The Jets landed their head coach on Thursday night with the hiring of Robert Saleh.
What now?
Saleh has a big task ahead of him, along with general manager Joe Douglas. There are a lot of good feelings around the Jets after Saleh’s hiring, but this is still a team that just went 2-14, has a huge question mark on the quarterback, and a squad with more needs than a newborn.
This won’t be news to Saleh, who did his homework on the Jets, just like he did. He knows what he’s getting into and he clearly thinks the Jets job is a good one because he probably would have had other offers if he had waited.
The to-do list is long for Saleh and Douglas. These are the areas to work on first:
Hire a staff
Coaching staff is underestimated. Media and fans focus on the head coach and usually a coordinator in these hires, but it goes much deeper than that. A bad coaching staff can sink a good head coach. One of the biggest problems for Todd Bowles when he was with the Jets was his coaching staff. Rex Ryan had a great coaching staff early on in his tenure and then started losing important pieces and the replacements failed.
We know Saleh wants to bring Mike LaFleur from San Francisco to be his offensive coordinator. LaFleur is highly rated in the NFL and will involve Kyle Shanahan’s attack, so that move should get high marks. Outside of LaFleur, however, there is no whisper about who else is coming with him.
The most important recruit for me after offensive coordinator is offensive line coach. The Jets urgently need a good one. Douglas has said he wants to build the offensive line and those young players need good coaching. Bill Callahan worked wonders under Eric Mangini and Ryan with the Jets line. Lately the coaching in that room hasn’t been good.
It is not yet known whether Saleh will be the defensive play-caller. Even if he isn’t, he will definitely have a big hand in the defensive game plan every week. The Jets want him to coach the entire team and not focus on one side of the ball, but his defensive expertise helped him land this job.
One of the things the Jets liked about Saleh is that he’s been in the NFL for 16 years. Some of the other candidates have much less NFL experience. Saleh knows people. He should be able to put together a good staff.
What to do with Sam?
With the decision about head coaching out of the way, Sam Darnold’s decision now looms big over the organization. Will the Jets stay with Darnold for another year or will they take on a quarterback with the number 2 pick?
Saleh certainly gave the team some opinions on this topic during the interview process, but the Jets haven’t made a decision yet. Douglas and Saleh will weigh the options and figure out which direction to take. The Jets must evaluate the college quarterbacks, figure out what they can get in a trade for Darnold, and weigh all factors before making a franchise-changing decision.
Evaluate their own
Saleh has to dig deep into the roster before team leadership starts thinking about free agency and the concept. The selection decisions will eventually be Douglas, but the GM has said he wants the head coach to be his partner, so the two will work closely on them.
The Jets’ scheduling issues are well documented and won’t be resolved overnight. The team is expected to have $ 70 million in salary cap due to Over the Cap. They have planned 19 players to be unlimited free agents.
Their main free agent is security Marcus Maye. Douglas said after the season that bringing back Maye is a priority. It should be. He was the team MVP and is one of the few good players who fielded the previous regime. After Maye, the Jets will have to decide whether players like Jordan Jenkins, Brian Poole, Neville Hewitt, Tarell Basham and Breshad Perriman are worth re-signing.
Saleh has the job. Now he has to work.