Why Robert Saleh Feels Indebted for Life to the 49ers

SANTA CLARA -- Robert Saleh's first choice this offseason was to land a job as an NFL head coach. His second choice was to return to the 49ers as their defensive coordinator.

There was no third choice.

Saleh spoke to the media on Thursday for the first time since returning to the 49ers, and he was asked if he felt the slightest temptation to be a defensive coordinator anywhere else.

"No, and I mean that," Saleh said. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for this organization, obviously starting at the top with Jed. He's phenomenal. Kyle, his family, John, Paraag, they gave me so much. If you think about those first two years as defensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018, it wasn't easy. It could have been very easy of them to move on from me. So I'm indebted to this organization and those men for the rest of my life. They stuck with me, we made it happen, we did what we needed to do and the rest is history. I'm excited about the opportunity to get to do it again."

You have to respect Saleh for his loyalty to the 49ers. So many coaches use organizations as stepping stones for the next opportunity. Saleh seems to sincerely appreciate that the 49ers changed his life. They made him.

And now, he returns to the 49ers with four years of head coaching experience.

"Going through the head coaching stuff, you learn a lot," Saleh said. "But I'm happy to be back in this chair where you get to coach a little bit more football and not deal with all the administrative stuff that comes with being a head coach. The perspective, I guess. That's what's exciting about coming back. Being in a building where I was once a coordinator and now have head-coaching experience, to have that global view, there's a lot of empathy and understanding for what Kyle is going through. Trying to help him out best I can. It's just more experience."

Sounds like Saleh feels as invested in the 49ers as anyone in the organization.