'Just a F-ing Mess': Insiders Describe the Utter Chaos on the Jets, a 'Paranoid' Robert Saleh, and Aaron Rodgers Basically Running the Team
Elsa. Getty Images.You know that feeling you get when you're waiting in a long line at the airport that isn't moving, and you're getting frustated, then someone gets behind you and you sort of weirdly feel a little better? Like the rational half of your brain recognizes you're no closer to getting through security. But the more emotional side is happy because it understands that, bad as it is, at least you're not that guy in back of you.
As Aesop put it, “There is always someone worse off than yourself.” And if he were here today, the old Greek fabulist would've recognized that someone is almost always the New York Jets. Who else in modern times could go from this:
… to this:
Al Bello. Getty Images.in the span of just a few months?:
The Athletic did an in-depth autopsy on the 2023 Jets:
To better understand the issues that contributed to another failed Jets season, The Athletic spoke to 30 sources in and around the organization, some of whom were granted anonymity to speak freely about the inner workings of the team without reprisal. Those sources described a team riddled with excuse-making, a paranoid head coach, an ill-equipped offensive coordinator and an organizational tunnel vision on the quarterback that rubbed some teammates wrong. …
“It’s just such a f—ing mess,” one Jets coach said. “Something has to change.”
The article is long and well researched. Which I'll attempt to condense into easily digestible parts by breaking it down to the two major players. Beginning with Aaron Rodgers. After hiring Nathaniel Hackett as the OC:
The Jets made Rodgers comfortable in other ways, pursuing some of his former Green Bay teammates and other friends in free agency before he officially joined the team in April. They signed wide receiver Allen Lazard to a $44 million deal [and] tackle Billy Turner and quarterback Tim Boyle. …
Rodgers was afforded a direct line of communication to general manager Joe Douglas. … “Rodgers isn’t the assistant GM,” one AFC general manager said. “Joe Douglas is the assistant GM.” …
Rodgers and Hackett’s relationship dynamic is more frat brothers than player/coach, and Rodgers appreciates having the free will to operate the system as he sees fit. …“That’s what Aaron wants” was a common refrain from Hackett as he told coaches what plays he wanted to run during camp.
And how did the rest of the roster react to Rodgers making major personnel decisions? About as well as you'd expect:
After a 30-0 loss to the Dolphins in Week 15, Lazard — in a season in which he would register the fewest receiving yards among 59 wide receivers to run at least 400 routes, per TruMedia, and the second-worst drop rate among wideouts with at least 30 targets, per Pro Football Focus — said New York was “out-efforted” and “out-schemed.” Those comments angered some of the team’s defensive leaders, team sources said, especially because they came from the floundering Lazard.
And as the season wore on, the losses mounted, and Saleh's job security was being called into question, he went full Logan Roy on everybody:
Saleh has the mantra “positive vibes only” printed on T-shirts that coaches and other staffers often wear around the team facility. …
But behind closed doors, the vibes weren’t always positive, especially when Saleh would see negative press reports. He would often bring up how, in his mind, the Giants don’t get as much negative coverage as the Jets, calling it unfair. …
[A]n embittered Saleh conducted research. He wanted to see how teams led by the NFL’s best coaches performed when playing without their star quarterback. …That became Saleh’s battle cry as the Jets’ losses piled up and criticism mounted: What do you expect? We lost Aaron Rodgers.
An Saleh's state of general paranoia got exacerbated when it was reported Zach Wilson refused to unbench himself and go into a game. Followed by Rodgers putting the whole organization on blast:
That sent Saleh into a tailspin. The coach held a meeting with his staff two days later where he asked the leaker to reveal himself, according to multiple people in attendance. “If you come forward now, you won’t get in trouble,” he told them while threatening to take their cell phones. Staffers were bemused by Saleh’s obsession with the Wilson story and his reaction to it.
Wow. That is a lot for any franchise. But for the New York Jets, it's just a season's worth. A season that was approached with more cautious optimism and positive, t-shirt-worthy sentiments than almost any they've ever had. At least in the lifetime of most people walking the Earth today. And yet once again all those good vibes cratered on them.
And the saddest part - for them I mean; this stuff fills me with such sadistic joy I practically hate myself for it - is that I'm sure the part that Saleh is using as an excuse, What do you expect? We lost Aaron Rodgers, is going to this year's mantra for them. The Jets and their fans will explain away the whole season with those eight words, and ignore all the problems that have not gone away. An aging quarterback running the franchise, exercising total power, playing favorites, giving interviews where he talks about how frustrating the organization is to be a part of. And a suspicious, paranoid coach obsessed with how he's being treated in the press and so distrustful of his own staff he's ready to violate everybody's basic rights like a maniac.
Good luck in the New Year. I'm sure once Rodger's Achilles is healed everything will be just peachy in New York. Buy a shirt: