Rumored to be staying regardless of overseeing nothing however sub-.500 seasons, the Joe Douglas–Robert Saleh tandem will formally be introduced again for the 2024 season. Jets proprietor Woody Johnson confirmed it Sunday.
Johnson, who was ending up his U.S. ambassadorial tenure when the pair was employed, will log out on the reported plan to present the energy brokers a mulligan after the Aaron Rodgers Week 1 Achilles tear doomed the Jets’ season. Douglas has been on the job since 2019, and Saleh since 2021.
“My determination is to maintain them,” Johnson mentioned, through the New York Submit’s Brian Costello. “I believe we’ve had some very optimistic strikes. The tradition of the staff is loads higher. The protection is best. The offense wants just a few items. … Like I mentioned a yr in the past, we want a quarterback. We had a quarterback for 4 performs. Since then we haven’t been in a position to exchange him. If we’ve got quarterback, it makes everyone’s job simpler. It makes the road higher, the receivers higher.”
The Jets are 16-32 beneath Saleh, who will be part of solely a handful of Twenty first-century coaches in being retained regardless of starting his HC run with three straight sub-.500 seasons. The staff is a ghastly 25-55 beneath Douglas, who took over forward of Adam Gase‘s first season. It’s protected to say the Saleh-Douglas duo will likely be on among the hottest seats in current NFL historical past subsequent season, however Johnson will permit them to remain in cost after the Rodgers acquisition produced a mere 4 performs of labor this yr.
This is not going to go over effectively with many Jets followers, seeing because the staff has collapsed in back-to-back years. However Saleh did execute a defensive turnaround. The staff ranked final in each scoring protection and complete yardage in 2021; it completed fourth in each classes final season. This yr, Saleh’s unit ranks eleventh in factors allowed and seventh in complete protection. Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner have emerged as long-term cornerstones, whereas veteran C.J. Mosley has stabilized his profession beneath Saleh. Complementary items have emerged as effectively, however the 2024 mandate will likely be on offense, the place the staff is ending off one of many worst seasons in trendy NFL annals.
New York’s numbers on offense are down from even 2022 when the Zach Wilson practice careened off monitor. The Jets have scored an NFL-worst 13 touchdowns on offense this season. They rank final in complete offense and DVOA on that aspect of the ball, with Wilson — through the staff’s shortsighted plan to depart the previous No. 2 total decide because the unquestioned backup getting into the season and its refusal to amass a greater possibility as soon as Rodgers went down in September — main the cost towards one other woeful marketing campaign. Wilson is predicted to be elsewhere in 2024, however the Jets’ lead energy brokers will likely be allowed to select up the items round Rodgers.
After main the best way within the Broncos’ offense plunging to the NFL basement final season, Hackett has adopted that up with a comparably terrible Jets offense. Denver ranked final in scoring in 2022, resulting in Hackett’s firing after simply 15 video games, tanking the play-caller’s inventory after a profitable Inexperienced Bay run (as a non-play-calling OC). However Rodgers has lengthy backed Hackett. The four-time MVP’s help for Hackett this week will seemingly result in the veteran coach sticking round as effectively. Certainly, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport provides Hackett is predicted to come back again for the 2024 season.
Look no additional than Johnson’s feedback on Rodgers’ presence as a sign the QB will get his want for OC continuity. Rodgers has been practising with the staff for almost three weeks, doing so regardless of present process Achilles surgical procedure in September. Rodgers’ much-discussed comeback will fall simply brief, however the Jets activated him from IR and are happy with the impression he has made on the group even with out taking part in into the second quarter of Week 1.
“I believe in the event you see Aaron Rodgers proper now and the impression he’s having on the staff and what he’s in a position to do with just about no observe, it’s wonderful,” Johnson mentioned. “He’s within the fourth quarter of the league yr and he’s throwing like he’s practiced all yr. When he begins practising and will get the timing with receivers simply good, I believe you’re going to see some wonderful issues.”
The Jets satisfied Rodgers to just accept a historic pay reduce for the 2024 season, and after he was near retiring this yr, the Nineteenth-year veteran mentioned this week he needs to play by way of a minimum of the 2025 season. Not counting this yr as one of many two seasons he plans to play with the Jets, Rodgers will seemingly be given a substantial say in how the staff addresses among the Johnson-referenced offensive deficiencies in 2024. After the Jets based mostly 2023 round how Rodgers might remodel their operation, Johnson will preserve the keys in Douglas and Saleh’s palms to see this plan to fruition.
