The Jets won’t be going to the playoffs, which means they can start thinking about what kind of changes they need to make this offseason.
After two straight games without a touchdown and a December losing streak fueled by offensive ineptitude, there’s not much question about where the focus of those thoughts is going to be. One decision to make is about the future of offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
Head coach Robert Saleh said on Monday that he’s not inclined to make a change. He said it’s not fair “to try to pinpoint one person just to make people feel good about giving a reason why something’s failing” because of how many people are involved in an offense and shared a story about working for Kyle Shanahan with the 49ers that points in the direction of LaFleur getting another year on the job.
“Yeah, I’ve been in LaFleur’s shoes,” Saleh said. “I told you guys the story. In 2018, second year as a coordinator on defense, and it would’ve been very easy for Kyle to fire me — very easy just to say, ‘You know what, we went 4-12. You’re the scapegoat. Get the heck out of the building,’ but to his credit, he sat down. He went over the weeks following the season and committed to me, and the rest is history. You got to have the discipline to be able to go back and make sure you’re telling the truth about what’s happening in the building and not coming away with knee-jerk reactions that could derail what could be a pretty damn good football coach or a good player for that matter.”
On top of those feelings, the Jets also have an uncertain future at quarterback and that would complicate any search for a new offensive coordinator as Saleh enters his third season in search of his first winning record. That may make it likelier LaFleur is back, although any final word won’t be coming until they’ve played their last game.