Dennis Allen might be the stronger option for the 49ers at defensive coordinator instead of Robert Saleh.
There are obvious risks to the 49ers zeroing in solely on Robert Saleh, while Dennis Allen poses none of those.
The San Francisco 49ers could do far worse than reunite with ousted New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh for their defensive coordinator vacancy.
Heck, 2024 proved it when the Niners promoted from within and named Nick Sorensen their coordinator.
With Sorensen gone after a one-and-done campaign that saw San Francisco's defense flounder down the stretch, the overwhelming sensation is the 49ers are merely waiting for Saleh to go through his rounds of head-coaching interviews, ones that now include the Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders.
Provided none of those teams elect to hire Saleh, or he deems any of those offers not to his liking, then head coach Kyle Shanahan would get his first-ever coordinator back.
Simple enough, right?
Well, not exactly.
There are reasons to suspect Saleh might not be a quick fix for the myriad of problems facing the Niners defense entering 2025, yes. But there are more pressing issues at hand here. For starters, the longer San Francisco holds out for Saleh's "maybe, maybe not" availability, the bigger the chance of remaining coordinator candidates no longer are available.
This essentially led to the same problem the 49ers faced last February when they promoted Sorensen. There were no other quality options left.
On top of that, there's another looming issue at hand: continuity.
Hiring Saleh doesn't wholly solve that either. But there's one would-be candidate who could.
Dennis Allen might be the perfect candidate for Kyle Shanahan, 49ers
A potential (perhaps likely) problem the Niners would face if they hired Saleh is he'd assuredly be another head-coaching candidate to watch once 2025 concludes. Despite things not going well in New York, teams recognized the Jets defense under Saleh as a legitimate strength. Plus, once he was dismissed, those teams saw just how quickly things fell apart with Gang Green.
As such, there's an excellent chance Saleh would depart in 2026 for a new vacancy, just as he did in 2021, meaning San Francisco would have employed three different one-and-done coordinators in as many years.
It's hard to maintain defensive continuity there.
ESPN's Nick Wagoner, meanwhile, suggested former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen as a likable option, writing:
"While Saleh and [Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich] are considered top candidates, another name worth keeping a close eye on is former New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen. Allen has extensive experience, working eight years as a defensive coordinator in Denver and New Orleans, almost six seasons as a head coach with the Saints and Raiders and another year as the Saints senior defensive assistant.
Shanahan has long respected Allen, as most recently evident in the fits Allen's defense gave Shanahan's offense in a Nov. 2022 victory in which the 49ers managed just 13 points on 4.7 yards per play against Allen's Saints."
Granted, going with Allen would be an entirely different philosophical shift on defense from Saleh and the traditional 4-3, Cover 3 defense the 49ers have deployed since Shanahan took over in 2017. The Niners head coach would not only have to be OK with such a change, but it'd likely require different strategies in deploying personnel.
That's not necessarily an easy thing to do.
However, the bonus is that Allen wouldn't likely depart for a head-coaching gig anytime soon, if ever, given he already had two relatively unsuccessful stints as such, first with the Oakland Raiders and then with the Saints.
By going with Allen, the Niners probably wouldn't have to worry about having these same conversations about a new defensive coordinator in a year's time.
Or three.
