© Kyle Terada | 2020 Oct 4
Kyle Shanahan was selfishly stoked that Robert Saleh didn’t get a head coaching job last season. He might not be so lucky this time around.
With a few head coaches around the league getting an early axe — most recently Matt Patricia in Detroit — and the 49ers’ defense looking impressive once again without it’s best player, the buzz on Saleh as a hot head coaching prospect is ramping up once again.
Saleh, 41, has been the 49ers’ coordinator for the last four seasons, hand picked by Kyle Shanahan for the first opportunity of his career to call a defense. Donte Whitner played on a number of elite defenses during his time in San Francisco, and told Papa & Lund on Monday that while he has reservations regarding Saleh’s ability to adapt, he believes he’ll be successful as a player-oriented coach.
He went so far to compare him to one of the best, young, defensive-minded head coaches in the league: Tennessee’s Mike Vrabel.
“Character-wise I would say absolutely,” Whitner said of if he’d recommend Saleh for a head coaching job. “He’s a high-energy guy, his players all love him and they play hard for him. No matter the situations, no matter the injures, no matter who is on the football field, these guys never step into a football game and you feel like they gave up or didn’t give it all that they have. So he has a checkmark when it comes to that.
“I would question the ability to be able to diversify his scheme and match the players. That’s one thing that I would have a question mark on. But as far as teaching the players up, having them well-coached, good tackling football team, hard nosed. I think he’ll be similar to what Mike Vrabel is in Tennessee.”
Vrabel hasn’t had a losing season in his two-and-a-half years in charge of the Titans, taking them to the AFC Title game last season, his second as a head coach.
Listen to the full interview below.