Robert Saleh Highlights Standouts, Defensive Identity | 49ers

Say it again. Linebacker, what do you think the uh Nick? Um, no, it’s okay. Uh, uh, Nick Nick’s doing a good job. Obviously, the, you know, he’s a he’s a big time running and hit linebacker. And so, a couple of those he just has to learn how to control himself at the tackle point and come together. It’s uh um get his feet underneath him and just get his body on his on on on the on the ball carrier until the speed of the game catches up to him. Uh, if that makes sense. But he’s young. Um, you know, it was his first real live action in over a year and a half, so we’re not we’re not concerned with some of those missed tackles. I think we’ll get those cleaned up. You feel like his approach to it, like knowing he needs to learn from his mistakes, is a good sign for him? Oh, yeah. No, he’s in a good place. Um, and and the good thing is is he’s got a lot of teammates who have had uh first preseason games that didn’t go so well. And uh so you just you just put it to put it to the side and uh find a way to get better. He he’s going to have another opportunity to do it to uh to and to do that against Vegas. Does his range excite you and and Johnny? Oh yeah, he’s he’s got tremendous range, speed. Uh he plays with a violent mindset. Um just got to uh just got to reel it in a little bit. What’s to be made out of or what’s to be you gleaned out of seeing Maris Seagull run with the ones at this point of camp as much as he is? Um you know, he’s he shows a lot of good things. I mean there it’s a combination of one he’s he’s deserve he’s he’s earned that right and two um you know the safety group is a little beat up right now so it’s a good opportunity for him and um you know he he he went out in the preseason game and I thought he did a really nice job uh especially uh out of the middle of the field and erasing tackles when it was just him in the back in the hole but um but he’s done a really good job he’s shown uh that he can handle both the free and the strong mentally uh he’s shown that he’s got all the things that are required out of a safety from a movement standpoint, speed, uh instinct, um violence part, but uh you know, so he’s earned it. Uh and you know, as he gets those extended reps, he’s got to find a way to cement it, but it’s like we’ve said way back in OTAAS, it’s it’s a wide openen group in terms of competition. You’re your first state here. You your basic principles a lot just rush forward, not blitzing a whole lot. Uh we see we do it in preseason games now. just how has your philosophy on blitzing evolved over the last few years? Um, well, it’s a it’s a tool, you know. I think in uh 2019 we could uh just rush forward. Probably one of the best D lines in the history of football, but uh uh we’re 2020 we need to go a little bit more. So, you just you just work off your personnel and what you have and uh you know, some of those some of those pressures are more run stunt. you you might run stunt a few but um you know it’s just it’s call calling what’s necessary for that particular game but I think I speak for every coordinator in football that the preference is to rush four um if you can when it came to Chase Lucas he said in the locker room that you know if Robert gave you the chance or told he told you that if you gave him the chance he would you know utilize it which is what he did in the game just wondering being that he was a practice squad player last year did that performance in especially in the first quarter move the needle at all with him on the depth chart or Well, for for Chase, it’s his body of work since OTAAS’s, you know. Uh I I think a a preseason game is cool because 31 other teams get to see what we’ve been seeing since OTAAS. Chase is a good football player. He’s been doing a lot of good things. He’s he’s um embraced his role and he’s finding ways to get better every day. So, um, you know, whether or not it moved the needle, I think it was good that he’s and when the lights are on and it’s a big moment and pressureures on to make plays that he was still able to perform at the level he has. And, uh, so now the challenge for him is to, uh, to stack up days on defense, get better on special teams, be more of a um, find a way to be a viable corner also, and, you know, just to expand his game to to keep finding ways to earn his right on this roster. Robert, Jacob, Jacob Robinson, did you know much about him, you know, when he got here? And, you know, has he shown you something? I mean, has he given himself a chance? For sure. He’s um he’s been doing a lot of good things. Obviously, he’s still a rookie. Um, rookies do rookie things, but um but he’s definitely all the way starting in OTAAS when he got here and all the way through the Denver week. He’s a competitive young man. He’s um the game’s not too big for him. It’s just that corner spot. There’s a lot of nuance to the game and things that he’s still trying to learn, but uh but he’s definitely um I think he’s he’s gotten the attention of the entire organization in terms of how he works and how he approaches it. His size would seem like okay that he’s got to just be a nickel. Um but I mean, can’t he, you know, survive out there? Uh I I think so. you know, there’s been I mean, small corners before. You know, it’s just a matter of how strong he plays and uh you know, that’s that’s I guess probably the biggest thing we’re trying to figure out is whether or not he can hold up uh from a strength standpoint, but everything else has been he’s been doing a really nice job. As far as as far as Seagull, did he have a lot of experience as a as a deep safety, as a deep coverage safety coming in, and was that at all a question mark about him? No, cuz you know he he showed he shows tremendous range. You know, his uh his 0 to 60 speed is is off the charts and uh he he can he can he can get to places in a hurry and um so from a range standpoint, we’re not it was never a concern. So, it’s more about acclimating himself to the professional game. um more about how he can fit in the run game, whether or not he can tackle, um whether or not he can uh make contact and not give up leaky yardage with big backs. And so he’s just going through and and you know, he’s still he’s still behind, you know, he hasn’t he didn’t play he didn’t participate in OTAAS and so and we have him playing both. So he’s he’s doing a really nice job. When you guys Sebastian, what stuck out and what was your first impression of him? um Valdez. Uh he’s um you know, you bring him in and obviously he he’s had he had a successful college career, but you know, you you take a shot on some of these undrafted free agents and um because you see something whether it’s uh foot speed, length, whatever it might be. Um and for him, he’s just overall good football player in college. Give him a chance and see if he can translate. And he, like I said, he’s doing a good job. Uh, and uh, for him it’s uh, it’s it’s cliche, but it is finding ways to get better. And when he gets opportunities against the the the first group O line or even a second group O line, once he gets up to that, as he keeps proving that he’s better than what he’s going against, he’ll get chances to go against better competition and and then from there, if he continues, then he’ll continue his rise. But we got what, three more weeks of uh, training camp, two more uh, two more games. So he’s he still has a lot of time to prove that he can make it. KD out there making these big plays. I think he’s missed only one practice. He’s so excited to make the plays. How much I’m sure it lifts up the offense, but what does it do to your defense to have a guy that kind of a veteran pushing you like that? Yeah. Uh I think we have the equal in uh Fred, you know, I think those two just um I asked KJ Wright who had a a very very good career. He’s on our staff. If I said, “KJ, have you did you love practice as much as Fred Warner loves practice?” And it’s hard to find people who love I mean, the man loves practice. KD loves practice. They just love the game so much. So, it does. I think it it, you know, how can you not be inspired when you’re looking at a guy who’s been in the league for a while, he’s made all those plays, and in practice, he still loves talking his crap and uh winning one-on- ones and like it’s important to him. And that’s you. You wish you had 53 guys like him and uh but you hope that he pulls a bunch of people with him. I think he does. F looks faster I think from last year to this year maybe by a step step and a half. You weren’t here last year but what do you see for him? You’ve seen a lot of good linebackers. Yeah. You know what um rookies, you know, you go back to him being a rookie. He may not have seen it as fast. So he felt a step slow. And um I always tell people if you’re thinking you’re not executing your your 40 time, right? He’s he he comes out of college, he’s running a certain time, he plays with a certain speed, but if you’re thinking, you’re not utilizing all that. And I think he’s he’s playing a little bit more without thought. Now, there’s he’s not all the way there yet. Uh there’s still some things that he’s learning uh every day, but um when these young men can play without thought, especially the young the ones that are fresh from college and they they can utilize all their god-given ability, they flash and they they pop on tape because of their speed. And uh Tatum’s no different. and he’s had a really nice off seasonason and um we’ve bounced him around a little bit from Mike to Sam to Will and trying to get him to have some versatility to his game, but he’s he’s he’s been doing a really nice job. How are CJ and Alfred looking towards you to you? I mean, how’s their progress going? Um I feel like they’ve made really good progress. Uh CJ’s doing a really nice job. Alfred I felt like Alfred took a really good step in the game. uh you know he’s um he’s a big body and uh you know again I I I’ve said it to you guys before not to make excuse for him but you know he was kind of hurt in February he hadn’t done anything no football stuff until August so he’s he’s he was way far behind the eightball and I felt like this past weekend especially in the game he took a really really good step in terms of strain um uh power at the point of attack uh you know I I think the next step for him is to get off blocks play with great pad level, go make some plays. But overall, I thought his footwork was better, his pad level was better, everything improved. So, if he just keeps stacking up days, uh he’s going to turn into a pretty damn good football player. See CJ CJ’s been uh not to take away from him, he’s just been on a steady, uh incline since he’s gotten here. He’s been doing a really nice job. And again, same thing for him. Uh just just keep climbing. Uh, and you know, they’re we may not know who they are till the midway point of the season. You know, they’re rookies. As soon as we hit week one, it’s going to start all over. They’re going to be leaning on new bodies, new blocking schemes, and they’ve got to learn week to week what they’re putting on tape and understand that part of the game that’s happening in there. So, um, right now, you just want to see those guys play as hard as they can, as violent as they can. and uh um you trust that as they get more reps, they’ll learn how to play the game a little bit better and and get better every every day. When it comes to Collins, how you just mentioned, you probably won’t see their full potential until like midway through the season because they are rookies, but being that he’s been able or he was able to take a step in the preseason game with such a condensed amount of time to kind of catch on to everything because of what he was dealing with. Um what do you see as the potential of where he could be at the end of this 3-week period in training camp to go into the start of the season? you know, if he like like I said, if he can one get his legs underneath him because they weren’t when he when he first got in the camp, his legs just they they weren’t there yet. You know, he like I said, they weren’t he wasn’t in football shape. You could see his legs coming coming back, but you know, for our D lineman, if he can play with great violence and effort, uh you trust that he’s going to be good enough. And then from there, we’ll you can fine-tune and uh fine-tune his technique in the run game, fine-tune his ability to get up field and rush the passer and win one-on- ones. But, um, right now for him, it’s learning our techniques, uh, getting his football legs underneath him, uh, understanding different blocking schemes and how things are attacked. It’s just way different in the NFL. And, uh, but his mindset, he’s got a tremendous mindset. He’s a worker. Um, he and you can coach him as hard as you need to coach him and he’s and he takes it all in and he responds. So, he’s uh, like I said, he he took a really nice step in the right direction and he’s just got to continue stacking up those days. you didn’t um like call 50 blitzes, but some of the blitzes you did call obviously got attention were were effective. What is the balance you try to strike between a lot of coaches? I’m just going to be vanilla. I’m not going to show anything. Do you feel like, hey, we got a lot of new guys, try staff, or like what what’s your mindset? For sure. Um well, the safety we’ve been running since 2010. That was like a a staple preseason call, but uh um you know, but it it’s tricky because you you do gota if you don’t prepare for it, it’s it can look exotic, but it’s it’s been a it’s been around for a long time. And um but you know, just just to give our guys ju to to present looks. I mean, the the looks we gave, we’ve been running since 2017, you know, so it’s uh in my mind, it’s people have a history of tape now. There’s there’s stuff in the back pocket that we won’t show, but uh but as far as stuff that they know we are, it’s there’s no point in hiding what they know we’re going to be. Um but all the stuff that they don’t know, they’ll they’ll have to wait till week one. Was a a loose end when you asked KJ if he liked practice as much as those guys. What was his answer? I’m not telling you. [Music]

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San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh reflected on preseason takeaways, praised players for seizing their “opportunities,” and explained how the defense is shaping its identity for the 2025 season.

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