Just before he was fired as head coach of the New York Jets, Robert Saleh was seriously contemplating firing offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, sources tell CBS Sports.
Jets owner Woody Johnson fired Saleh on Tuesday morning in a move that surprised the building. Johnson had never before fired a coach in-season in his quarter century of owning the team, and Saleh’s Week 6 dismissal is the first of this year’s coaching cycle.
“This is one of the most talented teams that has ever been assembled by the New York Jets,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “I want to give the team the most opportunity to win this season, [so] I feel like we had to go in a different direction.”
Saleh was 20-36 as the head coach of the Jets, including this year’s 2-3 mark in a season filled with playoff expectations. A home loss in Week 4 to the Broncos and a defeat in London to the Vikings sealed Saleh’s fate.
Sources say Saleh could have made the move to fire Hackett as early as Tuesday, which is when Johnson ultimately made the decision on Saleh himself.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich takes over as the interim head coach for the Jets as they prepare for an AFC East matchup with the Buffalo Bills on Monday. He has say on any coaching staff decisions moving forward.
Sources say if Saleh had moved forward with firing Hackett, he would have likely installed Todd Downing as the offensive coordinator. Downing was most recently the Titans offensive coordinator before his dismissal following the 2022 season, and he came to the Jets last season as their passing game coordinator.
The Jets offense has been one of the worst in the NFL this season. They rank 23rd in first downs per game (18), 23rd in offensive points per game (18.6), 27th in net passing yards per attempt (5.4) and 27th in total yards (286.6.)
Hackett has been among the most maligned coaches in the NFL in recent years. After a successful tenure in Green Bay as offensive coordinator (where he did not call plays), Hackett served as the Broncos head coach for the 2022 season. He lasted 15 games with the Broncos before being fired.
The Jets, having fired Mike LaFleur in January, hired Hackett, and the league-wide belief was his hiring was directly related to the team’s pursuit of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. A few months later, the Jets traded for Rodgers.
The four-time NFL MVP has praised Hackett’s coaching ability for years, and he has regularly defended Hackett against criticism since joining the Jets.
But after Rodgers tore his Achilles one series into the 2023 season, the Jets season was over. Gang Green mustered a 7-10 record playing with a trio of quarterbacks led by Zach Wilson, the failed No. 2 overall pick.
The Jets finished with the second-fewest yards and fourth-fewest points in the league, and no team had a worse third-down conversion rate than the Jets.
Johnson told reporters Tuesday he expected changes would be made on the offense without specifying what they would or could be.
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