If you had told Tennessee Titans fans back in October that former Jets head coach/current 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh would be hired to coach the team in 2026, the reaction probably would have been mostly positive.
Now that the process has played out with Saleh being hired late Monday night by the Titans, is that same optimism still in place?
After all, in the past two weeks, we have seen the Titans spurned in meetings with John Harbaugh, Kevin Stefanski and Jeff Hafley, who all wound up taking jobs elsewhere on the eve of their meetings with the Tennessee brass.
And that doesn’t even bring into play the late entry into the market of Sean McDermott, who was let go in Buffalo after its overtime divisional round loss in Denver Saturday.
But the truth is, the Titans job was always middle of the pack job at best, and to land Saleh, who beat out favorite and Mike Borgonzi friend Matt Nagy in the final interview process, is not the worst thing in the world.
That said, there are some questions that Saleh will have to answer in order to make his second go-around as a head coach more successful than this 20-36 stint with the Jets.
The first question, of course, is what did you learn from the Jets experience that can help you do a better job this time around with Tennessee?
It would be easy for him to blame the dysfunction of the Jets organization as the primary culprit. That’s something Brian Callahan is probably doing regarding the Titans organization as he makes the offensive coordinator rounds this offseason trying to get back into the coaching mix.
But even in dysfunctional messes – like the Jets and Titans – coaches must learn from those situations and become better versions of themselves the second time around.
Who Saleh hires will be key
The second question Saleh must answer is what is his plan for an offensive coordinator and how does he plan to have that guy develop and mentor Cam Ward.
Ward, the No. 1 overall pick in 2025, had a spotty rookie season with the Titans but showed promise toward the end of the year.
The popular thought is that Saleh’s buddy, Mike McDaniel, who interviewed for the Titans head coaching job himself, would be a great get as offensive coordinator.
But McDaniel’s services will be in high demand and perhaps even as a head coach. If you’re delving into Saleh’s Jets past for coordinator hopefuls, the results are hit and miss at best.
He started out his first two seasons with Mike LaFleur (Packers head coach Matt’s brother). But LaFleur is now offensive coordinator of the Rams, though he doesn’t call plays there.
No. 2 on the list is probably Nathaniel Hackett, whose reputation certainly took a hit during his less-than-one-season stint as Denver head coach. Everyone’s favorite Titans scapegoat, Todd Downing, was on Saleh’s last Jets staff in 2024 before Saleh was fired after five games.
None of those coordinators were able to develop Zach Wilson, and certainly a good bit of that is on Wilson himself. And there was bad luck in losing Aaron Rodgers four snaps into the 2023 campaign.
But the reality is Saleh’s teams didn’t really have prolific offenses on his watch.
How to shift the culture?
The final question regarding Saleh’s tenure as it begins in Tennessee is how can he create a winning culture amid the problems the Titans have.
The front office will try to help that with free agency and the draft, and Saleh’s reputation as a tough guy no doubt will help in that regard and command a certain amount of respect from the locker room. Callahan’s easygoing style perhaps didn’t.
But that will only last so long. Saleh deserves a fair shot to set his system and style in place and to watch it grow. But as Titans fans have grown tired of losing, and ownership has its impulsive ways and a new stadium starting in 2027), Saleh needs to hit the ground running in order to have his best chance to succeed.