New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh has been fired after a disappointing start to the season and conversation surrounding his relationship with quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The announcement was made Tuesday, October 8, in a statement by Jets owner Woody Johnson.
“This morning, I informed Robert Saleh that he will no longer serve as Head Coach of the Jets,” Johnson, 77, shared via social media. “I thanked him for his hard work these last 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.”
Saleh, 45, was hired by the Jets in 2021 and held a 20-36 record as head coach.
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Johnson announced Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will act as the team’s interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
The Jets are 2-3 on season and have lost two games in a row after entering the 2024 campaign with high hopes.
Many of those expectations laid on the shoulders of Rodgers, 40, who entered the season healthy after tearing his Achilles tendon just four plays into his Jets debut in 2023.
However, rumored tension between Saleh and Rodgers has dominated headlines more than anything else, starting before the season even got underway when Saleh and the Jets fined Rodgers for failing to attend a mandatory minicamp.
After the Jets’ victory over the New England Patriots on September 19, a clip of Rodgers shoving Saleh away when he went in for a hug went viral. During his postgame press conference, Rodgers chalked it all up to a misunderstanding.
“He’s not a big hugger,” Rodgers said of Saleh. “So I didn’t know he was going for the hug. He likes to do the two-hand chest push.”
Rodgers added, “He talks a lot about two-score leads, so I just kind of gave him a push and said, ‘Two-score lead.’”
Saleh also downplayed the moment during his postgame remarks, saying it “wasn’t’ awkward at all.”
“Part of the things that we’ve been talking about is just to get the defense a two-score lead,” Saleh continued. “And it was a two-score lead, so I guess he just wanted to see something on defense. He just reminded me that, you know, it was a two-score lead.”
The win against the Patriots would be Saleh’s last victory as the Jets’ head coach.
The following week, after a 10-9 loss against the Denver Broncos, Rodgers bristled at Saleh’s suggestion that the Jets weren’t “good enough” to handle Rodgers’ particular snap cadence, which has become a hallmark of his career.
During his postgame comments, Rodgers said changing up his cadence is “one way to do it” before offering up another suggestion.
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“The other way is to hold them accountable,” he said.
Still, Rodgers insisted things were fine between him and Saleh just days before the coach was fired.
“Rob and I have a great relationship. We have since day one when I got here,” Rodgers said during an October 1 interview on The Pat McAfee Show. “We have text message conversations, threads that we’re in, conversations about a number of different topics outside of football. We have a good friendship.”
Rodgers and the Jets return to the field — with interim coach Jeff Ulbrich — on Monday, October 14, against the Buffalo Bills.
