ESPN ideates wild plan that puts Robert Saleh on the hot seat

All head coaching positions across the league have been set for the 2024 NFL season. The annual coaching carousel brought plenty of shockers this offseason, and three notable names were left without a role: former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, former Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel.

For the New York Jets, the 2023 NFL season was supposed to be different. At the start of the season, coach Robert Saleh said the Jets were one of six to eight teams with a legitimate shot at the Super Bowl. Perhaps he was right: the arrival of Rodgers created an unprecedented buzz around the team. There was finally light shining on a team that had been living in darkness.

MetLife Stadium was electric before the Jets' season opener, especially when Rodgers ran out of the tunnel donning his brand new No. 8 jersey and carrying the American flag. The excitement was short-lived, however — Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles after four snaps on the first offensive drive of the season.

Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas received plenty of criticism for not having a viable backup plan at quarterback. They turned to second-year quarterback Zach Wilson, who was clearly ill-prepared to operate an NFL offense. According to The Athletic, sources within the organization described a team full of excuses, a paranoid head coach and an offensive coordinator who couldn't adjust.

The New York Jets decided to retain the services of both Douglas and Saleh heading into the 2024 NFL season, despite one of the franchise's most disappointing seasons in recent memory.

ESPN says New York Jets should fire coach Robert Saleh for Mike Vrabel

Following the disastrous season, ESPN ($) suggested the Jets should fire Saleh and bring in Vrabel instead.

"There are too many good head-coaching candidates on the market and too many last-chance coaches heading into the 2024 season," ESPN's Aaron Schatz wrote. "Why not just make the change now?"

The Jets began the 2023 campaign with Super Bowl aspirations, and they ended it with a 7-9 record. They were outscored by 20 or more points in five of those losses. New York extended their longest active losing streak in the league to eight consecutive seasons. They have now gone 13 seasons without a playoff appearance — the longest postseason drought in all four major North American professional sports leagues.

The Jets have accrued an 18-33 record under Saleh, who was hired in 2021 after serving as the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator for four seasons. Vrabel's firing was one of the most shocking coaching moves of the offseason. The former linebacker led the Titans to winning seasons in four of his six years in Tennessee. The Titans secured the AFC's No. 1 seed in 2021, but they ultimately lost in the AFC Divisional Round against the Cincinnati Bengals.

"Losing Saleh would mean losing his defensive scheme, and that might hurt the Jets' defense that has been top six in DVOA for two straight seasons," Schatz added. "But adding Vrabel should help both locker room management and game management. Vrabel might do a better job of managing Aaron Rodgers, and he's a much more analytically sound coach in games. In the past two seasons, Vrabel ranked sixth and ninth in aggressiveness index (reflecting how often he went for fourth downs), while Saleh ranked 21st in 2023 and dead last two years ago."

There is a human element being ignored by diving into statistics, criticizing a conservative approach and suggesting a coaching change. For example, is it really wise to be more aggressive when Zach Wilson is your starting quarterback and you have one of the league's best defenses? Is it wise to create more instability? And, most importantly, what does quarterback Aaron Rodgers think?

From offensive coordinator to free agency, the Jets designed their team around one focal point: Aaron Rodgers. It's too late to undo all of that now, and New York will have to drive through the remainder of the Rodgers tunnel before making any changes. Like it or not, Saleh is tied to Rodgers in New York for the foreseeable future. The two likely believe that last season was stolen from them and they'd probably like another shot at it.

Regardless, the problems on the team stem from the offense, and Saleh is hands-off on that side of the ball. Instead, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and Rodgers jointly collaborated to construct their current scheme. Swapping out Saleh for Vrabel wouldn't change that. Even if it did, Rodgers likely wouldn't be happy about it considering his close relationship with Hackett.

The New York Jets are the NFL's version of a tragedy. Their last championship came when quarterback Joe Namath made "The Guarantee" in 1969. Since then, they have been riddled with absurd quarterback stories.

On Thanksgiving Day in 2012, quarterback Mark Sanchez collided with his offensive lineman's rear and lost the football. The rest, as they say, is history — "The Butt Fumble" was born. In 2013, coach Rex Ryan wanted to win a preseason game so badly that he put Sanchez back in the game, only for the starting quarterback to get injured and never throw a football for the Jets again. In 2015, starting quarterback Geno Smith's season ended after a teammate punched him and broke his jaw. In 2019, quarterback Sam Darnold was ruled out indefinitely with mononucleosis. The list is truly never-ending.

Will Saleh and Rodgers be able to break the cycle of misery in 2024? It's unlikely, but the Jets will keep trying anyway.