Insiders explain Jets' shocking firing of HC Robert Saleh

On Tuesday, the NFL community was shocked that New York Jets owner Woody Johnson fired head coach Robert Saleh roughly 48 hours after the Jets fell to 2-3 on the season via this past Sunday's 23-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London.

According to Jets/NFL insider Connor Hughes of SNY, people within the organization were also stunned by Johnson's decision to promote defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich to interim head coach.

Saleh went 18-33 across his first three seasons as Jets head coach but held onto his job this past winter mainly because he, much-maligned offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and general manager Joe Douglas were all backed by quarterback Aaron Rodgers. However, former Jets signal-caller and current NFL analyst Boomer Esiason suggested as recently as last week that there was a "major issue" between Saleh and Rodgers amid the team's offensive struggles.

ESPN stats show that the Jets began Tuesday ranked 27th in the league with an average of 286.6 offensive yards per game and 25th with an average of 18.6 points scored per contest. According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, Johnson didn't consider such production good enough.

"Johnson views this as a team ready to compete now and wanted to make a move to get things on the right track before it was too late," Russini reported about the firing of Saleh.

ESPN's Adam Schefter echoed such takes and reported during a Tuesday morning on-air segment that Johnson was discouraged by how the Jets looked "off" in back-to-back defeats and didn't want to "squander" what may be the final season of Rodgers' career as an active player. Rodgers said this past summer he wanted to give the Jets "two great years" coming off the season-ending torn Achilles he suffered in Week 1 of the 2023 campaign, but that was before the future Hall of Famer, who turns 41 this December, was hobbled by injuries to both of his knees and a low ankle sprain this fall.

Hughes shared over the weekend that Rodgers recently acknowledged he and Father Time "are exchanging 'body blows'" and are "currently in a 'stalemate.'"

On paper, firing a defensive-minded coach like Saleh alone won't fix all that's wrong with the Gang Green offense. Nevertheless, Johnson believed putting Ulbrich in charge ahead of New York's upcoming "Monday Night Football" home game against the 3-2 Buffalo Bills was the only way to save a season in danger of spiraling out of control.