San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh caused a stir Thursday, highlighting the ability of Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen and his staff to legally steal signs.
"Jacksonville, this is a very young but talented group. Liam and his staff, a couple of guys coming from Minnesota, they've got legally, a really advanced signal-stealing type system where they always find a way to put themselves in an advantageous situation," Saleh said ahead of Sunday's matchup, per the team transcript. "They do a great job with it. They formation you to just try to find any nugget they can. So, we've got to be great with our signals and we've got to be great with our communication to combat some of the tells that we might give on the field."
The most notable coach on the Jags staff that came over from Minnesota is offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, heralded as one of the brightest offensive minds in the game. Offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett also coached in Minnesota in 2024.
It wasn't just the Jags' staff that Saleh pointed out, but essentially all of the Sean McVay coaching tree -- which includes Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell.
"They're almost elite in that regard. That whole entire tree from Sean to Kevin O'Connell to all those guys, they all do it," he said. "So, there's challenges. They're going to catch us in some situations where they have the advantage and we've just got to play good, sound, fundamental football and do our best to out-execute them."
Saleh was tactful in repeatedly noting that he perceives no subterfuge -- i.e., illegal taping -- highlighting that sign-stealing is a legal and very prevalent part of gamesmanship. Teams pore over the tape in an attempt to decipher hand signals between players or catch an on-field mic during the TV broadcast. Anything to gain the slightest edge.
"That's the ultimate trick, whether it's people from the sideline or whether it's our individual hand signals," he said. "Whatever nugget they can find, they catch it. They always happen to find themselves in good situations based on the coverage you show. There's nothing illegal about it. I'm not suggesting that. It's just, you can tell that they've got a can system that's getting them into a very advantageous position. It gets them into a very advantageous position multiple times during the course of a game."
Saleh's Jets faced Udinski's Vikings last season, the ex-coach's final game with New York.
"We dealt with it in Minnesota last year," Saleh said. "They got us into a couple of situations. You can see it on tape when they're studying. It's like, 'how'd they know to be in that call at that time?' We've experienced it with the Rams a little bit. It's not an uncommon thing. This group of people, they're pretty good at it."
The big question is why Saleh would come out and call out the Jags -- and, really, an entire coaching tree, of which the trunk resides squarely in his division? Why not change his signals, toss in a few old ones as dummies, and let his opponent fall into a trap? Perhaps, like Mike McDermott once said of highlighting Teddy KGB’s tell in Rounders, he doesn't have that kind of time, and no one is immune to getting a little rattled.
