Jan. 14, 2026, 5:27 a.m. MT
It is the yearly head coaching cycle, and the Arizona Cardinals are currently involved. They fired Jonathan Gannon after the completion of their 3-14 season and now have at least a dozen candidates they are looking at.
While the Cardinals have not even completed their first round of interviews, there are projections as to who will end up being their head coach.
In his predictions for the different head coaching jobs around the league, USA TODAY’s Jack McKessy believes the Cardinals will pull from the NFC West.
He predicts they will hire San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who was the head coach of the New York Jets from 2021-2024.
Saleh has several feathers in his cap that make him a strong fit for the Cardinals‘ head coaching job. For one, his defenses have finished in the top five in (fewest) yards allowed in five of the last seven years – twice as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator and three times as the Jets’ head coach. The two outlying seasons were in 2021, his first year with the Jets, and this year, his first year back with San Francisco for a second stint. The 49ers notably battled injuries to star linebacker Fred Warner and star edge rusher Nick Bosa this year as well.
Saleh has head coaching experience. His 3 1/2-year stint as the Jets’ head coach didn’t end well, but New York’s offense struggled far more than its defense in those years. A better quarterback situation – not currently a given in Arizona with question marks around Kyler Murray – and a pairing with a stronger option at offensive coordinator could lead to a more successful head coaching stint upon a second attempt. Just look at what the 49ers have managed to do with top offensive mind Kyle Shanahan at head coach and Saleh at DC, despite all of the injuries.
Finally, Saleh has tons of experience in the NFC West. He returned to the 49ers in 2025 for his second stint with the team, but it’s his fifth overall in division across two stints. Before his first go-round as San Francisco’s defensive coordinator, Saleh spent three years as the Seahawks‘ defensive quality control coach during Seattle’s Legion of Boom era.
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Saleh’s leadership is unquestioned. His players play hard for him. His defenses are good. His offenses with the Jets were not good. So the question would be what sort of staff would he put together, and what would he want to do at quarterback?
The Cardinals are not in a good place with the position, as many expect the team to move on from Kyler Murray, and while Jacoby Brissett had plenty of touchdown passes, he went 1-11 as a starter last season, is 2-15 as a starter over the last two seasons and 20-45 in his career. That is not the recipe for a quick turnaround for Arizona.
They have the third pick in the 2026 draft, but few believe this is a good quarterback draft at the top.
Saleh would be a good fit. Taking him from the rival 49ers would be good. But would he have any better results? And would he want to come to a team where the quarterback is messy, just as it was with the Jets?
These are things to think about.
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