The New York Jets stunned the NFL world when they fired coach Robert Saleh five games into the 2024 season. The move came after the Jets fell to 2-3 on the season and marked the first time team owner Woody Johnson fired a coach in the middle of a season.
If you ask Bill Belichick, one of the Jets’ biggest rivals, he believes moving on from Saleh was a bit “premature.”
“Just seemed like a little early to pull the trigger on that one to me,” Belichick said during the latest episode of the “Let’s Go!” podcast. “But not out of character for the owner. Woody’s always been kind of hard to predict what he’s gonna do. Some of it just is hard to make sense out of, but I think Saleh did a good job there. He brought a strong culture to the defense and obviously not quite there yet, but a long way to go in the season, seemed like a premature move.”
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Despite being 2-2 going into their Week 6 matchup against the Buffalo Bills, the Jets defense was a bright spot through five games.
“The Jets are one of the best defensive teams in the league,” Belichick said. “Robert made them that way. They were 32nd his first year, and they’ve been consistently in the top five, top three in most categories. So he’s done a great job on that side of the ball.”
While the defense was strong under Saleh, the offense struggled and couldn’t quite find a groove during his time in the Meadowlands. The Jets didn’t have a winning season with Saleh as coach, and only time will tell whether a coaching change was the right move for New York.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will serve as the interim coach in the meantime.
