New York Jets star cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner backed Robert Saleh after a narrative revealed by The Athletic final week mentioned that Saleh is a “paranoid head coach” who threatened to take cell telephones away from staffers this previous season to forestall leaks from reaching reporters.
“He’s a fantastic coach, man,” Gardner mentioned about Saleh throughout a chat with Newsday on Thursday. “I don’t suppose he’s paranoid. I don’t know what he might be paranoid about. I’ve been off social media a bit of bit when it comes to studying stuff. A lot of the stuff on social media [is] destructive. I don’t actually [read it].”
The data in The Athletic piece, apart, the actual fact stays that Saleh went 18-33 throughout his first three seasons as New York’s head coach and most likely solely has his job immediately as a result of quarterback Aaron Rodgers needs to run it again with the identical crew after Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles 4 offensive snaps into the staff’s Week 1 sport in opposition to the Buffalo Payments on Sept. 11.
Nonetheless, Gardner insisted that Saleh is “a fantastic coach” no matter what outsiders take into consideration the scenario.
“I really feel like he is aware of what it takes,” Gardner added about Saleh. “He’s every thing I might ask for on the subject of a coach and he’s a defensive head coach as nicely, man. He’s that man.”
Jets proprietor Woody Johnson spoke with reporters on Thursday and strongly indicated that Saleh and normal supervisor Joe Douglas are each on the recent seat now that the franchise has missed the playoffs for 13 straight seasons, the longest lively postseason drought among the many 4 main North American sports activities leagues. Gardner famous that his foremost purpose this winter is to “make the Tremendous Bowl,” and he sounds satisfied he can just do that with the Jets as quickly as subsequent February.
“I’m assured as a result of I do know that different guys round me are assured as nicely,” Gardner defined. “There’s a variety of confidence happening. We’ve obtained to make it occur. We’ve obtained to make it work.”
Johnson’s feedback coupled with calls for from an indignant fan base counsel Saleh will want the Jets to earn a minimum of a playoff win in January 2025 to be with the group at the moment subsequent yr. Saleh, Johnson and all people else related to the franchise will first spend the spring hoping that Rodgers seems to be nearly as good as new when coaching camp classes start.
