LaFleur answers slyly as Saleh helps Packers prepare for 49ers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Former 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is now in enemy territory.
Saleh is no longer coaching the New York Jets and is instead serving as an offensive consultant for the Green Bay Packers. He’s giving coach Matt LaFleur all the help he can ahead of their Week 12 matchup with San Francisco.
“He’s been helpful,” LaFleur told reporters with a smile on Wednesday when asked if Saleh has provided any insight on the 49ers, declining to elaborate further.
The ex-Jets coach joined the Packers last month in a unique role after New York fired him, giving LaFleur and his offensive unit a defensive perspective on things. And while LaFleur spent three seasons with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan in Washington from 2010 to 2013, Saleh has more recent experience under Shanahan from 2017 to 2020.
“He’s doing a great job too,” LaFleur said of Saleh’s strictly offensive role. “He always gives us a nugget. I mean, there are plays that come up in the discussion that we’ve run in games that have been quite successful, so he’s been a big asset.”
When the Jets fired Saleh following their 2-3 start to the 2024 NFL season, there was some speculation that he could rejoin the 49ers as the team’s defensive unit struggles with growing pains under new DC Nick Sorensen . But he quickly found a new home in Green Bay, putting those rumors to rest almost as soon as they started.
There’s no telling if Saleh will be at Lambeau Field with the Packers on Sunday. He was at Levi’s Stadium in Week 1 when the 49ers dealt his Jets their first loss of the season, but LaFleur revealed that Saleh now helps Green Bay during the week and spends time with his family on the weekends.
Despite never working under Shanahan at the same time, LaFleur and Saleh go way back. They were graduate assistants together at Central Michigan in 2004 and worked with each other at the Houston Texans in 2008 and 2009, with LaFleur also serving as best man at Saleh’s wedding.
Now that they are reunited, Saleh’s main focus is on helping his new team and his old friend, while doing everything he can to defeat another.
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