Robert Saleh admits to mistake during last season’s Jets ‘chaos’ he vows not to repeat

Outwardly, Robert Saleh exudes remarkable calm for an NFL head coach who’s in the throes of his absolutely, positively, no “what-ifs?’’ last chance.

Saleh stands less than two weeks away from the Jets opener at San Francisco, which will mark the beginning of his fourth season with the team with which he owns an 18-33 record.

And yet he wears an expression that says, “What? Me worry?’’

Make no mistake: Saleh is not a dead man walking .

He has a Hall of Fame quarterback who’s finally healthy in Aaron Rodgers, some tantalizing skill-position talent to place around that QB and a revamped offensive line that (in theory) will protect him.

He also has a top-five defense.

The Jets should finally be good under Saleh’s watch. They should be a playoff team for the first time since 2010, three head coaches removed from Saleh’s hiring in 2021.

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But Saleh is a realist. He knows that NFL stands as much for “Not For Long’’ as it does National Football League. And he knows his record isn’t good enough.

But he also knows he’s been dealt about as bad a hand at quarterback in his three seasons as even the most sadistic of people could dream up. (Zach Wilson, Mike White, Josh Johnson, Joe Flacco, Chris Streveler, Rodgers for four plays, Trevor Siemian and Tim Boyle).

Saleh’s 2024 Jets carry with them expectations that haven’t been this lofty in a long time. Herein lies Saleh’s latest in a long list of challenges: how he handles the high expectations, not to mention the pressure of knowing he’ll be fired if this team doesn’t (at least) make it to the playoffs.

It’s been a bumpy ride in his three seasons here. None of the three were as excruciating as last season, with Rodgers going down minutes into the opener and the organization ill-equipped to rebound from such massive adversity.

Saleh spoke candidly Tuesday about his shortcomings in handling the “chaos” (his word for it), owning many of the mistakes made.

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“Last year — I’ll speak freely — probably got a little out of whack,” Saleh said. “[I’m] using this year and just reconnecting to myself and the things that need to get done from a global standpoint — offensively, defensively, special teams. The administrative stuff, that’s easy. Getting back to the X’s and O’s and making sure that all of our focus, including me, is locked in on that.”

Asked what he meant about “out of whack,” Saleh said, “Last year there was a lot of chaos, right? [I was] just trying to control things that were out of my control. [Now, I’m] just making sure that I reconnect to focusing on the things that I got control over.”

There are only 10 head coaches among the 32 in the NFL with longer tenure with their current team than Saleh. That list includes only five in the AFC and just one in the AFC East.

Saleh smiled when reminded of this.

“Honestly, I’m not trying to be cheesy, [but] every year for coaching is now-or-never with the way the league is, especially over the last 10 to 15 years,’’ Saleh said. “You’re hanging by a thread no matter what year you were hired. It could be Year 1, Year 10, Year 20. You’re always hanging by a thread, and all it takes is one bad year and you’re shown the door.”

The Jets, of course, have had three bad years under Saleh’s watch and a fourth won’t be tolerated by owner Woody Johnson.

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Saleh knows this.

“You get so used to being in an environment where expectations are what they are,” Saleh said. “That’s why it’s just so, so important [to] stay focused in the moment, be where your feet are and be a problem solver. Last year was a great reminder in that.”

Saleh believes last year’s trials and tribulations (a polite way of saying “sh-t show”) will help him and his staff navigate the expectations of this year.

“Anytime you go through an uncomfortable [situation], to grow in the world, to grow as an individual, you’ve got to live in uncomfortable environments,” Saleh said. “I would say last year was one of the more uncomfortable environments that you could create for an organization. And because of it, I think our players, coaches, everybody in this building are better for it and because of it.

“We put a lot into this offseason studying the things that we did a year ago, so we have a ton of confidence that if the bad stuff hits that fan, that we’ll be able to adjust and make sure that we always put our players in position to be successful. [That] has been the main focus of this entire offseason.

“We’re definitely all better for what happened last year.”

We’ll begin to find out how true those words are Sept. 9, when the Jets finally play for real in their season opener against the 49ers.

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