Robert Saleh "trying to stay a couple years ahead" of offenses

Robert Saleh is back with the 49ers as their defensive coordinator and he said on Thursday that he had no interest in filling that role for any other team than the one he worked for from 2017 to 2020.

While Saleh is happy to turn back the clock in terms of his job, he doesn't plan on following the same script in his second stint. Saleh spent most of the last four seasons as the head coach of the Jets and he told reporters at a press conference that he'll be taking things from that run, his earlier 49ers stint and elsewhere to put together a different defensive approach than he's used in the past.

"For sure, it's evolved. You're always trying to stay two years ahead of the offense," Saleh said. "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 that there's stuff happening. We've, over this offseason, a lot of really cool concepts, a lot of really cool things. Some things are the same, some things are the same from the Jets, some things are meshed, some things are coming in that are new. So, it's like I said, we're trying to stay a couple years ahead. A lot of it may seem similar, but there's a lot of nuance that makes a difference."

The 49ers have players like Nick Bosa and Fred Warner that were around for Saleh's first tour, but they've made numerous changes to personnel this offseason. That will make it a mostly fresh start for Saleh and the 49ers hope it is as successful as the last time around.