Titans Robert Saleh Could Be Josh McDaniels 2.0

McDaniels called plays for the greatest quarterback of all time, under the supervision of the greatest coach of all time. He had incredible success, and teams around the league felt he was primed to be a head coach himself. In 2007, he had the highest scoring offense in the league (36.8ppg) and the following year posted the eighth best (25.6) despite the offense being led by career backup Matt Cassell.

Cassel posted career-best numbers in completion percentage, yards, and touchdowns in his one season under McDaniels. It appeared the coordinator could have success with any quarterback, and he was given the head coach position for the Denver Broncos. After an 8-8 season, McDaniels wanted to show how much of a quarterback whisperer he was when he selected Tim Tebow out of Florida in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

The following year, he was axed after a 3-9 start and eventually found his way back to the Patriots. His offense struggled under Cam Newton (naturally), but he helped rookie quarterback Mac Jones get to the Pro Bowl and the playoffs in 2021. The team also featured the sixth-best scoring offense in the NFL (27.2). This landed him another shot at head coach, this time with the Las Vegas Raiders.

After going 9-16 with the Raiders, McDaniels was fired before the end of his second season. Fair or unfair, he found a home back in New England, where he made Drake Maye look like an MVP in 2025.

Robert Saleh’s Journey

It’s fair to say that Saleh did not have anywhere near the same level of success as a coordinator as McDaniels did. His defenses allowed 23.9 points per game (25th in the league) and 27.2 points per game (28th) in his first two seasons as the 49ers’ DC. He then ranked 8th (19.4) and back down to 17th (24.4) when the league decided he was a hot commodity on the head coaching market.

The New York Jets won the war for Saleh, and he began his career along with the second overall pick, Zach Wilson. He went 20-36 before getting fired, with his offense’s best season ranking 28th in the league (18.2ppg). He did have one good defensive season in 2022, but it wasn’t good enough to save his job. It was good enough to get him a job under Shanahan again. In 2025, his scoring defense ranked 13th in the league (21.8ppg).

Now he is going to take over a Tennessee team that went 3-14 last season with their own rookie quarterback. A quarterback who was not as good a prospect as Wilson was (NFL.com prospect score of 6.39 versus 6.50 for Wilson). Could he potentially ruin another young passer’s career?

End Of My Titans Robert Saleh Rant

Maybe Saleh will have a career that parallels Bill Belichick at the end of the day. It’s impossible to ignore how similar it has been to McDaniels so far. In all honesty, it’s unfair to call him McDaniels 2.0, because Saleh was not as good a coordinator or coach as the current Patriots OC. There may be some excited Titans fans out there, but they should be cautiously optimistic. Extremely cautiously.