New York Jets’ most important leaders were the main reason why the team was so bad in 2023
Things just keep getting worse for the 2023 New York Jets. So much so that over two dozen Jets sources recently told The Athletic's Diana Russini and Zack Rosenblatt just how bad things were, last year, and how nothing has changed (outside of Aaron Rodgers' recovery) to prevent it from happening, again. There will undoubtedly […]
Things just keep getting worse for the 2023 New York Jets.
So much so that over two dozen Jets sources recently told The Athletic's Diana Russini and Zack Rosenblatt just how bad things were, last year, and how nothing has changed (outside of Aaron Rodgers' recovery) to prevent it from happening, again.
There will undoubtedly be questions the next time Jets head coach Robert Saleh talks with the media and it will undoubtedly place Rodgers and co. under an even more scrutinous microscope in 2024.
To be honest, nobody comes away looking good in the article. General Manager Joe Douglas comes away looking like a “yes man” to Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers comes away looking like a power-hungry loon. Nathaniel Hackett comes away looking like he has no idea how to coach and Saleh comes away looking like a weak, paranoid, self-obsessed coach.
What’s worse than how it makes all these people look individually is how it makes the organization look, as a whole. The very thing Rodgers has railed against, over and over again, still seems to rear its ugly head – as leaks continue to sprout in the organization.
An Organization Catered to One Man
"It’s not uncommon for team decision-makers to consult star quarterbacks on potential roster additions, but the perception around the league was the Jets went beyond the norm. 'Rodgers isn’t the assistant GM,' one AFC general manager said. 'Joe Douglas is the assistant GM.'" – The Athletic
Players make horrible GMs. This is true in the NBA, where LeBron James is constantly tweaking the roster to bring his friends on board, and its true in the NFL where Aaron Rodgers had a “wish list” and the organization did everything in its power to accommodate him.
Handing the keys to the Jets organization over to one man was always a mistake. Joe Douglas didn’t build a topflight defense with Aaron Rodgers, nor did he draft offensive stars like Breece Hall or Garrett Wilson because of Aaron Rodgers. So why would you take the reins from the guy who built the team Rodgers wanted to go to in order to make it just like the team Rodgers left? Simple answer: Woody Johnson.
The shift in power from Joe Douglas (and to some extent, Robert Saleh) to Aaron Rodgers happened when the Jets shoehorned Nathaniel Hackett on to the team to be the offensive coordinator. With all of the options available, the fact that the Jets decided to go with Hackett was clearly a move made with the sole purpose of luring Rodgers to New York.
While it was clear that Hackett had some inefficiencies as an offensive coordinator, this article shed plenty of light on just how bad things were. It’s clear that Hackett’s role on the team was to be Rodgers’ voice in the coaches’ meetings and not to run an offense as the article points out:
“'That’s what Aaron wants.' was a common refrain from Hackett as he told coaches what plays he wanted to run during camp. Often, Rodgers would hear Hackett’s play call and want something else, so the entire offense would reset…Growing pains were expected in a new offense full of new personnel, but one coach said it was concerning how little urgency Hackett and his staff showed in trying to fix it, saying he’d never seen a team watch less practice tape in training camp than the Jets did with Hackett."
When Rodgers went down with his Achilles injury that only intensified how little control Hackett had on the offense:
Hackett struggled to adjust the offense to the team’s new reality. Multiple coaches and players described Hackett as lacking in attention to detail. For most of the season, Hackett would meet with offensive line coach/running game coordinator Keith Carter and passing game coordinator Todd Downing during the week but wouldn’t get together with the rest of the offensive staff until the “last minute” of game prep. During games, Hackett struggled to make adjustments. Against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2, Carter asked Hackett to give left tackle Duane Brown more help blocking Cowboys star pass rusher Micah Parsons, according to multiple team sources. But Hackett never adjusted, and Parsons dominated.
Hackett is Not the Only Coach Who Looks Bad
"But behind closed doors, the vibes weren’t always positive, especially when Saleh would see negative press reports. He would often bring up how, in his mind, the Giants don’t get as much negative coverage as the Jets, calling it unfair."
The article does little to paint Robert Saleh in a positive light. While I have been a supporter of Saleh up to this point, it is becoming increasingly apparent that he may not be built to run this Jets team. If these reports are true and I believe that they are (as someone who has worked with Dianna Russini in the past and knows how professional and thorough, she is in her reporting), Saleh is far too focused on what has gone wrong and not focused enough on how to fix it. He seems to be more focused on proving he didn’t do anything wrong than fixing the problem.
My contention has been that Saleh deserves a shot to coach this team with an actual starting caliber quarterback at the helm before we judge him as a failed coach. Unfortunately, it seems like he is too worried about complaining about having no QB than doing something about it.
Saleh needs to worry about his coaching staff and his game plans, and the job security will come. His coaching staff is awful (for the most part) and he is too nice, too much of a wimp or has had any power in the organization stripped from him to do anything about it. Best thing he can do now is figure out a way to make it all work.
A Bigger Problem
How does this keep happening to the Jets? It’s not a Robert Saleh problem because these types of stories seem to pop up with every iteration of Jets coaching staff. The leaks, the politicking, the zero accountability. Its systemic of the organization and not the latest guy sitting in the Head Coach’s office.
“That’s a problem with the organization,” Rodgers said on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “We need to get to the bottom of whatever this is coming from and put a stop to it privately, because there’s no place in a winning culture … and this isn’t the only time. There’s been a bunch of other leaks.”
At this point, if Aaron Rodgers leaves this organization without a Super Bowl, but fixes this part of the culture, I would consider it an absolute win. But even as Rodgers says it time and time again, articles like this one continue to get written.
Hopefully Robert Saleh can find those responsible and hold them accountable better than he did with his offensive coaching staff.
You can check out the full article, here.
