Niners Nation
49ers rookie safety Marques Sigle in position to start Week 1 as newest ‘Sultan of Swarm’ (paywall) “A certain route concept gave Sigle some trouble. Saleh, as his job demands, attempted to walk the 23-year-old through the play. What went right, wrong, etc. But the rookie cut him off, so as to work through his own mental checklist. Saleh watched the play back after practice; everything Sigle said checked out.
“Some are quick, like him, and some will need to see it three or four times,” Saleh said Thursday, having lauded Sigle’s readiness to play free or strong safety.
This preseason has largely confirmed what the analytics told the 49ers about Sigle. Look for the player with the ball. You’ll probably spot No. 36. Pro Football Focus gave Sigle an 85.9 tackling grade, which on a 100-point scale ranked second among 49ers players and 13th across the league.
“Game came way slower,” said Sigle, who totaled 99 defensive snaps in his three preseason games. “I can finally see things pre-snap, anticipating motions, my alerts, so definitely ahead of the game now instead of behind.”
What NFL head coaches learn from the tough lessons of their top assistants (paywall) ““(Before), you have a feel for his issues but you don’t really understand his issues because you haven’t been through it yourself,” Saleh said. “So there’s more of an empathy this time around. I can feel when (Shanahan) kind of has the burden of the organization on his back and he just needs a ‘Hey, how ya doing?’ …
“You’re on an island. It’s a lonely place,” he added, laughing.
Saleh said that a head coach can have phases where it feels like there is “always a fire,” and that he has to solve the problems for everyone. When Saleh notices shades of a familiar stress reflected every so often in Shanahan’s face or demeanor, he makes it known he’s there if needed.
“Just to be an extra set of eyes, another ear for him to talk to, someone who has the empathy to understand what he’s going through — I’m always here for him,” Saleh said. “But, you know, coming in and trying to re-invent the wheel and tell him how I did things, who the hell am I?”…Saleh consulted in Green Bay for head coach and close friend Matt LaFleur in the latter weeks of the 2024 season and sought advice from Belichick about why he once returned to coach under Bill Parcells in 1996 after five seasons as the Cleveland Browns’ head coach.
“It was the same conversations, like he understood why Bill (Parcells) was doing things (after Belichick was a head coach),” Saleh said. “So he went back to a championship format, in terms of how they operated. And it helped him understand the ‘why’. For me, it’s coming back to a championship organization that I was familiar with. And it’s been great, because all of the ‘whys’ are starting to click.”
Some of Saleh’s time in...
