Robert Saleh is such a hot item on the NFL’s prospect list for 2021 head coaches that a bipartisan contingent of state legislators recently sent a letter to Detroit Lions ownership advocating the hiring of San Francisco’s fourth-year defensive coordinator as the Lions next head coach.
Now, that’s hot.
When you’ve got three dozen politicians in your corner, that’s absolutely sizzling. Naturally, with games still to coach and defensive game plans still to devise this year with the 49ers, Saleh downplayed the incident as San Francisco prepared for the final quarter of its 2020 season of struggles that has been highlighted once again by the strong play of Saleh’s defense.
“I don’t know what to make of it or anything like that,” Saleh said after a Week 13 practice. “So, it’s just whatever, I guess, you know.”
Yes, we know. Everybody knows.
Saleh is almost certainly a goner once San Francisco’s season ends after building one of the greatest defenses in franchise history last year and keeping that unit at a high level again this season despite experiencing a steady stream of devastating injuries to several of his most essential defenders.
Somehow, someway, Saleh’s defense has managed to carry a team that has threatened to collapse to the weight of adversity this season on practically a weekly basis. Saleh has received a great deal of credit for the performance of a unit that ranked sixth in the NFL in total defense entering the second week of December — about where San Francisco’s defense has been located in the NFL rankings throughout most of the season.
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Esta historia es de la edición January 2021 de Niner Report.
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EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
