‘Robert Saleh gave me a heart attack’ – Former NFL QB shares when the Titans head coach scared him to death while with the Jets

One of Robert Saleh’s former players with the New York Jets shared a behind the scenes story about playing for the now Tennessee Titans head coach.

Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh has built a reputation as an intimidating figure. He’s physically fit, carries a commanding stature, and looks the part of a hard-nosed NFL coach. 

But a story from a former player paints a different picture of the man now leading the Titans, one that reinforces what we’ve heard from players across the league about the kind of leader Saleh truly is.

Former New York Jets practice squad quarterback Chris Streveler shared a story on TikTok about the time Saleh “gave him a heart attack” (his words).

“Let me tell you about the time Robert Saleh gave me a heart attack,” Streveler has us all hooked. 

During the 2022 season when Saleh was the Jets’ head coach, Streveler had settled into a role as a scout team safety more than a quarterback, as the fourth QB in the building. 

Then he got the dreaded call every fringe roster player fears: “Hey, Coach needs to see you in his office.” Streveler had just moved his girlfriend, his dog, and his whole life to the New York area. He thought he was getting cut.

“I’ve been cut too many times and know what this looks like,” Streveler says. “So I’m like, this is it, I’m getting cut. My whole family just moved out to New York. (Saleh) sits me down and ‘Brick’ (Jeff Ulbrich) the defensive coordinator is in the room, too.”

Then, Streveler’s story flips a complete 180 to what he expected.

“We just want to say how much we appreciate your hard work,” Streveler recalls what Saleh told him. “What we’re going to do for you this game, we’re going to elevate you to the active roster. You’re going to be inactive for this game, but we just want to get you a real check, because you’ve been working so hard for us. You’ve been such a great teammate, you’ve been going hard in practice. We just want to pay you a little bit, get you a real check.”

“I say, ‘Coach, I thought I was going to get cut. You’re telling me I just made an extra $20,000 this week?’ Let’s go, guys. It pays to be a good teammate, pays to go hard in practice, even if you’re a quarterback playing scout team safety.”

It’s a great message from Streveler to get a look inside how some relationships develop from perceived high ranking football coaches and executives, down to the journeymen practice squad guys. 

Former Titans cornerback Darrell Baker, now with the Miami Dolphins, went viral a couple weeks ago when he mentioned his practice squad game check was only $5,500 per week (thanks, social media aggregators…)

The internet freaked out because plenty of people would love $5,500 a week. And that’s fair on the surface. But that’s not recognizing the full picture. 

Practice squad players only earn that $5,500 for the 17 game weeks of the regular season. That comes out to under $100,000 annually. They can be cut at any point, and then the money stops.

In the offseason, NFL players don’t get a regular salary. They receive stipends for OTAs, minicamp, and training camp, and those stipends are minimal. If their team makes the playoffs, there’s a small bump for each postseason week, but it’s nothing life-changing.

I hated seeing Baker get dragged online for that because most people did not recognize that’s 17 weeks of pay, not 52.

So when you take Streveler’s story in that context, an extra $20,000 for a guy making $93,000 a year is genuinely significant. That’s a game changer for someone navigating the financial tightrope of being a career practice squad player.

But Streveler’s story does reinforce what we’ve heard about Saleh from every stop he’s made. When the Titans hired him, San Francisco 49ers players like George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, and Brock Purdy all spoke glowingly about how much they liked Saleh. The funny thing… Those guys are all offensive players praising a defensive coordinator. That tells you something about how Saleh connects with people beyond his side of the ball.

From what I’ve seen covering minicamp, OTA practices, and press conferences around Saleh and the coaching staff he’s assembled in Nashville, the emphasis on human connection feels genuine. 

I’m not saying anything groundbreaking here. Every coaching staff talks about culture and relationships. But if people genuinely care about each other, the ceiling of that group rises. It won’t single-handedly take the Titans to the playoffs, but it might be worth another win or two.

We’ll see if it translates on Sundays. But that story from Streveler about the time Robert Saleh almost gave him a heart attack tells you a lot about what kind of coach the Titans have.

Keyword: almost.

This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: ‘Robert Saleh gave me a heart attack’ – Former NFL QB shares when the Titans head coach scared him to death while with the Jets

© 2026 A to Z Sports.