Things started breaking right for the San Francisco 49ers in their trek to land Robert Saleh as their next defensive coordinator.
It looked early Thursday as though the 49ers may need to wait until after the Super Bowl for an answer on Saleh’s future as the potential head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. It also at that time looked like he was the favorite to land the job.
Then reporting surfaced from ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday afternoon that Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who had pulled out of the running for the Jaguars job, was back in the running for the Jags job after the team fired general manager Trent Baalke.
The two sides are discussing a deal that would make Liam Coen the next head coach of the Jaguars. https://t.co/uVaAFRr7X9
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 23, 2025
It’s a wild turn that suddenly put Saleh in a position where he’s unlikely to land a head coaching job. For the entire process the 49ers have essentially been banking on Saleh not getting a lead job anywhere and re-joining San Francisco as their defensive coordinator.
While that was the expected outcome if he missed out on a head coach spot, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco reported a confirmation that Saleh told the 49ers he’d join their coaching staff barring an offer to be a head coach:
Robert Saleh is in line to be 49ers defensive coordinator, source says, unless he ends up with head-coaching position. If he is a defensive coordinator this season, it’ll be with the 49ers, he told the team.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) January 24, 2025
Nothing is finalized yet, and if the Jaguars have shown the NFL world anything over the last couple weeks it’s that anything is possible in their search for a head coach.
For now, all signs point toward Saleh missing out on that job, which would land him back leading the 49ers defense in 2025.
Update
Liam Coen is going to be the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach per the Athletic’s Jeff Howe.