NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans are working to finalize a deal to hire San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh as their next head coach, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday night.
Saleh, the former New York Jets coach, spent Monday in Tennessee with the Titans, and the two sides impressed each other enough to move forward together, sources said.
Tennessee also had completed an in-person interview with Matt Nagy on Monday.
Saleh would become the 20th coach in Oilers/Titans history, and the seventh since the team moved to Nashville in 1997.
The Titans’ brass was originally scheduled to have a virtual interview with Saleh last Sunday, but it elected to expedite the process by having him come to Nashville for an in-person meeting Monday after hosting Nagy, the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, earlier that day.
Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi had leaned toward Nagy given their time together in Kansas City. However, encouragement from team ownership pushed the decision to Saleh, according to a source.
This will be Saleh’s second stint as a head coach. He served as the Jets’ coach from 2021 to 2024 after a four-year run as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator that included a Super Bowl appearance after the 2020 season. Saleh’s time with the Jets never got on track, even though New York traded for future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers in hopes of jumpstarting Saleh’s third season as the coach. Rodgers ruptured his left Achilles in the season opener and Saleh and the Jets never recovered. With Rodgers and the Jets struggling, Saleh was fired after five games into his fourth season on the job, and he finished with a 20-36 overall record.
Among the lessons Saleh learned in New York was to better connect with the whole roster, which is what he worked on during his second stint with the 49ers despite being the defensive coordinator. That coincides with some of the traits Borgonzi said he wanted in the next coach.
“That person ultimately has to connect everybody in the building,” Borgonzi said. “You have to have that balance of being demanding, connecting people in the building, and just bringing people together.”
The Titans finished with a 3-14 record last season and have not made the playoffs since 2021 when they were the AFC’s top seed and lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round under former coach Mike Vrabel.
The first order for Saleh, a defensive-minded coach, will be to find an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach that can help 2025 No. 1 pick Cam Ward develop into their franchise quarterback.
The Titans also are set to move into a new stadium in 2027.
