Saleh Comments On Hackett's Role

Since leaving the Green Bay Packers back in 2022, New York Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett has had a tough time of it.

He got the head coaching job in Denver that next year but was fired during the season because the team performed so poorly.

The Jets hired him as an offensive coordinator as they courted quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who won back-to-back MVPs with Hackett in Green Bay.

On Thursday, coach Robert Saleh addressed the situation and shut down any and all talk of Hackett being replaced.

"It's the same,” Saleh said. “He's still our play-caller. He still runs the offense. He's still in full, total control. We all learned so much from last year, and because of it, I think we're more prepared this year than we were a year ago to hit the curveball, if you will.”

When Rodgers got injured last season, the Jets sputtered through 17 games and finished as the second worst offense in the league. As a whole, the offense totaled just 4,566 yards for the entire season.

To put that into perspective, during Rodgers back-to-back MVP seasons in 2020-2021, he threw for 4,002 and 4,299 yards in those seasons.

So, of course, Rodgers has a strong bond with his coordinator.

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"We speak the same language, West Coast (Offense) language," said Rodgers. "Over the years, we kind of grew up in the system together, but it is the conversations you guys don't see. It is in the meeting room after the meetings have broken and we are talking about different things and ideas and text messages at night."

With a rebuilt offensive line, Breece Hall on Year 2 from ACL surgery, and bruising rookie running back Braelon Allen to go with this receiver corps, Rodgers and company are ready to cook this season. ... and Hackett remains in the kitchen as a trusted chef.