Robert Saleh is back in San Francisco as the defensive coordinator, the role he gave up when he left for New York.

Robert Saleh is back. After a nearly four-year stint as the head coach of the New York Jets, Saleh returns to San Francisco as the defensive coordinator, the role he gave up when he left for New York.

He and the 49ers would like to see a return to defensive prominence that the team enjoyed during his first stint as defensive coordinator. Saleh was asked if it feels the same as when he was here before.

“No,” Saleh said. “From a talent standpoint, Nick Bosa is here, you’ve got obviously Fred Warner, Deommodore Lenoir, Renardo Green There’s a lot of really good talent on this defense, so it’s not nearly as what ‘17 was.”

Huh?

That was a pretty good defense in 2017, and while Saleh did inherit a ton of talent, he also built quite a bit of it. DeForest Buckner, Jimmie Ward and Arik Armstead were all on that team. But maybe the most surprising thing that we heard was the inclusion of Renardo Green in the same breath as Warner and Lenoir.

Maybe Saleh sees something we don’t in such a small sample size of Green, who started just seven games in his rookie season last year.

Saleh had moderate success from 2017-2018 as the defensive coordinator before 2019 brought defensive dominance to San Francisco and helped the team to a Super Bowl LIV appearance.

In Saleh’s final season in San Francisco, his defense ranked second in yards allowed and eighth in points allowed, and the unit took a hit when he left. Last season, the 49ers were eighth in yards allowed and ranked 27th in the league in points allowed.