By mid-April, some baseball teams have received their first dose of harsh reality, but those in the NFL remain blissfully optimistic.
Take, for example, the 49ers, a team coming off a 2-14 season marked by a historically inept run defense. No matter. On Monday, rookie defensive coordinator Robert Saleh indicated he’d be overseeing a unit that would morph from putrid to punishing.
“The way we align, our demeanor, the responsibility of the defensive players,” Saleh said, “we will stop the run on this defense.”
That sounds like a quote destined to inspire eye-rolling in October, but the return of one indispensable player could help make Saleh prophetic.