Florham Park, NJ – A look at what’s happening around the New York Jets:
1. Different type of QB: Twenty years ago, Robert Salih was a graduate assistant at Michigan State when he heard about the coaching philosophy that still stuck with him. It actually came from the school’s basketball coach, Tom Izzo, who said, “The best-coached teams are the ones who coach themselves.”
Saleh believes the 2023 Jets could be one of those teams, in large part, because of one player: quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He describes Rodgers as a proven winner (career record 147-75-1) who can “championship [the] A message” from the coaching staff and “level control” in the dressing room, something that takes a rare type of player.
“To have a guy like him who embodies all that, who embodies what you want from a footballer, who has a proven track record and has achieved success and has a voice like him, it makes our job easier because we don’t have to worry about things we have no control over,” Saleh said.
“Easier” is a relative term. Because of the expectations Rodgers is fueling, the pressure to win will be much greater than before. Of the nine AFC teams that failed to reach the postseason in 2022, only the Jets have a better than 50% chance of qualifying this season, according to ESPN’s Football Strength Index. Saleh himself said they are one of only six to eight teams that have a realistic shot at the Super Bowl.
This kind of noise can make a coach’s job more difficult. Despite this, it’s easy to see on a day-to-day basis why Saleh feels the way he does about Rodgers’ influence. For a change, he doesn’t have to coach a quarterback on the ABCs of center and the NFL. He has a midfielder who can train they. This is unfamiliar territory for Saleh, who has been surrounded by inexperienced beginners throughout his coaching career.
In his four previous coaching stops as an assistant, Saleh had never belonged on a team that entered a season with the quarterback making more than 40 career starts. The most experienced quarterback was Matt Schaub of the Houston Texans, who started the 2010 season with 40 starts. After that, he was fit with the Seattle Seahawks and Jacksonville Jaguars in the rookie years of Russell Wilson (2012) and Blake Bortles (2014), respectively. From there, it came down to the San Francisco 49ers, who in 2017 traded for an older Jimmy Garoppolo, but have yet to prove themselves.
As a head coach, Saleh endured two years of growing pains with quarterback Zach Wilson, his second-place finisher in 2021, before deciding it was time for a change. Rodgers has more career starts (223) than all previous quarterbacks for the benefit. He also has an experienced offensive coordinator in Nathaniel Hackett, who is far more experienced than his predecessor, Mike Lafleur.
This does not mean that Saleh can hit the autoplay switch. His job is to catalyze the entire process and… well, win.
2. The Odd Couple: Rodgers has recorded at least 30 touchdown passes in eight of his fifteen seasons as a starter. As a franchise, the Jets have only done this once in their 63 years. (Ryan Fitzpatrick had 31 in 2015.)
3. Money Transfer: The Jets have created a whopping $45.2 million in salary cap space by restructuring seven contracts in the offseason. That includes all of the major free agent acquisitions from 2021 and 2022, including safety Jordan Whitehead, the latest to reformulate his deal. The glaring exception is wide receiver Corey Davis, who fancies himself the next guy.
The upside is the added roof flexibility. The downside is paying the credit card bill that will arrive after a year or two.
In six of the seven renegotiated contracts, Gates added void years, spreading the cap hit over the term of the contract. Negative: Instead of an expired contract, which is completely excluded, there is an additional “dead” fee when the contract nullifies – accelerating split sums.
Let’s use defensive end Carl Lawson as an example. He was set to net $15.7 million in the final year of his contract. Through a restructuring, they brought it down to $3 million, but there’s a $6.3 million fee next year when he’s off and he becomes a free agent. If the contract remains the same, there will be no cap set in 2024.
Finally, the Jets have $9.6 million in empty money that maxed out in 2024 and another $14.2 million in 2025. A lot of teams do it this way: Save today, pay tomorrow.
The good news is that the Jets currently have the fourth-largest cap space at $24.5 million, according to Over the Cap. Much of that will be used to accommodate Rodgers’ contract, which is likely to be restructured in the coming weeks.
4. The Blind Side: Duane Brown, who didn’t train after undergoing season-ending rotator cuff surgery, wasn’t committed about whether he’d be cleared to start training camp. This creates another layer of intrigue in the all-important left tackle position. If he’s not ready, he might open the door for Mekhi Becton. He too is recovering from surgery (right knee, last August), but is ahead of Brown and expected to be ready for camp.
Picton made it clear that he wanted to play left tackle, not right tackle. Brown has played his entire left field career — 15 seasons, 215 starts — and doesn’t seem interested in flipping to the right side.
“It’s not something I’ve practiced over the years,” he said diplomatically. “Not to say I couldn’t do it, but I took root [at left tackle] for a while.”
In open practice this week, Adam Banke and Max Mitchell served as the right and left tackles, respectively. Fourth round pick Carter Warren is not training due to a knee injury from college.
5. Did you know? Based on 2022 records, the Jets had the toughest schedule in the league from Week 1 through Week 12 – a 0.616 2022 winning percentage for their opponents, eight of whom made the playoffs. It gets much easier after that. From Week 13 to Week 18, their schedule is 27th in difficulty (. 422).
6. BFFs: Rodgers and wide receiver Randall Cobb are very close. how close? Rodgers was a missionary at Cobb’s wedding, and served as godfather to Cobb’s youngest son, Kidd.
“I had a birthday party [in January] To my son, and his godson, and [Rodgers] Flew for it – for a 3 year old’s birthday party. “That’s the kind of person he is.”
7. Safety Blanket: If you thought Cobb would just be part of the offense, think again. Not only is he the only pure slot receiver on the list, but he has Rodgers’ confidence – and that’s very important. The 32-year-old Cobb was still targeted with 20.6% of his runs last season, according to ESPN Stats & Information data — his highest percentage since 2014.
If Cobb can stay healthy—a problem that has occurred in recent years—he’ll be part of the receiver rotation.
8. Picky, Picky: The coaches issued Sauss-Gardner a challenge: catch the ball.
He led the 2022 NFL Defensive Rookie of the NFL with 20 passes defended but recorded only 2 interceptions. He still made the first-team All-Pro in what defensive coordinator Jeff Olbrich called an “amazing year,” but a few extra picks would elevate Gardner into rarefied air.
9. Barely Knocking: No word on this summer’s special cast for HBO’s “Hard Knocks.” A year ago, the Detroit Lions were announced in late March. HBO gives no hints, not even a schedule. The Jets is one of the qualifying teams.
10. The Last Word: “He will change the course of these young players’ careers forever.” – Ulbrich on the potential influence of Aaron Rodgers