The New York Jets will have high internal expectations but face many external questions in 2024
The media narrative surrounding the New York Jets right now is definitive: expectations for 2024 are muted and questionable. Both Jets reporters and the national media are expressing doubts about Robert Saleh and Aaron Rodgers.
Perhaps that’s not a bad thing. The sky-high expectations for this season were almost prophetically doomed for failure. The “Same Old Jets” narrative lives on whenever this team has a target on their back.
With Rodgers in tow, that X is always going to be there. Still, beyond the media, even Jets fans likely won’t expect much heading into 2024. This season leaves a bitter aftertaste and raises more questions than answers for next year.
There were ways to salvage those expectations and keep the dream of a Super Bowl alive. The problem is that the Jets chose not to follow those paths. All signs indicate they will be retaining the big three of Saleh, general manager Joe Douglas, and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
Still, there’s a slim-to-none chance that they may choose one move that can still salvage fans’ hopes. Before we get into that, let’s recap what the Jets could have done.
What they could have done
Option #1: Clean house
Firing Joe Douglas, Saleh, and all the coaches and assistants in the front office would have been a reasonable option. Of course, who the Jets would hire as replacements would be very important. As my father always says, never fire a coach unless you know you’re going to get someone better in their place. (Todd Bowles would like a word.)
There is a strong case that both the general manager and head coach deserve to lose their jobs. They were poorly prepared for the most important season in Jets history, especially in their choices for the offensive line.
Saleh chose to draft an edge rusher over a receiver. Douglas capitulated to the pick swap that eliminated the chance to draft a top tackle. He also failed to find an adequate replacement for Corey Davis, overpaid for Dalvin Cook (whom he should not have acquired, to begin with), and kept Carl Lawson with some dead money rather than releasing him, among other foolish choices.
In-season, Saleh made a bad situation worse by playing scared. His conservative approach, poor fourth-down decision-making, and overall “race to 20 points” mentality held the Jets back. Furthermore, the team’s lack of discipline and preparedness was evident on the field.
Firing Douglas and Saleh would naturally come with the removal of Rex Hogan, Nathaniel Hackett, and the assistant coaches. While firing Hackett might have seemed impossible, so would have firing Saleh; both of these would have meant mean Rodgers had not gotten his way.
Both Douglas and Saleh seemed to give up once Rodgers went down, notwithstanding Saleh’s lip service to the contrary. Woody Johnson indicated he was okay with that approach by giving the pair a mulligan. What spells zero expectations more than that?
Option #2: Keep Douglas, fire Saleh, keep Hackett
Removing a general manager in a season where the team is still planning on going for it may seem odd. Therefore, the Jets could have chosen to give Douglas one last chance but change their head coach and offensive coordinator. Douglas could argue that Saleh made the roster’s talent look far worse with his scared mindset.
In this case, bringing in an offensive-minded head coach who could also call plays would be the obvious move. Ben Johnson from Detroit will likely have his choice of places, some of which would be more attractive than the Jets’ job. Still, he would have been the No. 1 lure. Todd Monken of Baltimore (whom the Jets could have tried to hire as their offensive coordinator in last year’s cycle) has done a terrific job with Lamar Jackson and has a strong reputation from his college days.
In that case, what the Jets should not have done was hire a first-time play-caller (like Mike LaFleur) or a re-tread with a limited track record of success (like Hackett). They could still keep Hackett around as the OC-in-name like he was in Green Bay to make Rodgers happy. It would have been a win-win situation.
Option #3: Keep Douglas and Saleh, fire Hackett
While Hackett is not the sole reason the Jets’ offense was historically anemic, Michael Nania provided strong evidence that he is the primary reason. His inability to scheme easy yards, bizarre route combinations, conservative mentality, and lack of understanding of his personnel were consistently evident.
To be able to fire Hackett, the question to Rodgers would have been whether he preferred to win or simply have his cronies around (obviously phrased more tactfully). Every single one of Rodgers’ preferred pickups was actively detrimental to the team this season: Hackett, Tim Boyle, Dalvin Cook, Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, and Billy Turner. If he wants to go all-in in 2024, perhaps Douglas and Saleh could have convinced him to trust their judgment.
What they can still do
Even running back the entire staff — including Keith Carter and Todd Downing — still leaves one possible path to improving the coaching staff. The chances of it happening are minuscule, but it’s the only way to salvage any expectations for 2024.
Perhaps the Jets can keep Hackett around to make Rodgers happy but still hire someone else to call plays. It would effectively be a demotion for Hackett, but they can technically call the pair co-offensive coordinators.
Would anyone want to take that job? Probably only a first-time play-caller, which, as mentioned before, would be a bad idea. But isn’t LaFleur looking pretty good after the Hackett experience? It’s hard to argue that the Jets’ offense would not have been at least somewhat better with LaFleur calling plays this season. In that sense, perhaps the Jets could catch lightning in a bottle or at least find someone who’s not Hackett.
This would be the “no Hackett is better than Hackett” version. He seems to be a coach whom players like, so there’s no harm in keeping him around — as long as he’s effectively not in charge. I think my father’s maxim doesn’t hold here because Hackett has been so bad, but again, Todd Bowles would like a word.
What do you think, Jets fans? Can Johnson find it in himself to make some sort of change? Do the Jets have a chance of success running it back with Douglas, Saleh, and Hackett with no play-caller change?
Follow Rivka Boord on Twitter @rivka_boord
Would like to see the jets go after frank Reich (if he would even consider it) and let him totally run the offensive side of the ball. Reich and ulbrich sound like two dudes that can handle their sides of the ball. Saleh can offer insight to them, but primarily focus on getting his team disciplined, managing the clock, learning when to go for it on fourth down, going for two….you know head coach shit! Keep Hackett around to help Reich and Rodgers.
This was not botched. I read yesterday there have been requests to interview Raheem Morris for head coaching positions, if these reports are true then firing Saleh is preposterous. They have the same winning percentage. Yes, this year didn’t go well but no matter what stat you’d like to use to say “oh look this Jets team stinks” they are still FAR better off now with Douglas and Saleh than they were when they arrived. Period.
I’ve decided since Jets’ beat reporters and ESPNquirer love to repeat their lazy narratives I’m going to do the same: NO TEAM had the OL injuries the Jets had this season. That’s a fact, and no team would succeed with backup QB’s AND the most OL injuries in the league. Just because we don’t like that doesn’t me we blame the coach as if he could fix everything.
Yes, they made mistakes, what team doesn’t? There has been a LOT of good here since this management group arrived (I won’t give the entire list but the Jamal Adams trade was on of the best trades in history) and there is a LOT of young talent on this team. I’m giving them a mulligan, they were headed in the right direction for a rebuild until they got decimated by injuries. Year 3 is the playoff year, well, they got ravaged. Consider, even with all of this, they beat Houston, Buffalo, Philly, and looked pretty good vs. KC, so for them to say they aren’t far off is also fact. I refuse to buy the doom and gloom beat reporters LOVE to recycle.
Where I do agree with you, is Saleh’s offensive philosophy, and I’m not saying I agree with your take it’s conservative because honestly I don’t know what it is, and to me that’s the problem. He as the HC has to establish that, he has not. He MUST do better in this area, but we LOVE to say “the Jets have a championship defense” well, thank you Robert Saleh for building that because when he got here they were TRASH. I’m willing to let him put this together for another season, if Raheem Morris is a HC candidate.
The fact that other teams are willing to make a preposterous mistake does not absolve the Jets from blame for a preposterous mistake.
Furthermore, regarding offensive line injuries, they were eminently predictable. Neither Douglas nor Saleh gets a free pass for something they should have seen coming from a mile away.
Saleh also tends to make ridiculous claims about his team. While it could just be media posturing, I suspect he believes some of them, especially this one.
There is statistical and film-based evidence for everything written about Saleh and Douglas on this site. Perhaps the media takes are lazy, but ours are not.
I don’t believe what Saleh says in public are his total true feelings, no coach shares their thoughts totally. If we are taking what he says as “gospel” then we haven’t been paying attention to what all coaches say in press conferences. The Jets offense did improve…fact.
When I refer to the Jets’ beat, I do NOT mean writers on this site, however you say you can predict the future “eminently predictable” then that is still not a “fact” it’s a speculation based on info that MAY or MAY NOT predict the future.
Not everything written here is based on statistics, you ,making claims you know Saleh’s offensive philosophy is totally your OPINION, you don’t know if what the team is doing is philosophical or what they think they need to do based on personnel.
Fact is NO TEAM had the offensive line injuries the Jets had and if you are saying you could have predicted they would be playing 5 centers, 7 RG’s and 5 RT’s then that is a matter of OPINION, and I’d say NOBODY predicted that would happen. Most of the predictions I saw before the season was that Becton would be injured. Was that fact? He played the entire year, he stunk but he didn’t miss the season.
Hiring Saleh is not a preposterous mistake. This team is better than when he arrived. That’s fact. You may be unhappy with progress this season but yes, some things happen out of the control of the HC, injuries are one of those things, for THAT reason I’m giving a fair perspective based on the FACT that VERY FEW if ANY teams have had success with the same OL injury rate combined with the loss of a HOF QB.
We LOVE to say the “Jets have a championship defense” is that a fact?
I guess you can describe Saleh’s offensive philosophy (if he has one) as playing scared, but I think he is just obsessed with his defense, far more so than a head coach should be. He wants to put every game in the hands of the defense, even hoping they will do the scoring. Last postseason around this time, he showed some remorse about how he handled ZW, and that was a step forward, but as we saw this year with his conservative approach it wasn’t enough. It was his responsibility to tear himself away from this obsession with his D, starting with year one, and he just has not gotten that done, which is unacceptable. I don’t think he deserves another year as coach, but the Johnsons probably feel outnumbered by Douglas and Rodgers in his corner, and don’t have the guts or determination to override them.
Rodgers is handcuffing us. I would fire Hackett. If Rodgers is healthy next year Hackett will probably be ok, because Rodgers will be calling the plays in the huddle or at the LOS. But if Rodgers goes down again next year, then what?
I would try to trade back in the first, adding a 2nd and a 3rd. then take the best Tackle available in the 1st and take C Zach Frazier and G Christian Haynes in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Move AVT to Tackle and Tippman to Guard.