‘He’s going to turn it around’ — George Kittle raves about Titans head coach Robert Saleh, why he’s confident the Cam Ward era will be a winner

From conspiracy theories to faith in the future, George Kittle shares his personal testimony on the man the Titans just hired as their new head coach.

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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Whenever a team hires a new head coach, everybody inside the building for that new team is always going to be ecstatic about the addition. But if you want to get a real understanding of the person you’re bringing in, there’s no better place to look than the former players who have worked with this coach before.

Enter All Pro tight end George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers star and Nashville resident in his free time. He went on the Bussin With The Boys podcast to talk to Will Compton and Taylor Lewan about Robert Saleh, the new Titans head coach who he knows well from his time out west.

George Kittle dishes on who the Titans have in Robert Saleh

Robert Saleh was the defensive coordinator for the 49ers from 2017 to 2020, and then returned for one year last season after his head coach tenure with the New York Jets came to an end. Kittle has been in the building for all of those seasons in San Francisco, last year being his fifth year interacting with Saleh on a regular basis.

Kittle explained how his fifth and final season with Saleh was one in which they grew far closer than the four prior:

“I talked to Saleh more this year than I did in the (previous) four years that I was with him. I’m talking like twice a week. I would just go sit in his office from anywhere from five to 30 minutes and we would just talk. He’s a big conspiracy theory guy. I’ll say that.”

I guess an endorsement of a head coach that leads with his interest in conspiracy theories could be a positive or negative depending on the kind of person you are. I vow to you that as an intrepid journalist, I will do my best to get to the bottom of the conspiracy theories Robert Saleh is most interested in.

But in all seriousness, Kittle went on to explain how Robert Saleh the human being is just as impressive as Robert Saleh the coach.

“He knows how to inspire. He has great, great messaging. I mean, he’s part of the invention of that defense that he coaches. Our defense was mauled by injuries. He was a part of us winning 13 games. Just give him some time and I think he’s going to really put some good games out there. I really do.”

Saleh isn’t the only thing about this new look Tennessee Titans team that Kittle is impressed with. He brought up quarterback Cam Ward unprompted explaining how a Ward and Saleh pairing should pay dividends for Tennessee.

“Especially, I mean, you guys, Cam Ward’s a hell of a football player. He’s special. The Titans are going to be good. This is my thing. My rookie year with Shanahan, we started the year off 0-9. We were 1-10 and we won, what, five straight games in the season. And then the next year, we had a couple of injuries. We were 4-12. So just give him a couple years because becoming a good team in the NFL is incredibly difficult. Unless you already have a stacked roster. So just give him a couple years. He’s going to turn it around. He’s going to drive the bus in the right direction.”

He’s going to turn it around. Just give him time. This is the steadfast message that Kittle has sent to Tennessee Titans fans. All that’s left to do is hope he is right, and hope Saleh and Ward are given the time necessary for them to take off in the NFL.

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