Now leading the New York Jets, Robert Saleh got NFL start as coaching intern for Vic Fangio

Shortly before their 2005 training camp, the Houston Texans hired 26-year-old Robert Saleh as a defensive intern, his first NFL job after coaching for Michigan State, Central Michigan and Georgia.

The Texans’ defensive coordinator was Vic Fangio and although they worked together for only one season, they have kept in touch.

Saleh is now the New York Jets’ first-year coach and they face Fangio’s Broncos on Sunday.

How does an intern prove his worth to Fangio?

“You give him a lot of work and see if he gets it done the right way and he did,” he said before practice Thursday. “Robert did a good job for us. He obviously had a great work ethic and did good work. A lot of people have great work ethics, but their work isn’t very good. He was able to do both. He was smart. You could tell he had a good future in coaching.”

After the ’05 season, the Texans changed coaching staffs, but Gary Kubiak retained Saleh and moved him to quality control (2006-08) and assistant linebackers coach (2009-10). Saleh went on to work for Pete Carroll (Seattle, 2011-13), Gus Bradley (Jacksonville, 2014-16) and Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco, 2017-20).

“It was kind of a whirlwind (in Houston),” Saleh said in a conference call with Denver reporters. “My head was swimming and it was a rough year (2-14 record), but I took a lot from Vic. He’s one of the more detailed men I’ve ever been around.”

Fangio and Saleh played golf in the Bay Area when Saleh was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator.

“He’s got that old-man swing that goes right down the middle 200 yards,” Saleh said. “I’m busy trying to pound it 300 yards while going off of every fairway. He’s a better scorer than I am.”

Injury report. Nose tackle Mike Purcell (knee), who didn’t practice Wednesday, was a limited participant Thursday. Limited for a second consecutive day were receiver Tim Patrick (hip) and tight end Noah Fant (ankle).

Receiver Courtland Sutton (hip), right guard Graham Glasgow (illness) and defensive end Shelby Harris (wrist) were full-go.

Fangio said Glasgow, who missed the Jacksonville game after experiencing an irregular heartbeat late in the win over the New York Giants, is trending toward playing against the Jets.

Helping rookie QB. Jets center Connor McGovern started all 16 games and played 1,104 snaps for the Broncos in 2019 and then signed with New York as a free agent.

McGovern ended his Broncos career working with then-rookie quarterback Drew Lock and is now playing with rookie quarterback Zach Wilson.

“Very beneficial,” Saleh said. “Connor is extremely smart. He’s got tremendous athleticism to get to the second (blocking) level. He can do anything you want from a run-game and pass-game perspective with regard to blocking. To have that veteran be able to take over the protections and point out the (middle linebacker) and make all the communication, it alleviates a lot of stress off (Wilson) with regard to identifying the defense.”

Footnotes. The Broncos signed outside linebacker Aaron Patrick off Jacksonville’s practice squad and waived running back Nate McCrary. Patrick arrived at the Broncos’ facility late Thursday morning. McCrary was inactive in both games after being acquired from Baltimore via waivers. … Saleh on Wilson’s four-interception game against New England last week: “I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, but there’s a lot of good things that are coming out of this. It’s quite the indoctrination in the professional football forum, but again, it’s another challenge (to overcome).”

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