Coming into the season coaching for his job, Robert Saleh couldn’t do enough to impress Jets ownership. Five games in, the team will undergo with an abrupt course change.
The Jets are firing their fourth-year HC, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This may end an underwhelming tenure for the veteran defensive coach and invite more questions on the franchise’s direction. Saleh will finish his Jets tenure with a 20-36 record. This news comes on the heels of back-to-back losses — to the Broncos and Vikings, dropping the team to 2-3 — and three straight sub-.500 seasons.
Woody Johnson fired Saleh this morning, blindsiding the HC, in response to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer. That is Johnson’s first in-season firing. The Jets had seen every HC finish a season since 1977; Lou Holtz quit to take an Arkansas HC offer in 1976. The Jets had not fired a coach in-season since Charley Winner in 1975.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will likely be named interim HC, in response to NFL Network’s Peter Schrager. Ulbrich has been the Jets’ DC throughout Saleh’s tenure, calling the signals on that side of the ball. Given the scrutiny surrounding OC Nathaniel Hackett, he never stood much of a probability to be named the interim option. Ulbrich has an extended runway here, provided that 12 games remain.
One season remained on Saleh’s contract, Schefter adds. The Jets largely handcuffed Saleh to megabust Zach Wilson, with that partnership extending beyond Yr 2 due to Aaron Rodgers‘ Achilles tear 4 plays into the 2023 season. Ownership gave each Saleh and GM Joe Douglas mulligans for 2023, given the franchise’s Rodgers-dependent plan combusting so early. Saleh, 47, has not inspired much confidence this 12 months, as Rodgers has been viewed because the nerve center for the Jets essentially since his April 2023 arrival. That can proceed, and Douglas stays in his GM chair. However the latter stays on the recent seat as well.
Hired after 4 seasons as 49ers DC, Saleh quickly entered an uphill battle due to the Wilson pick. The Jets didn’t add a veteran backup quarterback in 2021, installing Wilson — a BYU product who broke out during a Cougars season that featured an atypical schedule due to COVID-19 — because the unquestioned starter from Day 1. Wilson proved quickly he was lower than the job, and Saleh ended up benching the highly touted prospect 3 times from 2022-23. Ownership not springing for a greater backup option in 2023 — inaction largely traced to Johnson’s refusal to spend because of what the franchise already authorized for Rodgers by way of trade compensation and money — left Saleh with Wilson for much of last season, resulting in a 7-10 record.
Saleh, nonetheless, repaired the Jets’ defense early during his run. After a 4-13 2021 squad finished last in each points and yards allowed, the Jets rocketed to fourth place in each categories in 2022. Last season, the Jets finished twelfth in scoring and third in yardage defensively. Wilson held this operation back, but Saleh didn’t do much to verify he was right to steer the team.
From making comments about Wilson being the very best QB option for the Jets (despite having benched him for Tim Boyle last season) to being placed on the rostrum to reply questions on Rodgers and Haason Reddick‘s minicamp absences (for which each were fined, with Reddick never reporting following a March trade), Saleh didn’t exactly convey strong leadership. Reports of veteran unrest surrounding the HC’s defenses of Wilson emerged at multiple points during Saleh’s tenure as well. The Jets shipped Wilson to Denver this offseason, signing Tyrod Taylor. But Rodgers has largely not looked his MVP self upon return from his injury, either.
The Rodgers trade cranked up the warmth on Saleh and Douglas, because the Jets hoped to pair a well-built defense with a four-time MVP. Latest York’s defense exited Week 5 ranked fifth in scoring and second in yardage, hence Ulbrich’s opportunity over Rodgers’ preferred OC, but friction also gave the impression to be developing between Saleh and the QB.
Rodgers memorably shoved Saleh away because the HC attempted to embrace the starter on the sideline during a Jets Week 3 win over the Patriots. A loss to the Broncos every week later led Saleh to suggest Rodgers change his cadence, because the team committed five false start penalties. Rodgers bristled at that suggestion, saying the team as an alternative needed to carry players accountable.
Rodgers’ Eleventh-hour endorsement of Saleh, downplaying the friction, didn’t do much good. The quarterback, whom a January report pegged as having an outsized influence within the Jets organization, will now work with Ulbrich while continuing to plug away in Hackett’s offense. The Jets had made a backchannel effort to put in a veteran assistant to assist Hackett after a rough 2023 (which followed the embattled coordinator’s woeful one-and-done as Broncos HC). Saleh had expressed reservations about Hackett last season but kept the Rodgers-backed OC as his offensive play-caller.
Additionally it is price noting that Woody Johnson didn’t hire Saleh. Acting owner Christopher Johnson hired him, as Woody was ending up a tenure because the country’s UK ambassador under then-president Donald Trump. Christopher also hired Douglas in 2019, and the GM will likely need a fast turnaround to avoid an ouster of his own.
Ulbrich, 47, coached on the Senior Bowl this 12 months and received interest from the 49ers. The NFC West team sought to interview Ulbrich for its DC emptiness; Ulbrich played his entire NFL profession with the 49ers. Saleh blocked the interview, as teams are permitted for contracted assistants regarding lateral moves. Now, Ulbrich will take a crack at filling Saleh’s post, as this Jets regime attempts to forestall full-scale change.
Ulbrich worked as Falcons linebackers coach from 2015-18, overlapping with former Saleh boss Kyle Shanahan during a part of that tenure. The ex-Dan Quinn staffer moved to DC in 2020, when Raheem Morris took over because the Atlanta interim boss. Saleh, as ESPN.com’s Jeff Darlington points out, is the third HC over the past 10 years to be fired within the wake of a London loss; he joins ex-Dolphins and Raiders leaders Joe Philbin and Dennis Allen in that regard.
By being retained for Yr 4, Saleh joined a select few modern HCs in surviving after three consecutive sub-.500 seasons. Only six HCs have managed to last into Yr 4 with no .500 season of their first three years this century. Dom Capers (Texans), Mike Nolan (49ers), Jeff Fisher (Rams), Gus Bradley (Jaguars) and Jon Gruden (Raiders 2.0) are the opposite club members.
It is going to not be hard to see Saleh, after the Jets’ defensive performance since 2022 and based on the 49ers defense’s ascent on his watch, earning a DC opportunity in 2025. But he’s out of a job in Latest York. Now, the Douglas watch begins.
