It has not been all sunshine and rainbows since Robert Saleh was hired in June of 2021 as head coach of the New York Jets, but it has certainly been looking up the last few years under his reign.

In 2021, the Jets were coming off arguably one of their worst seasons in franchise history in 2020. Adam Gase, who was supposed to bring the Jets offense to the forefront with highly touted QB Sam Darnold, instead ran the franchise into the ground.

The Jets finished with a 2-14 record, including an inexplicable win against the Rams that all but guaranteed them missing out on Trevor Lawrence, the guy who was tabbed as the number one pick in the 2021 draft class since his ultrasound pictures.

I don’t write all of this to torture Jets fans reliving days of misery past, but to provide some perspective. The Jets were an absolute dumpster fire when they brought in Robert Saleh. Understand that. The Jets were absolute total and complete garbage. Got it?

So, to judge Robert Saleh by what the Jets have been the last two years is a lesson in short sightedness and stupidity.

Enter Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports recently ranked each NFL HC from 32 to 1. He put Robert Saleh at 26^th. He put him behind guys like DeMeco Ryans who was recently hired by the Houston Texans and Shane Steichen who was just hired by the Indianapolis Colts after blowing the Super Bowl.

He even put Saleh behind Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns and Brandon Staley on the Los Angeles Chargers who have failed to meet expectations on a regular basis despite having a wealth of talent all over the football field.

Benjamin says of Saleh, “He oversaw a three-win improvement from Year 1 to Year 2, and he's now got a reasonably well-oiled defensive machine with building blocks like Sauce Gardner. But his offensive decisions and staffing accelerated Zach Wilson's quick flop at QB, leading to Aaron Rodgers' blockbuster arrival. If anyone can skyrocket Saleh's stock, of course, it's the new guy under center.”

So that’s it then? Fail to develop a QB out of BYU in 2 years with a rookie OC and you are bottom fourth of the league? Gloss over the fact that Saleh dealt with more injuries last year than most teams see in two years and still managed to get seven wins.

Gloss over the fact that he transformed a defense that was 26^th in the league in points allowed and 24^th in yards allowed when he took over and last year they were top five in both categories? That’s not coaching?

Never mind the fact that most players want to play for Saleh and most guys would love a chance to play for him. That includes a guy who wore number 12 for Green Bay the last few seasons in case you haven’t heard.

Even in his introductory press conference, when asked why he chose to come to the New York Jets, the first thing Aaron Rodgers mentioned was Robert Saleh. “I have always loved what he was all about. I like the way he was leading, his coaching style”.

Saleh has a career record of 11-23 as a head coach with the Jets. Considering what he took over two years ago and the fact that Zach Wilson wasn’t nearly the player he was drafted to be, that is damn respectable record.

But…

This year will go a long way to defining his career. With the arrival of Aaron Rodgers and if the Jets are indeed on Hard Knocks, Robert Saleh will have to do some of his best coaching. He will have to take the Hard Knocks pressure off of his guys with the cameras around and keep his Super Bowl caliber team singularly focused.

Let’s judge Saleh based on how he handles a winning caliber team, not by his record in building one.

Featured Image via Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports