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Robert Saleh will return to the San Francisco 49ers.

The former New York Jets head coach has found his next landing spot: The Bay Area. Saleh will rejoin the 49ers’ coaching staff as their defensive coordinator, the position he held before the Jets hired him several years ago. It’s a huge move in the coaching ranks, and pulls him away from any head coaching jobs. The Jaguars and Cowboys, especially.

After the 49ers’ disappointing 2024 season, where they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2020, after three consecutive NFC Championship Game appearances, they’ve made a move to help shake things up.

The Athletic reported the news of Saleh’s hire first.

Saleh worked for the 49ers as their defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2020. His marked improvements helped the 49ers make the Super Bowl in the 2019 season. He became a hot commodity around the league, and the Jets couldn’t resist at the time.

Saleh’s time as a head coach was one to forget. While it didn’t all necessarily fall on him, Saleh felt the weight of the expectations in the Meadowlands. He was fired in season and then joined the Green Bay Packers as a consultant. He’ll re-join a Niners team that still has an abundance of talent all over the field.

San Francisco will hope for a return to the playoffs next year. Re-hiring Saleh is a great first step in that direction. The NFL world reacted to the news on Saleh’s re-hiring.

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About Chris Novak

Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022

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