49ers' Robert Saleh leads list of new coordinators for NFL contenders

a day ago

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers went back to a familiar face when coach Kyle Shanahan looked to revive a defensive unit that had gone from dominant to mediocre in recent years.
The Niners brought back Robert Saleh for a second stint as coordinator in hopes that he could once again build back the defense in similar fashion to what he did in 2019 when San Francisco's stingy defense helped carry the team to the Super Bowl.
'His commanding presence in defensive meetings is what we needed,' star defensive end Nick Bosa said.
The 49ers aren't the only contender that made a change at play-caller on offense or defense headed into 2025. How all of those work out will go a long way to determining which teams are playing deep into January.
Some teams were forced to make changes they didn't want to with Detroit needing to replace both coordinators after Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn got head coaching jobs and Super Bowl champion Philadelphia needing to replace offensive coordinator Kellen Moore after he became Saints head coach.
Tampa Bay is in a similar boat for a second straight season after losing an offensive coordinator to a head coaching job with Liam Coen leaving for Jacksonville one year after Dave Canales left for Carolina.
Other teams such as Houston, Cincinnati and Seattle made changes in hopes of finding a spark.
Here's a look at some of the key new coordinators around the NFL:
49ers DC Robert Saleh
The 49ers ranked 29th in the league in scoring defense last season, allowing 25.6 points per game, and were tied for the seventh-fewest takeaways with 17 as the unit looked nothing like the dominant ones under Saleh and DeMeco Ryans from 2019-22.
That led to Shanahan making another change at coordinator, bringing back Saleh after he was fired as head coach of the New York Jets to replace the fired Nick Sorensen.
During Saleh's last two full seasons with the Jets in 2022-23, New York ranked first in yards passing allowed per game (178.9) and yards per play allowed (4.7), and second in total defense (301.7 yards per game).
The Niners are hoping similar results will get them back to the postseason after a 6-11 record in 2024.
Lions OC John Morton and DC Kelvin Sheppard
Detroit became the third team in the past 15 seasons to lose both coordinators to NFL head coaching jobs in the same offseason with it also happening to Philadelphia following the 2022 season and Cincinnati after 2013. Both those teams went back to the playoffs the following season, losing in the wild-card round.
The Lions have their sights set higher after making it to the NFC title game in 2023 and losing in the divisional round as the top seed last season. Whether that happens will depend heavily on if Morton can keep the offense in the top five in scoring for a fourth straight season after Johnson helped make it one of the most dynamic in the league with his trick plays and schemes.
Morton has only one year of play-calling experience in the NFL in 2017 with the Jets, finishing in the bottom 10 in scoring with an offense that lacked the playmakers he has in Detroit.
Sheppard should be helped by getting star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson back healthy after he missed the final 12 games last season with a broken leg.
Eagles OC Kevin Patullo
QB Jalen Hurts will have a fourth play-caller in as many years with Patullo getting promoted from passing game coordinator following Moore's departure.
The offense improved under Moore in 2024 after stagnating the previous season when Brian Johnson replaced Shane Steichen as OC.
Patullo has plenty of talent with one of the top offensive lines, record-setting running back Saquon Barkley and two talented wideouts in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith to support Hurts.
Buccaneers OC Josh Grizzard
Tampa Bay's offense got even better last season when Coen replaced Canales with both the running game and screen passing showing major improvement.
Grizzard will try to build on that as he moves from passing game coordinator to OC. He was heavily involved with the third down offense last season when the Bucs led the NFL by converting 50.9%.
Texans OC Nick Caley
Coach DeMeco Ryans made a change after last season even though Houston made it back to the divisional round. That came in spite of the offense taking a big step back thanks in large part to shoddy line play that hindered the growth of QB C.J. Stroud.
Caley comes over after spending the past two seasons on Sean McVay's staff with the Rams and is being counted on to bring some of Los Angeles' successful wrinkles to Houston to help make Stroud's job at quarterback easier. He will need to do it with an overhauled offensive line that lost stalwart Laremy Tunsil in the offseason.
Bengals DC AL Golden
The Bengals went to the college ranks to hire Golden away from Notre Dame to replace Lou Anarumo. Cincinnati reached the Super Bowl with Anarumo leading the defense in the 2021 season but regressed the past few years and were ranked in the bottom 10 in most categories last season.
Golden spent the 2020-21 seasons as linebackers coach for the Bengals and brings a man-heavy scheme to the NFL.
Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak
Seattle hired Kubiak to replace Ryan Grubb in hopes that his scheme heavy on zone blocking and play-action passing can help the Seahawks offensive line.
Kubiak was OC in New Orleans last season when the Saints got off to a fast start before injuries led to a downfall.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

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Aaron Judge is back in the lineup at DH as the Yankees wait for clarity on his throwing arm

Yahoo

2 minutes ago

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Aaron Judge is back in the lineup at DH as the Yankees wait for clarity on his throwing arm

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Aaron Judge is back in the lineup as the designated hitter for the New York Yankees following a 10-day stint on the injured list with a flexor tendon strain in his right elbow. There's still no clarity on when the All-Star slugger will return to the outfield. Judge is batting third in the middle game of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night. Manager Aaron Boone said Judge is supposed to start a throwing program Wednesday. Boone all but ruled out Judge returning to the outfield as early as the next couple of days. 'I don't want to get ahead of myself,' Boone said. 'See how that first day goes. From there, we'll probably have a better idea after a day or two of that.' Judge didn't speak to reporters in the clubhouse before the game, but Boone said the leading hitter in the majors came away from a trip to the team's spring training facility in Tampa, Florida, ready to swing the bat — and test the capabilities of his arm. 'I think he's been pretty upbeat about it,' Boone said. 'I think down in Tampa, did a lot of things. Didn't throw, but did a lot of things in kind of preparation for that throwing. So far, so good. So hopefully when he does start that throwing program, it goes well and he can progress fairly quickly.' Judge hasn't played since July 25 because of the elbow strain. An MRI showed no acute damage to his ulnar collateral ligament and he had a platelet-rich injection July 27, when he was placed on the IL in a move retroactive to the previous day. The first time Judge said he felt pain in the elbow was July 22 at Toronto, after he made a strong throw home when George Springer singled to right. Judge entered Tuesday night's game hitting .342 and was fourth in the majors with 37 homers and fifth with 85 RBIs. New York's loss in the series opener at Texas was the club's fourth in a row, and the Yankees have fallen to third place in the AL East behind Toronto and Boston. They were in first place to start July, but started Tuesday 5 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays, currently holding a wild-card spot 2 1/2 games behind the Red Sox. 'Hopefully it's the start of something really good,' Boone said of Judge's return. Judge's return was part of a bevy of roster moves, headlined by the Yankees sending reliever Jake Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre just five days after acquiring the right-hander from Colorado before the trade deadline. Bird allowed seven runs — six earned — in two innings over his first three appearances with the Yankees, capped by Josh Jung's three-run homer in the 10th inning of the Rangers' 8-5 victory in the series opener. 'I think he got quite a bit of work there in the first half, a lot of success,' Boone said. 'And he's had some struggles lately. We still think really highly of him and think he's not only going to help us this year in the short term but certainly in the long term, too. So hopefully this is something that does give him that little bit of a reset.' The Yankees put newly acquired outfielder Austin Slater on the IL with a left hamstring strain. Slater, traded by the Chicago White Sox last week, exited in the second inning Monday night after running out a fielder's choice grounder. New York also activated right-hander Mark Leiter Jr., who has been out almost a month with a stress fracture in his leg. Right-hander Yerry de los Santos was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and right-hander JT Brubaker was designated for assignment. Giancarlo Stanton, who has been the Yankees' starting DH for all of his 32 games this season, was displaced by Judge in the lineup. His 10th homer was a two-run shot in the fourth Monday that gave the Yankees a 5-4 lead over the Rangers. He missed the first 70 games of the season with inflammation in the tendons of both elbows. 'That's the tough part,' Boone said. 'G's been in such a good place now for really most of the time he's been back. Just feel like he's putting together real consistent at-bats where he's a real threat all the time. That'll be tough to navigate these first few days.' ___ AP MLB: