NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Eating clean, Paul Posluszny ordered a salad and salmon, no beer.
At J. Alexander’s in St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville, the Jaguars’ linebacker wasn’t about to have a drink as he got to know his new position coach.
Robert Saleh also had a salad. He was taking his linebackers out individually.
“Only time it ever happened to me, that stood out,” said Posluszny, who now works for defense
contractor Raytheon Technologies, which sells missiles and radar. “We talked about football very little. We talked about family a ton.”
In seven stops with six organizations over 20 years, Robert Saleh has made a lot of friends and won over a lot of players. The Titans are counting on him to continue doing that as their new head coach, pairing it with defensive acumen and lessons learned from a failed first run as a head coach with the Jets.
“He was able to take very complex schemes and make them easy for players to completely understand so you could play fast," Posluszny said. "That’s what he was all about. I played my best football under him.”
Posluszny is an 11-year Pro Bowl linebacker. Matt LaFleur, meanwhile, owns the 16th-best winning percentage (.654) in NFL history.
“Robert Saleh is one of the best football minds in the game,” said Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who met Saleh when the two worked on Gary Kubiak’s Texans staff in 2008. They were best men in each other’s weddings. “His enthusiasm is contagious and the confidence he instills in his players is a direct reflection of his leadership ability.”
For the Packers coach who’s in position to talk on the record to many who are only in position to speak without their names attached, over and over I’ve talked with people about the Titans new head coach and they’ve pointed to his zeal and likability.
“He’s a smart man and I’m pulling for him,” said Tony Dews, who coached running backs for Saleh in 2024 and is now with the Patriots. “The players will love him. He’ll be demanding yet fair. He’ll treat guys right and he’ll push them. He’s organized. He’s detailed. He’s a good motivator. He’s very easy to talk to.”
A front-office executive who worked with Saleh for several years echoed that sentiment.
“Good person," he said. "No pretense. Very authentic. Tremendously hard worker. Genuine enthusiasm and energy. Really smart and has evolved in every spot.”
If congeniality translates directly to wins, the Titans are set.
But it will take more than that, obviously.
Robert Saleh is the culture-setting leader the Titans need. Here he is on "the four levels of competitors": pic.twitter.com/vGxefBTfjA
— Justin Graver (@titansfilmroom) January 20, 2026
By record — which is how a coach ultimately should be judged — Saleh failed with the New York Jets. Over three seasons and five games from 2021–24, they went 20–36, a résumé that typically doesn’t earn a quick second chance.
The context matters, but it doesn’t erase the results.
Saleh started with quarterback Zach Wilson, the second pick of the 2021 draft, and the offense never stabilized. The organization pivoted hard in Year Three, trading for Aaron Rodgers and pairing him with a coordinator he liked, Nathaniel Hackett. Four snaps into Rodgers’ Jets debut, he tore his Achilles, sending the season -- and much of Saleh’s tenure -- off the rails.
The Jets cycled back to Wilson, with Trevor Siemian and Tim Boyle filling in. The defense remained competitive. The offense was bad.
“To go all-in with Aaron and for Aaron to go down the first week, I think any team, any organization would struggle with that,” Siemian said. “There were so many things Aaron did offensively that really nobody else could simulate. That’s where that went sideways, losing Aaron. A quarterback like that, it’s not a plug-and-play type thing…”
Saleh paid the price anyway.
Those who know him believe that, in a more functional environment and with a chance to course-correct, he will fare better.
Second-chance coaches who didn't do well the first time and then do great are rare -- Bill Belichick, Mike Shanahan, Pete Carroll.
But Saleh wouldn't be the first Jet to escape New York and do better -- Todd Bowles was 24-40 with the Jets and is 35-33 in Tampa Bay with a playoff win. Sam Darnold posted a 78.6 passer rating in three years with the Jets and is at 92.5 since.
The Titans hired a coach people believe in. In his second chance, his results have to be believable too.