NFL Fans React To Robert Saleh Interviewing For New Job
Yesterday at 12:13 PM
A mere 24 hours ago the Jacksonville Jaguars fired head coach Doug Pederson after three years at the helm. This morning the team posted their list of head coaching candidates and one name in particular really stood out: Former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh.
Saleh was one of eight coaches who the Jaguars name-dropped this morning, along with Kellen Moore, Todd Monken, Joe Brady, Liam Coen, Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn and Patrick Graham. Of the eight, Saleh is the only one with previous NFL head coaching experience.
But that head coaching experience isn't exactly doing him any favors. In three years and change with the Jets, Saleh went 20-36, never reached the playoffs, never had a winning season and never even finished better than three games within a .500 record in a full year.
Robert Saleh is on the Jaguars interview list. https://t.co/I9d1ZUZCWg
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 7, 2025
Fans initially admonished the Jets for firing Saleh after a 2-3 start this past season, but that was largely to have a joke at the Jets' expense, not because of any high level of respect for Saleh's coaching ability. Now that he's an actual candidate to be a head coach again, Jaguars fans have made it pretty clear that they don't want to share the same fate as the Jets:
"Why would they hire a guy who has a track record of NOT helping a young QB develop? Ben Johnson is the logical choice here," one user pointed out.
"Wow so they have no intentions of getting better?" wrote another.
"Is this a joke??????" a third demanded.
Robert Saleh is a defensive-focused head coach who has nearly 20 years of NFL coaching experience despite still being in his mid-40s. He won a Super Bowl in 2013 as a defensive quality control coach for the Seattle Seahawks and parlayed that into a job as linebackers coach of the Jaguars from 2014 to 2016.
In 2017, he got his big break as a full defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. Saleh coached up a unit that ranked dead last in points and yards allowed in 2016 to the top half of the league by his second year, and to the No. 2 unit in football by his third.
After a rather down 2020 year, Saleh was hired as head coach of the Jets but things didn't go all that well for him.
Will Saleh get another job as a head coach this year, or will he wind up being hired elsewhere?
Related: Colin Cowherd Believes Packers Invited Robert Saleh To Practice To Spite Aaron Rodgers
