Embarrassing Exposé Should Make Jets Revisit Saleh’s Status
With Washington’s hiring of Dan Quinn on Thursday, the 2024 NFL Head Coach cycle appears to be completed.
But it doesn’t have to be.
The upper tier of the Jets organization chart had to be embarrassed by this week’s article in The Athletic that derided Robert Saleh’s performance as Head Coach, enough to motivate them into rethinking the plan for next season. The report depicted Saleh as ineffectual, as much concerned with his own reputation as he was with winning. The whole bit as to how he told people that getting to seven or eight wins would be a miracle after star quarterback Aaron Rodgers was lost for the season with a torn Achilles on the fourth snap of the opener was typical Saleh. The guy is 18-33 after three seasons, a record so poor that of all the HC hires since 2000, only Jacksonville’s Gus Bradley got to a Year 4 with a worse mark. And then he routinely complained he was getting hammered by the New York press.
I can’t believe he needs a reminder about this, but there’s no rule that forces Jets owner Woody Johnson to go into next season with Saleh on the sidelines. Johnson didn’t miss any deadlines and is entitled to change his mind. In fact, this woebegone franchise’s best decision ever for the position came after the 1997 Super Bowl, when they lured Bill Parcells away from the Patriots.
Of course, the Jets job was wide open then, as Rich Kotite cleaned out his office as soon as the season ended. Still, all it would take is one exit meeting with Saleh and Johnson to avoid the awkwardness of interviewing a coach while another is occupying the chair.
This notion espoused by WFAN host Evan Roberts that Saleh is the Jets’ “best option” so he shouldn’t be fired is lunacy, not the other way around. This offseason’s carousel left quite a few “name” coaches without a job, some of whom, like Bill Belichick and Peter Carroll, would be nonstarters in a potential Jets search given their histories.
My preference, as I’ve stated often in this forum, is for the organization to hire a successful offensive play-caller. What would that mean for Rodgers’ best buddy, Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, you ask? I dealt with that at length in a prior post (There Is A Way For The Jets To Change Course Without Potentially Alienating Rodgers (substack.com)). To sum up, the Jets can keep Hackett as the nominal OC for the next year (or at most two) to function solely as the Rodgers whisperer, the way play-calling HCs for the Chiefs, 49ers, Rams, and others delegate certain other responsibilities to their Coordinators.
Ben Johnson, the hot commodity this cycle, opted to stay in Detroit. Still, I would hope the Jets attempted to get due diligence on him because, A) No club would deny an OC the opportunity to move up, and B) The Jets could pay him what the exorbitant salary he reportedly wanted.
Now, Johnson comes with some red flags aside from his asking price, such as being mentored by disgraced former Jets HC Adam Gase. It might also be tricky when your Head Coach is younger than your star QB.
If the Jets want old school, Eric Bieniemy could possibly shake free from Washington following the Quinn hire. The thought around the league is that his past success in Kansas City had more to do with Head Coach Andy Reid (who called the plays) and their insane talent on the field. However, Bieniemy did make necessary halftime adjustments when Washington visited the Jets in Week 16 as the Commanders came back from a 27-7 deficit with backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett before falling, 30-28. Bieniemy’s schemes may not have set the league on fire this season, but don’t tell that to the Jets vaunted defense, on which Washington drove the length of the field twice in the fourth quarter to take a short-lived lead.
Hiring an HC with an offensive background could allow the Jets to maintain some continuity on defense and special teams, where Jeff Ulbrich and Brant Boyer ran their respective units at a high degree of efficiency this season. However, a more appealing hire to Woody Johnson could be a “CEO” type, like Mike Vrabel, who was let go after going 54-45 in six seasons in Tennessee. That included three consecutive postseason appearances with below average QBs Marcus Mariota and Ryan Tannehill. I doubt Vrabel’s past Patriots ties would turn anyone off, since it would be the first time the Jets hired a HC with a winning career record (not counting Todd Bowles’ 2-1 mark as a Dolphins interim coach in 2011) since Parcells.
Some of the reasons behind Vrabel’s dismissal don’t seem to me as off-putting as another piece in the Athletic insinuated. He apparently wasn’t on board with changes made by a new GM this season and was unjustly criticized for neglecting analytics in decision-making. And then there was Vrabel’s bye week trip to New England, where he was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame and made a speech that rubbed the Titans owner the wrong way.
Obviously, Vrabel would have to be comfortable with Johnson and Jets GM Joe Douglas, but it was understood that Saleh had control of the final 53 and was involved in all of Douglas’ transactions as a collaborator, two of Vrable’s alleged pet peeves in Tennessee. (Besides, isn’t Rodgers the de facto GM anyway, as another executive mocked to The Athletic?)
Vrabel would have some familiarity in New York as three of his former Titans offensive assistants are already on the Jets staff after Saleh hired Tony Dews as running backs coach to join passing game coordinator Todd Downing and offensive line coach Keith Carter. It should be noted that Carter was despised by some of his linemen in Tennessee and his first year in New York wasn’t exactly impressive.
If not Vrabel, this league boasts plenty of candidates who put in years of hard work to build their resumes and knowledge up and would kill for a head coaching gig, even in an organization as dysfunctional as the Jets. Keeping Saleh after all that was revealed is another proverbial slap in the face of a long-suffering fan base.