Owner Woody Johnson shares New York Jets will retain Robert Saleh, Joe Douglas

New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas will retain their jobs for the 2024 season. Team owner Woody Johnson shared his decision to keep the pair going forward after a disastrous season in an exclusive interview with the New York Daily News on Sunday prior to a showdown with the Washington Commanders.

Much of the rationale for keeping Saleh and Douglas and plays revolves around the return of quarterback Aaron Rodgers in 2024. Rodgers was acquired by the Jets via trade this past offseason and ruptured his left Achilles tendon on the fourth play of the season.

“My decision is to keep them,” Johnson said in the interview. “I think we’ve had some very positive moves. The culture of the team is a lot better. The defense is better. The offense needs a few pieces.”

Douglas indicated that he doesn’t want to unravel the leadership team that was key to attracting Rodgers to New York with the quarterback still part of the plans in 2024.

“Just to keep the continuity going with Aaron and the team we’ve got,” Johnson said. “Like I said a year ago, we need a quarterback. We had a quarterback for four plays. Since then we haven’t been able to replace him. If we have a good quarterback, it makes everybody’s job easier. It makes the line better, the receivers better.”

Sitting at 5-9 with three regular season games remaining, the Jets are going to miss the playoffs for a 13th-straight season. Despite fielding a playoff-caliber defense, the Jets offense languished absent solid quarterback play week-to-week with Rodgers sidelined.

The Jets have started Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian at quarterback since Rodgers’ went down, but none have provided a spark to snap the offense out of the bleak reality that’s settled in for the Jets this year.

This year is Saleh’s third at the helm of the Jets, where he’s posted a 16-32 record entering Sunday. Coming with a defensive background from the San Francisco 49ers, Saleh has crafted that side of the ball to be a high-level unit, but the Jets have yet to break through on offense during his two-plus-year tenure.

Douglas has been general manager for the Jets since 2019, during which time the team has gone 25-55. He’s overseen the latest rebuild and was partially responsible for the impressive 2022 draft class the Jets brought in, but will seemingly be on a similar leash to Saleh in 2024 when the Jets need to win no matter what.