Robert Saleh will not get a chance to turn around the New York Jets' careening plane.
The Jets announced on Tuesday that they have fired Saleh amid a 2-3 start to the 2024 season. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was named interim head coach.
After sticking with Saleh entering Year 4, firing him five games into the season is a surprising move by the New York brass. In 56 games as head coach, Saleh compiled a 20-36 record, never generating a winning season. His final game with the Jets was a 23-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London.
"This morning, I informed Robert Saleh that he will no longer serve as the head coach of the Jets," Jets owner Woody Johnson said in a statement. "I thanked him for his hard work these past three-and-a-half years and wished him and his family well moving forward. This was not an easy decision, but we are not where we should be given our expectations, and I believe now is the best time for us to move in a different direction.
"Jeff Ulbrich will serve as our interim head coach for the remainder of the season. He is a tough coach who has the respect of the coaches and players on this team. I believe he along with the coaches on this staff can get the most out of our talented team and attain the goals we established this offseason."
Good Morning Football's Peter Schrager reported that Saleh arrived at work Tuesday morning ready to prepare for Monday's pivotal prime-time game against the Buffalo Bills, but was called into a meeting with Woody Johnson and Jets vice chairman Christopher Johnson during which he learned his fate.
Woody Johnson later told reporters during a Tuesday afternoon conference call that the decision to fire Saleh was made in part because he wanted to give "one of the most talented teams every assembled" by the Jets the most opportunity to win this season.
"I've been doing this for 25 years now, this is probably the best team I've had in 25 years," Johnson said. "I just felt that the best way to go forward was a new direction. Taking Jeff Ulbrich and making him the interim head coach, I thought that would get the most out of this team and give us the best chance that we all want to have, which is going to the playoffs."
Defense wasn't the issue under Saleh, as Gang Green finished in the top five in yards allowed and top 12 in points in each of the past two seasons. Through five weeks in 2024, New York's D ranked second in yards allowed and fifth in points given up. However, the Jets could never figure out the offense, ranking in the bottom quarter of the NFL in yards and scoring in each of his four seasons. The inability to help develop quarterback Zach Wilson counted against Saleh's scorecard. New York cycled through six QBs in the coach's three-plus seasons at the helm.
Aaron Rodgers' acquisition in 2023 was supposed to change things for New York. However, a Week 1 Achilles tear wiped away that plan in Year 1. Saleh bungled the transition with Wilson, cycling through quarterbacks last season. Through five games this season, the offense still struggled under offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and Rodgers, as Gang Green has averaged 18.6 points per game and rarely found any consistency in an outdated scheme.
"How do we improve the offense? I think one of the reasons that I decided to make a coaching change at the highest level here is exactly that," Johnson said on Tuesday. "We need to find ways to win, and we're not going to find those ways by doing the same thing over and over. I think that [Ulbrich] is going to add something. He's going to add a spark of positivity and all that that goes with somebody, and the trust that players have in somebody that's been through it, and that they know and they respect and that they know that's reciprocal. Those changes that we have to make on offense, we'll make. We're going to make them on offense and we're going to make them on defense. We're going to try to get better. This is a new opportunity for all of us. So that's why I decided to do that today."
While Saleh and Rodgers said the right things, the relationship never seemed settled. An odd disagreement about the quarterback's cadence becoming a storyline in New York last week underscored the seeming disconnect between coach and quarterback. Schrager, however, was told Rodgers did not have a significant role in the decision to fire Saleh.
Johnson told reporters that he spoke with Rodgers on Monday night, but that the two did not discuss Saleh's status.
The much-maligned Hackett currently remains on the team's coaching staff, and Johnson was asked to assess the Jets' issues on offense and Hackett's performance in New York.
"We're going to make changes wherever changes are due," Johnson said, declining to specifically mention Hackett in his response. "We know where we're weak and where we're strong, and so do you. You can see it every week. We are going to make the changes that enable us to give these fabulous players on both sides of the ball the chance to win. We know that we have to make some improvements and changes here. … Offense certainly has been a challenge -- more than a challenge. And I think it's something that I'm sure (Ulbrich) will be focusing on."
During his introductory conference call as interim coach on Tuesday, Ulbrich said there will be no changes in titles among the offensive staff but they will take a "deep dive" into everything.
Sitting at 2-3 in a struggling AFC East, there is still time for the Jets to turn things around. Saleh simply won't be the man flying the plane.
Ulbrich played 10 seasons in the NFL and is a highly respected assistant. The 47-year-old joined Saleh's staff as DC in 2021. Ulbrich worked as a head coach this offseason at the Senior Bowl. Now he gets a chance to do the real thing and try to save the Jets season.
Tuesday marked the first time in Johnson's 25 years of ownership that he has fired a coach mid-season.
"This is a new day for the team," Johnson said. "It's a new day that's welcome. As the team realizes what opportunity this is for them, I think they're going to go to a level that we haven't seen a while."
