Ex-Jets HC Robert Saleh was reportedly hell-bent on fixing Nathaniel Hackett's offense

Things soured quickly in New York for former Jets coach Robert Saleh, who was fired after starting the season 2-3. Whether Saleh deserved to lose his job (he probably didn't) has been a topic of contention, but the Jets now move forward without Saleh, replacing him for the moment with interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich. New York also demoted offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, removing him from play-calling duties and giving that responsibility instead to passing game coordinator Todd Downing. According to new reports, Saleh had similar ideas of bringing in offensive help before he was fired.

According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, Saleh "tried to recruit multiple different offensive coaches during the offseason in an attempt to get things right on that side of the ball. The Jets spoke to Eric Bieniemy (now UCLA’s offensive coordinator), Kliff Kingsbury (now Commanders offensive coordinator), Luke Getsy (now Raiders offensive coordinator), and Arthur Smith (now Steelers offensive coordinator)."

What exactly any of those guys would have done, or what their title would have been within the Jets coaching tree, isn't clear. But It's a tad bit ironic that Saleh was fired and then the Jets did essentially what he was trying to do — change offensive strategies — but Jets owner Woody Johnson wanted Saleh out, and the guy with the most money usually has the final say in NFL front offices.

Will the Jets offense change under Todd Downing?

That remains to be seen, but also according to Russini, "The call will go into Rodgers’s headset, and the four-time MVP will decide to either run the play, or to signal his own play to his receivers at the line of scrimmage." So, although Todd Downing is technically running the plays in New York now, it sounds like Todd Downing will actually be asking Aaron Rodgers for permission to run a play. If that's the case, does it really matter who is calling plays on the sideline? Every quarterback should have some say in the plays that are run, but if Rodgers is the final decision-maker then Todd Downing might just be the guy who is forced to fall on the sword next in New York.

Jets fans don't expect Downing to turn this Jets offense into the 2018 Chiefs, they just want a productive and reliable offense that doesn't always feel like its back is against the wall. Downing has led somewhat productive offenses in the past: if these Jets can match what he did in Tennessee in 2021, most Jets fans will probably be satisfied with the switch.

Robert Saleh was reportedly shocked by his firing, and it can't feel great for the former Jets coach to watch his former team now do something that he was trying to do but couldn't before being let go from a role that was essenially impossible to succeed in.