Robert Saleh Claims Coaches In Sean McVay's Coaching Tree Have System For Stealing Defensive Signals

Robert Saleh has a lot on his plate now: Overcoming the loss of Nick Bosa, keeping the San Francisco 49ers defense among the league's best units, and, oh yeah, keeping upcoming opponent, the Jacksonville Jaguars, from stealing his defensive signals on Sunday.

Because, Saleh says, the Jaguars are great at it.

Sep 7, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh talks with linebacker Fred Warner (54) during the fourth quarter against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Saleh: Jags Have ‘Signal-Stealing’ System

During his weekly meeting with reporters on Thursday, Saleh dropped this little nugget when he was asked his thoughts on the surging 2-1 Jaguars and their offense, led by head coach Liam Coen:

"Jacksonville, this is a very young but talented group," Saleh said. "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."

Wait, what?

Did the Jaguars just hire Connor Stalions?

"They do a great job with it," Saleh said, pressing the issue. "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. 

"They're almost elite in that regard."

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) congratulates running back Bhayshul Tuten (33) for his rushing touchdown score during the first quarter of an NFL football matchup at EverBank Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jaguars defeated the Texans 17-10.

Entire Sean McVay Tree Does It?

Saleh is apparently saying the Jaguars offense comes out in certain offensive looks to get the defense to line up a certain way and then possibly move to force the defense to signal changes. And the Jaguars figure out the signals and get in a better play.

And, he says, the entire Sean McVay coaching tree that stretches from Cincinnati to Minnesota, to Miami, to Green Bay and now Jacksonville, uses the system to gain an advantage.

"That whole entire tree from [Los Angeles Rams head coach] Sean [McVay] to [Minnesota Vikings head coach] Kevin O'Connell to all those guys, they all do it," Saleh 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."

And that's all.

No, it's not.

LEXINGTON, KY - SEPTEMBER 14: Head Coach Liam Coen of the Jacksonville Jaguars in a game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cincinnati Bengals on September 14, 2025, at Kroger Field in Lexington, KY. (Photo by Jeff Moreland/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Coen Responds, Sort Of

Coen spoke to reporters Friday morning and was asked if he's stealing signs.

"Yeah, I'm not going to speak on that fully right now, have a huge game for us coming up this weekend," he said. 

The reporters in Jacksonville pressed, asking if Coen was surprised by Saleh's claim. 

"Again, we're really trying to focus on a darn good defense that we have to go and try to go attack and offensively get better, about us getting better, putting it together for four quarters and trying to create some explosives in the pass game, some of those things that we're trying to get better at as an offense. So, that's where the focus is right now." 

Coen did say his staff works hard to get "indicators" based on formations pre-snap.

Rams head coach Sean McVay made a smart devision ahead of his team's "home" playoff game in Arizona. (Getty Images)

Not Illegal But Advantageous

That doesn't settle things because we wonder how exactly is an entire coaching tree stealing defensive signals on any given Sunday?

"That's the ultimate trick, whether it's people from the sidelines or whether it's our individual hand signals," Saleh 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."

A "can system" refers to a quarterback’s ability to cancel an original play called in the huddle and switch at the line of scrimmage to an alternate play that was built into the huddle call.

Saleh said he's dealt with the issue in the past.

Aug 9, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA;  San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh watches from the sidelines in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Saleh Has Seen It Work Against Him

"Were there findings, and I was like, ‘How'd they know to get to that play?’ Yeah," Saleh said. "We dealt with it in Minnesota last year. 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."

And Saleh is smart to bring this to light.

He is exposing to the entire league that the McVay guys are doing this. If he's telling everyone, one assumes everyone will work to overcome the disadvantage.

And if enough people do that, perhaps that will discourage Zac Taylor in Cincy, Mike McDaniel in Miami, O'Connell in Minnesota, Matt LeFleur in Green Bay and perhaps even McVay in Los Angeles from doing this anymore – which would make Saleh's job easier.

The coach is also sending a message to Coen that he's onto his strategy and perhaps the Jaguars will be disincentivized from doing it on Sunday against the 49ers.

Pretty smart.