By Zack Rosenblatt, Dianna Russini and Mark Puleo
The New York Jets didn’t wish to hearth Robert Saleh after final season partly as a result of they didn’t assume they’d be capable to discover somebody higher to switch him — and in addition as a result of Aaron Rodgers needed him again. After 5 video games of the 2024 season, Jets proprietor Woody Johnson determined Saleh wasn’t adequate anymore, firing him on Tuesday, two days after the workforce fell to 2-3 with a loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich would be the interim coach.
On a convention name Tuesday, Johnson stated this Jets workforce was essentially the most gifted he’s ever seen assembled in New York, and he fired Saleh to offer the workforce the perfect alternative to win.
“This transformation I made right this moment I imagine will convey new power and positivity that can result in extra wins beginning now,” Johnson stated.
Johnson didn’t seek the advice of with different members of the Jets’ entrance workplace, together with normal supervisor Joe Douglas, earlier than making the choice to fireside Saleh, workforce sources stated. Johnson knowledgeable Saleh of his dismissal Tuesday morning. Saleh informed the proprietor he understood the season’s expectations however that he thought he’d have extra time to see it by means of, and emphasised the protection’s spectacular efficiency throughout his tenure. However the choice had already been made — in a formality, Saleh was escorted out of the constructing by Robert Mastroddi, the workforce’s head of safety and a pal of Saleh’s.
Johnson stated Tuesday he did speak to Douglas in regards to the firing, “however on the finish of the day, this was my choice and my choice alone.” Johnson stated he spoke with Rodgers on Monday after the workforce’s loss to the Vikings, however the matter of firing Saleh was not particularly mentioned.
In three-plus seasons, Saleh went 20-36 and the Jets by no means sniffed the postseason regardless of having one of many NFL’s finest defenses over the past two years. Saleh and his employees bought a mulligan after final 12 months, partly as a result of Rodgers suffered an Achilles damage 4 performs into the season, leaving the Jets with a quarterback rotation of Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian. New York’s offense was largely a catastrophe in a 7-10 season, and behind the scenes Saleh didn’t precisely win many followers with the way in which he dealt with the scenario, usually privately stating that different profitable coaches across the league have additionally struggled with backup quarterbacks.
Then, the final two weeks occurred — with Rodgers at quarterback. In losses to the Denver Broncos and Vikings, the offense has struggled in a approach that it did when Wilson was nonetheless quarterback. The identical points — a workforce that regarded unprepared firstly of video games, too many penalties, questionable decision-making and an absence of accountability — in the end proved to be sufficient for Johnson to drag the plug on Saleh 5 weeks into the season, the primary time he’s ever fired a head coach in-season over 25 seasons because the Jets’ proprietor. In accordance with a workforce supply, Johnson felt the Jets have a roster that’s able to compete now and felt compelled to make a transfer now earlier than it was too late.
New York hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010, the longest drought within the NFL, and hasn’t had a profitable season since 2015.
A number of gamers and coaches informed The Athletic after Sunday’s loss to the Vikings in London that the workforce’s vibes had been “off,” that Saleh was dropping help and that some — particularly gamers on protection — had been annoyed with the shortage of accountability happening because the offense stored making the identical errors they made the previous couple of years and wasted one other stellar defensive effort. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett doesn’t have loads of help on the Jets roster or teaching employees both, in response to sources, and lots of had been annoyed together with his play-calling courting again to final 12 months.
It’s my understanding that the Jets don’t plan on firing OC Nathaniel Hackett.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) October 8, 2024
Professional Bowl linebacker Quincy Williams didn’t cover his frustration after the sport.
“I’m gonna be trustworthy. Individuals get bored with listening to the identical s—,” Williams informed SNY. “Individuals gotta take accountability from the highest to the underside. That’s all I gotta say … individuals gotta begin taking accountability, I’m bored with saying the identical factor each week.”
Johnson pushed again in opposition to the concept that the losses to the Broncos and Vikings precipitated Tuesday’s firing, saying as an alternative “It’s an extended timeframe.”
“I’ve had a pair years to consider this and I simply assume we will do higher,” the proprietor stated. “The workforce can do higher. As we have now this new management, I believe it’s going to convey out the perfect in these gamers.”
Finally, Johnson’s transfer got here at a pivotal second for a workforce that had such excessive hopes in coaching camp. New York hosts the Buffalo Payments on Monday, and regardless of the down begin to the season, can transfer right into a tie for first within the AFC East at 3-3 with a win.
Ulbrich discovered whereas game-planning for the Payments, calling it “4 hours of craziness.”
In his first tackle to the workforce, Ulbrich stated he informed Jets gamers to “lock arms,” including “I’m very enthusiastic about connecting with this locker room.”
Coach Jeff Ulbrich on his relationship with QB Aaron Rodgers: pic.twitter.com/ATPYEi07hq
— New York Jets (@nyjets) October 8, 2024
“The whole lot is on the desk proper now,” Ulbrich stated almost about potential adjustments on the workforce at giant. “We’re too gifted to be placing out the product we’ve put out the final couple weeks.”
Ulbrich was the apparent alternative to switch Saleh for the rest of this season. He’s beloved by the Jets roster and employees, together with being revered by Rodgers. Saleh excelled because the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers earlier than the Jets employed him in 2021, however he handed the keys of the protection to Ulbrich when he turned a head coach. Ulbrich has been a driving pressure in getting the Jets from the Thirty second-ranked scoring protection in 2021 to fourth in 2022, twelfth in 2023 and seventh thus far in 2024.
GO DEEPER
Who’s Jeff Ulbrich? What to find out about Jets’ interim coach after Robert Saleh’s firing
“He’s only a actual coach,” defensive finish Jermaine Johnson informed The Athletic final season. “He’s carried out it, which is extraordinarily vital for me. It’s very simple for me to take what he says and apply it as a result of I do know he’s carried out it, he’s been there. He did it at a excessive degree. Clearly he’s confirmed himself by way of how he can run a protection and lead a gaggle of alphas and a gaggle of dominant males. I don’t see why he wouldn’t be a head coach. I believe every part good that involves him, he deserves one hundred pc.”
Ulbrich actually began warming as much as the thought of changing into a head coach in the future earlier than final season, he informed individuals near him. He served as a head coach on the Senior Bowl earlier this 12 months and it gave him a style of what which may seem like.
“I believe it’s an opportunity for me to take a look at it from a special perspective, from a world perspective,” Ulbrich stated. “It’s simply wonderful what number of little issues that I by no means actually regarded as a place coach and a coordinator {that a} head coach has to take care of, so many non-football issues. It’s been fascinating from that standpoint. It’s a terrific alternative from that standpoint, to take a look at it by means of that lens.”
Now he’ll get an actual likelihood to show to the Jets — or one other workforce which may have a gap — that he deserves a shot on the full-time job. The trail is specified by entrance of him: The Jets have a playoff-caliber roster and it’s early sufficient within the season to show issues round, beginning this week in opposition to the Buffalo Payments. With a win, they’d be tied for first place within the AFC East. This is a company that hasn’t made the postseason in 13 years, and if Ulbrich is ready to pull that off after the Jets’ gradual begin to the 12 months, it might be a convincing argument for a promotion to the full-time job. If the Jets proceed to stumble, there are some interesting teaching candidates anticipated to be out there this offseason, together with former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, who ought to prime the record of candidates if Ulbrich doesn’t maintain the job.
Saleh didn’t do sufficient to get to the postseason. So now the Jets transfer ahead with Ulbrich, with their aim of the playoffs nonetheless intact.
“It is a new day for the workforce, and it’s a brand new day that’s welcomed,” Johnson stated. “And because the workforce realizes what alternative that is for them, I believe they’re going to go to a degree we haven’t seen shortly.”
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(Photograph: Wesley Hitt / Getty Photos)
