49ers’ Robert Saleh Accuses Jaguars of Using Legal Sign-Stealing Tactics Ahead of Week 4 Clash
Posted September 26, 2025
New York Jets fans surely remember Robert Saleh and his tenure as the team’s head coach. While they’d like to forget it, he’s not their problem anymore since taking the defensive coordinator job for the
Well, Saleh decided to sir the pot on Thursday – intentionally or otherwise – ahead of this week’s clash with the Jacksonville Jaguars
in Santa Clara. While he said that Jaguars head coach Liam Coen and company do it “legally,” he did go ahead and accuse the black and teal of sign stealing.
“Liam [Coen] and his staff, a couple of guys coming from Minnesota, they’ve got a—legally—a really advanced signal stealing type system where they always find a way to put themselves in an advantageous situation,”
Saleh said. “They do a great job with it. They formation you to 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.”
Legal or not, sign stealing is a fairly serious accusation in sports, just ask the Houston Astros.
“They’re almost elite in that regard,” Saleh continued. “That whole entire tree. From Sean [McVay], to Kevin O’Connell, to all those guys, they all do it. So, there’s challenges. They’re gonna catch us in some situations where they have the advantage and we just gotta play good, sound, fundamental football and do our best to execute.”
How are the Jacksonville Jaguars stealing signs, Robert?
Saleh was then pressed to explain what Coen and the Jaguars are doing and how they are pulling it off. As you can imagine, Roger Goodell and the NFL surely wouldn’t be overly thrilled if people are stealing signs,
When Saleh was asked to explain what exactly the Jaguars are doing and how they are doing it, this is what he had to say.
“That’s the ultimate trick. Whether it’s people from the sideline or whether it’s our individual hand signals—whatever nugget they can find, they catch it. And they always happen to find themselves in good situations based on the coverages shown. And there’s nothing illegal about it. I’m not suggesting that.
“It’s just, you can tell they have a system that is getting them into a very advantageous position multiple times during the course of a game.”
How will the Jacksonville Jaguars respond?
There was already a surprising amount of intrigue regarding this matchup on Sunday. It wasn’t one that you circled when the schedule was released, but now the Jags are 2-1 and the 49ers are undefeated coming into this game.
So, there was already some natural interest in it, but now we have some good ol’ fashioned bulletin board material to throw on the fire. Why would Saleh say these things just a few days before the game? He does know he doesn’t
have to share with the media, right?
It makes one wonder how not only the Jaguars and Liam Coen will respond to this, but the NFL. Surely, someone will start asking questions and maybe there is nothing to it. Maybe Saleh is correct and that this is all legal and it happens all the time.
Just don’t forget that the league takes these matters very seriously. They will never say it out loud, but the NFL would rather a player get a DUI than have someone get caught messing with the integrity of the game and the competition.
It took only three games for Daniel Jones to prove the New York curse is real
Just keep it going.
The fault of Daniel Jones being ineffective for the first six seasons of his career does not lie with the New York Giants. Sure, Jones is off to a better start with the Indianapolis Colts than he ever had with the Giants, but the problem wasn't Jones' former team. The issue, clearly, was the city of New York.
Some players simply aren't meant to fit with teams in the Big Apple. What is odd, though, is that so many quarterbacks, specifically, have left New York and turned into good players elsewhere. It doesn't matter if the QB played for the Giants or Jets; the curse remained the same.
Geno Smith and Sam Darnold both played for the Jets and failed. They are still in the league and are QB1s with new teams. Smith has had a pretty good three-plus-year run, though he still needs to clean up his interceptions with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts are rescuing each other
Darnold was quite good with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024 and signed with the Seattle Seahawks this past offseason. Through three games, he has been efficient, if not consistently explosive, but is playing winning football.
New York even got to the greats. Aaron Rodgers is obviously a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer, but he was atrocious for the Jets in the last two seasons, at least when he was healthy enough to play. He was elite with the Green Bay Packers. Three games with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2025, and he looks back to his old self.
The narrative is clear: Once quarterbacks free themselves, one way or another, from the most populated city in the United States, they might finally have a chance to play good football. This has nothing to do with the quality of the people in New York, of course, but something about the sports atmosphere New York QBs play.
Eli Manning was able to do a pretty good job, but he stopped being the Giants' full-time quarterback in 2018, and his career quarterback rating was only 84.1. Had he played elsewhere, he might not have won two Super Bowls, but he probably would have been a far more productive quarterback.
Ultimately, Indianapolis Colts fans should feel fortunate they were able to get one of the New York football refugees. Indy is better with Daniel Jones. As for the success of the Jets and Giants, who cares?
