Just before their Week 4 matchup, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh raised eyebrows around the league when he said that the Jacksonville Jaguars legally steal signals from opposing teams.
These were baffling remarks because if it's legal, why even bring it up? Moreover, if Saleh wanted to compliment the Jags, there are surely other ways he could do it. When asked bout the comments, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said he didn't see an issue but understands why it could be misinterpreted. Along the way, he took advantage of the opportunity to take a shot at the Jacksonville coaching staff.
Unlike the Jaguars, the 49ers "don't need to steal signals"
Rightly, Robert Saleh's accusation has caused a stir in the NFL, but Kyle Shanahan says that his coordinator was just trying to compliment the Jags.
"Yeah, I think it's very common," Shanahan said when asked what he thought about Saleh's comments. "I think, I think he was trying to give him a compliment. I think when word sign stealing is used in a long compliment, that can sometimes go the wrong way, but I think it was just really good. They're good at what they do. Everyone tries to do that to a degree, so they're good at it. And think it's more just let them know that we know."
Later in the exchange, when asked whether the 49ers steal signals, Shahanan said that they don't need to do that, "We don't need to do that. We truly believe in being fair in every aspect."
"We don't need to do that. We truly believe in being fair in every aspect."
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) September 26, 2025
Kyle Shanahan's response to the Jaguars' sign-stealing strategy 😅 pic.twitter.com/Zexn0q7Nf4
For his part, Jaguars head coach Liam Coen seemed to downplay the accusation, but while doing so, he didn't appear to be overly thrilled. As Connor Orr of Sports Illustrated hypothesizes, it's possible that the 49ers just wanted to throw him off, but the way they did it wasn't precisely the best.
Related: 3 critical storylines to keep an eye on in the Week 4 game vs. the 49ers
Kyle Shanahan and 49ers are giving the Jaguars bulletin board material
As Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic pointed out, if you're not trying to pick up tendencies with formation changes and motions, along with film study, "you're probably pretty behind in today's coaching curve." And that's precisely what the Jaguars are doing under Liam Coen.
That Kyle Shanahan wants to shame Coen and the Jags for putting in the word to have a potential edge seems unnecessary. Again, there were different ways to compliment an opponent, and there were many things Robert Saleh could've said. Instead, he went for the low-hanging fruit, because "legally stealing signals" indeed sounds worse than it really is.
Now, the Jaguars should be incentivized to get back at the 49ers and prove that all that "signal stealing" will turn out to be a deciding factor in the outcome of the game.