Robert Saleh 2.0 has arrived. Here’s what that means for the 49ers

Entering this 2025 season, the 49ers’ radical renovation has also covered the coaching staff: The team has new coordinators for all three phases of the game.

That made Thursday a particularly informative day, because the entire trio — defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak, and special teams coordinator Brant Boyer — spoke to the media for the first time since this offseason.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for this organization,” said Saleh, the 49ers’ headlining offseason acquisition who returns to the same role he held under John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan from 2017-2020. “They gave me so much. It wasn’t easy and it could’ve been very easy for them to move on from me. So I’m indebted to this organization and those men for the rest of my life. They stuck with me.”

That was Saleh’s reference to his decision to join the 49ers over other suitors and to the 2017 and 2018 seasons, during which the team’s defense — woefully short on talent — struggled mightily. Saleh’s unit roared to life in 2019. Not coincidentally, that was the year the 49ers drafted star edge rusher Nick Bosa No. 2 overall.

So 2025 presents a very different situation than those formative years when the 49ers’ cupboard was relatively bare.

“From a talent standpoint, Bosa’s here, Fred [Warner], [Deommodore Lenoir], Renardo [Green] — there’s a lot of good talent on this defense,” Saleh said. “So it’s not nearly what 2017 was.”

Saleh has also grown as a coordinator since then. The 49ers’ defense evolved over his first four-year stint with the team. Saleh pointed at the 2019 season, during which the 49ers moved away from their original Seattle-style, Cover-3 dependence to a Wide-9, quarters-based approach as the most dramatic step. Saleh left to be head coach of the New York Jets in 2021. He built one of the league’s best defenses there before his dismissal in 2024. Throughout that run, Saleh continued tweaking his scheme and now will look to merge years of experience with two separate teams into the best product possible for the 49ers in 2025.

“You’re always trying to stay two years ahead of the offense,” Saleh said. “And when we went to the Jets, there were a lot of different things that we started to do. And even now — while we have some things from the Jets — there’s stuff that has evolved over the course of the last four years here, and obviously with the league there’s stuff happening — a lot of really cool concepts, a lot of really cool things.

“Some things are meshed, some things are coming in that are new. A lot of it may seem similar, but there’s a lot of nuance that makes a difference.”

It’s impossible to pinpoint exactly how big the 49ers’ defensive transformation will be in 2025. For one, the team’s 17 rookies only just arrived at the team facility Thursday afternoon. They’ll take the field as part of an introductory minicamp on Friday. Saleh and his staff have loads of evaluation to do as they formulate more definite plans for the season.

“It’s going to be a crash course,” Saleh said, “and if any of [the rookies] are worthy, they’ll be on the field Week 1.”

The 49ers spent their first five picks on defensive players for the first time since their famous 1981 draft, which netted Hall of Fame DB Ronnie Lott and several other impact players (mere months later, the 49ers won their first Super Bowl title). Posting on social media throughout the recent draft, team owner Jed York even joked about how abundantly the 49ers were feeding Saleh’s unit with their picks.

“The board fell our way from a defensive standpoint,” Saleh said. “There were a lot of guys on offense that were graded higher that [offensive coaches were] excited to go get, but they got pulled off the board. And I was standing in the back of the room like, ‘Hey, I got a guy.’ It happened the way it happened, but there was tremendous collaboration through the process.”

That collaboration, Saleh said, was another main driver behind his decision to return. His experience with the Jets very clearly soured in comparison to his initial four years with the 49ers.

“This organization is the gold standard with regard to collaboration and communication,” Saleh said. “Most buildings maybe spend a week in terms of communication between the scouting department and coaching staff with regards to the draft. But [the 49ers] will spend three to four weeks just grinding on tape, offense, defense, special teams, and going deep into the seventh-round, undrafted free agent-type players.

“And I think that’s why this organization has had so much success finding Day 3 picks that come to fruition and even undrafted free agents that end up having success in this league. When it comes to finding players, this organization does a phenomenal job with collaboration.”

• The 49ers still plan to bring in offseason competition for kicker Jake Moody, whose 2024 season went off the rails after he suffered a high ankle sprain. Moody made 13-of-14 field goals before the injury but just 11-of-20 after it.

Boyer, though, believes that Moody’s natural abilities give him an excellent chance to prevail this offseason.

“I think he’ll do a heck of a job for us — I really do,” Boyer said. “I think that there isn’t a special teams coach in this league that didn’t have him rated No. 1 coming out. He’s as talented of a kid as it gets. I think that the injury issue had a lot to do with [Moody’s struggles]. … I think finally being healthy is a huge deal.”

Boyer also said that the 49ers’ addition of veteran long snapper Jon Weeks, who is replacing Taybor Pepper, should help Moody.

“When a guy like that becomes available, I think that’ll settle down the position a little bit,” Boyer said. “You’re trying to get the operation right. And I think that the changes that we’ve made will smooth the operation.”

• Kubiak won’t call plays — that job still belongs to Shanahan — but his promotion to the coordinator post is reflective of the growing trust the 49ers have in him. And Kubiak will continue to play an instrumental hand in designing the 49ers’ offensive game plans.

Those should again feature star running back Christian McCaffrey, who missed most of last season with injury but is now back at the team facility and training at full capacity.

“Christian’s doing great,” Kubiak said. “He looks awesome and we’re pumped up that he’s out there working every day. So I look forward to getting him back out there full time.”

• Boyer used two words to summarize how he plans to improve the 49ers’ languishing special teams unit, which finished ranked dead last in 2024.

“Overall mindset,” Boyer said. “At the end of the day, this is a violent game played by men, special teams is a one-on-one matchup 90% of the time. And it’s either you or him and it’s going to be you, period. And that’s the whole mindset that I want these guys to understand, that we’re here for them, we’re here to make them better. And that’s what it comes down to.

“I’m here to do the best job I can, to create a culture that it shouldn’t be like punishment to play special teams. And I think teams around the league, that moniker comes out like, ‘Oh man, I don’t want to play special teams.’ It shouldn’t be like that, you know? That’s how I made a living. That’s how a lot of people make a living in this league. And if you can create a culture that the guys know you give a damn about them, they’re going to play for you. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”