Robert Saleh had a bad record with the Jets, but this mess wasn’t all his fault

New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh was the first coach fired during this NFL season. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

The NFL is a results business. You are what your record says you are. And so forth.

But Robert Saleh was the first coach fired this season because he couldn’t catch a break.

Saleh never got his quarterback and that wasn’t all his fault. Saleh ultimately didn’t get the job done, as his 20-36 record will tell you. But Zach Wilson, Aaron Rodgers and others didn’t exactly help.

The Jets shocked the NFL world by firing Saleh on Tuesday after a 2-3 start. It wasn’t totally out of the blue, because the Jets came into this season with an enormous amount of pressure to win and haven’t looked good most of the season. The timing seems odd, but Saleh losing his job was possible at any time the Jets were under .500. Everyone knew that coming into the season.

But Saleh being ousted shows that you can find your dream job and then lose it because of circumstances completely out of your control.

Robert Saleh fired during his 4th season

Before he was fired, Saleh had to wonder how everything would be different if Rodgers hadn’t blown his Achilles last season. Or if Rodgers hadn’t come at all.

The one thing that Saleh got right in his three-plus seasons as Jets coach was defensive brilliance. They were bad in his first season but the roster was a total mess. In the three seasons that followed New York was fourth, third and second in yards allowed. Saleh was hired because he was a great defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, and he delivered on that part of the job.

The offense didn’t cooperate. The first misstep was Zach Wilson. If the 2020 Jets didn’t get two meaningless wins in December under Adam Gase, they would have drafted Trevor Lawrence first overall and not Wilson second. Lawrence has his own issues but he’s light years better than Wilson, one of the biggest draft busts in many years. Perhaps Saleh can be blamed for not developing Wilson, but let’s see if…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-08 15:01:19

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