Robert Saleh’s Jets staff will face off against Dan Campbell’s Detroit group
The path to Vegas begins in Mobile and the New York Jets‘ coaching staff is among the first to start walking.
The Senior Bowl announced on Tuesday that Robert Saleh and the Jets’ staff will oversee the proceedings at the 73rd annual collegiate all-star game in Mobile, Ala.
New York’s group will be joined by the Detroit Lions’ group headed by Saleh’s fellow second-year-to-be Dan Campbell. The game will be staged on Feb. 5 (2:30 p.m. ET, NFL Network) at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the University of South Alabama’s campus.
“We are very thankful to (Senior Bowl Executive Director) Jim Nagy and his team for the chance to work with some of the best young players in the nation this week,” Saleh said in a statement on the Senior Bowl website. “The New York Jets are fired up for the opportunity to engage with these young men and be a part of everything at the Senior Bowl.”
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This marks the first time that a Jets’ staff has partaken in a Senior Bowl game since 1979, when Walt Michaels’ staff headed the North squad against New Orleans’ Dick Nolan. Jets coaches are 2-2 in the game overall, with Weeb Ewbank earning both of the wins in 1966 and 1973.
The 73rd annual edition of the Senior Bowl features new wrinkles where head coaches will serve primarily in an advisory role while offering de facto promotions to their assistants. Four coaches from Historically Black Colleges & Universities will likewise serve on the staffs in an effort to create “future career opportunities, while also giving the rest of the league’s teams four individuals to contact for information on Senior Bowl participants”.
Recent New York representatives to emerge from the Senior Bowl include running back Michael Carter, defender Hamsah Nasirildeen, and tight end Kenny Yeboah who all partook in last year’s game. Denzel Mims, Braden Mann, La’Mical Perine, and Jabari Zuniga appeared in the 2020 edition.
Saleh was part of the San Francisco staff that headed the South team in the 2019 game, a team that featured current Jets fullback/tight end Trevon Wesco going up against Chuma Edoga on the North side.
The Jets (4-13) own the 4th and 10th picks in the coming draft set to be held in Las Vegas while Detroit (3-13-1) owns the second choice.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
