the field for the Jets in 2024, but it was clear his MVP-caliber play was behind him. Saleh didn’t get much help on offense in New York, and he was fired five games into the 2024 season.
That said, the Jets put together some strong defensive units during Saleh’s time with the team. They ranked No. 5 in the NFL in PFSN’s Defense Impact in 2022, No. 3 in 2023, and No. 15 in 2024, though interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich oversaw much of the latter campaign.
The glaring concern is the 49ers’ 2025 season, as their defense ranked just No. 26 in the metric. They also allowed the eighth-most passing yards in the league and ranked dead last in team sacks with just 20 this year. Major injuries to the likes of Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and Mykel Williams surely played a big role in that.
However, when making the jump to Tennessee, Saleh will face a similar problem to the injury-plagued 49ers: their defense has plenty of holes. Jeffery Simmons provides a superstar presence at defensive tackle, and T’Vondre Sweat is a nice young building block, but the Titans have a questionable secondary and don’t generate much pressure off the edge.
The Titans’ new head coach will have his work cut out for him, but it’s not like the organization made a slam-dunk hire at first glance, either. Circumstances aside, Saleh didn’t work out as the Jets’ head coach, and he didn’t necessarily kill it in San Francisco in 2025. There’s no denying he’s a strong defensive mind, but he arguably wasn’t even the best on the market on that side of the ball.
A major concern for Tennessee has to be the development of Cam Ward. He showed some flashes as a rookie, but the No. 1 pick didn’t light the world on fire in his first NFL season. It became clear very early that former head coach Brian Callahan wasn’t the guy for the job, but when you have a young quarterback you believe could be the face of the franchise, developing him needs to take top priority.
There have been defensive-minded head coaches to get great play out of quarterbacks, but there’s not much precedent for a struggling rookie QB to receive a new head coach in Year 2, have that coach come from a defensive background, and have that QB improve.
Recent examples of that approach failing include Justin Fields, Davis Mills, and Dwayne Haskins. Josh Rosen got traded to a Dolphins team led by a defensive-minded coach after his rookie year, too.
The point is that, if a rookie quarterback struggles in Year 1, an offensive-minded head coach is usually the best approach to try to get them back on track. That’s not to say it’s a perfect formula, but it’s one with more success than the one the Titans are planning on taking with Cam Ward.
Saleh is a veteran coach who should manage the locker room well and help Tennessee’s defense improve in the coming years. That itself is a pretty big floor raiser for the Titans, but as far as the ceiling goes? Consider me skeptical.
