The Jets have gone 12 consecutive seasons without making the playoffs. If they make it a baker’s dozen, the coach and general manager could survive.
Jets owner Woody Johnson refused to say that GM Joe Douglas and coach Robert Saleh need to make the playoffs in 2023 to save their jobs.
“I don’t do mandates,” Johnson said. “We don’t want a long wait. Fifty-four years from the last Super Bowl is too long, way too long. I’d like to change that fast, but mandates don’t work. We go into every game thinking we’re going to win that game. That’s our mindset.”
Saleh is 11-23 in two years as Jets coach. Douglas is 20-46 since taking over as GM in 2019. The Jets have not been to the playoffs since 2010, the longest drought in the NFL and the longest in franchise history. Johnson said he believes the Jets can be a playoff team in 2023.
“This team is loaded, I think,” Johnson said, “and ready to go.”
Woody Johnson 
Robert Saleh Advertisement
Joe Douglas Advertisement
Johnson said watching the Jets go from 7-4 at the end of November to 7-10 after a six-game losing streak to end the season was “frustrating.”
“Very frustrating because I see the potential in the team and what Joe and Robert have done in improving the team and getting all those young, unbelievable stars that we have now,” Johnson said. “So, we have a lot of potential. That makes it more frustrating.”
Johnson said he believes in Saleh and Douglas.
“Just taking a look at the defense and where it evolved in the year. It gives you confidence they can do it because they did go from last to kind of first,” Johnson said. “What was really lacking was the offense. We couldn’t score points.”
Besides offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, the Jets also fired offensive line coach John Bennett. Saleh said they wanted to “go in a different direction.”
The Jets are also looking for a WR coach to replace Miles Austin, who was suspended by the NFL last month for allegedly gambling. Assistant defensive line coach Greg Scruggs has left the Jets to join the staff at Wisconsin.
