{"id":283680,"date":"2025-08-13T02:16:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T02:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/283680\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T02:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T02:16:13","slug":"robert-saleh-says-49ers-rookie-took-a-really-good-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/283680\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Saleh says 49ers rookie &#8220;took a really good step&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Saleh has returned to his role as San Francisco\u2019s defensive coordinator, but the roster has been shaken up in the three years he was leading the New York Jets.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into 2025, he\u2019s expected to have a heavy reliance on rookies. 49ers\u2019 general manager John Lynch spent their first five selections in the 2025 NFL Draft on defense.<\/p>\n<p>First-round edge rusher Mykel Williams (No. 11) is the obvious highlight, but Saleh highlighted the importance of last week\u2019s preseason debut as a \u201creally good step\u201d for another rookie lineman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt like Alfred [Collins] took a really good step in the game,\u201d Saleh told reporters in Santa Clara on Monday. Defensive tackle Collins was San Francisco\u2019s second-round selection.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755051371_818_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Texas product missed OTAs with a calf injury that he suffered prior to being drafted 43rd overall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was way far behind the eight ball (due to the injury),\u201d Saleh continued. \u201cAnd I felt like this past weekend, especially in the game, he took a really, really good step in terms of strain and power at the point of attack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the next step for him is to get off blocks, play with great pad level, and 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, he\u2019s going to turn into a pretty good football player.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dealing with a condensed lead-up to his preseason debut, Collins had a minimal ramp-up period prior to Saturday\u2019s preseason matchup.<\/p>\n<p>Still, he played 25 defensive snaps against Denver despite not yet being in optimal football shape due to the injury.<\/p>\n<p>Saleh said they\u2019re emphasizing playing \u201cwith great violence and effort\u201d first and foremost before diving into run game techniques with Collins.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s got a tremendous mindset,\u201d he said of Collins. \u201cHe\u2019s a worker. You can coach him as hard as you need to coach him. And he takes it all in, and he responds. He took a really nice step in the right direction, and he\u2019s just got to continue stacking up those days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rookie will have two more preseason opportunities (Raiders, Chargers) before the regular season begins. As San Francisco\u2019s defensive coordinator noted, the NFL is another level.<\/p>\n<p>Preseason isn\u2019t enough to simulate the real deal, but it\u2019s a step that Collins took advantage of in game one.<\/p>\n<p>More San Francisco 49ers coverage on Sactown Sports<\/p>\n<p>NFL preseason is underway. The San Francisco 49ers have a game against the Denver Broncos under their belt, which featured very few snaps from starters.<\/p>\n<p>Training camp and preseason are always a great opportunity for players deeper down the bench to get some reps. San Francisco\u2019s handful of injuries has added to that.<\/p>\n<p>Rookie running back Jordan Watkins suffered an injury in Saturday\u2019s action, which 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan shared has been ruled a high ankle sprain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose usually take about a month,\u201d he told reporters in Santa Clara.<\/p>\n<p>Read More:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sactownsports.com\/57930\/kyle-shanahan-brandon-aiyuk-week-six\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shanahan planning to be without Brandon Aiyuk until roughly week six<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Upcoming San Francisco 49ers Schedule<\/p>\n<p>Preseason<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, August 16th\u00a0\u2013 @ Las Vegas Raiders \u2013 1:00 PM PT<br \/>\nSaturday, August 23rd\u00a0\u2013 vs. Los Angeles Chargers \u2013 5:30 PM PT<\/p>\n<p>Regular Season<\/p>\n<p>Sunday, September 7th\u00a0\u2013 @ Seattle Seahawks \u2013 1:05 PM PT\u00a0\u00a0*Season opener*<br \/>\nSunday, September 14th\u00a0\u2013 @ New Orleans Saints \u2013 10:00 AM PT<br \/>\nSunday, September 21st\u00a0\u2013 vs. Arizona Cardinals \u2013 1:25 PM PT<br \/>\nSunday, September 28th\u00a0\u2013 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars \u2013 1:05 PM PT<br \/>\nThursday, October 2nd\u00a0\u2013 @ Los Angeles Rams \u2013 5:15 PM PT<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for reading\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sactownsports.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SactownSports.com<\/a>. Follow us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sactown1140\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMMGengsw2Ki2Aw?hl=en-US&amp;gl=US&amp;ceid=US:en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Google News<\/a>, and subscribe to our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/SactownSports1140\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">YouTube<\/a>\u00a0channel.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sactownsports.com\/newsletters\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SactownSportsEmail-300x250-1.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"mobile-signup\"\/>\t&#13;<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SactownSportsEmail-830x100-1.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"desktop-signup\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Saleh has returned to his role as San Francisco\u2019s defensive coordinator, but the roster has been shaken&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,7,1631,6,9827,9826,1161,252,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-283680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-home","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-sactownsports-com","13":"tag-sactownsports-com-sacramento-sports-news","14":"tag-san-francisco","15":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","16":"tag-sanfrancisco","17":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}