NFL Rumors: Robert Saleh "considered" pushing Nathaniel Hackett out the door before being fired by Woody Johnson
On Tuesday, the NFL world was stunned when New York Jets owner Woody Johnson fired Robert Saleh. He served as the team's head coach from 2021 until this morning after excelling as the San Francisco 49ers' defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2020.
New details have emerged about this situation, including one of Saleh's plans before his boss stepped in and sent him away. According to NFL insider Jonathan Jones (via JPAFootball on X/Twitter), Saleh wanted to fire offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett before he was cut.
A lot was said about Saleh in the past couple of weeks, especially after the Jets' offense struggled to get things going on offense. The state of his relationship with Aaron Rodgers was a recurrent topic around the league, but Saleh shot those rumors down last week.
"There is no cadence issue. There never was a cadence issue. That was created. Aaron and I are fantastic. Love the guy."
After a 20-36 record, Robert Saleh is on the market again. His future is uncertain at this point, but perhaps he will see himself coaching again in the near future. As for the Jets, nothing has been said about their coaching staff for the remainder of the season.
Their offense only scored nine points against the Denver Broncos in Week 4 and waited until almost the end of the second quarter to score their first touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday in London. This unit appears to be the issue for the Jets, but the head coach was the only one released over it.
Ron Rivera says Robert Saleh firing hurts Jets' chances to trade for Davante Adams
After Robert Saleh was fired, many shared their opinion on the potential consequences of this decision. One of them was former Washington Commanders' head coach Ron Rivera. He thinks that without Saleh on the sidelines, the Jets will have slimmer chances to land star receiver Davante Adams.
"That's not going to happen now, unless they really, truly believe they're going to win, then they go all out. But I would be surprised if that happens. Because again, if you're going to start over again, you're going to be hiring a new head coach, maybe Jeff Ulbrich wins the job.
"But if he doesn't, and you're going to go to the end of the year, and now you're going to go out and find your next new coach, you're going to want to give him a clean slate."
The 2-3 Jets have some questions to answer and they better rush before the season is unsalvageable.