Some Jets think Robert Saleh and his coaching staff keep them at the organization’s Florham Park facility too late. At least that was the takeaway in the NFLPA’s team-by-team report cards released Wednesday.
Saleh was asked to respond to the accusation Thursday during a zoom press conference with local reporters (he and his staff are not in Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine).
“I’ll always evaluate myself, right,” he said. “I’ll check around the league, see what is going on. In terms of our schedule, selfishly, I’d say it’s in line without about 10 other teams that I communicate with on a daily basis. But if it’s a challenge for our players, I’ll definitely always take a look at myself and I’ll look to see if we can make things a little bit better.”
The passage in question from the union’s Gang Green writeup:
The player respondents don’t feel like the coaching staff (ranked last) is efficient with their time as they are routinely at the facilities much later than other teams in the league. Longer hours are not necessarily correlated to winning, as seven of the top eight coaches who ranked most efficient with their players’ time made the playoffs this year.
The NFLPA says it surveyed 1,300 players for the report cards. But players were only allowed to provide anonymous feedback on the team they played for in 2022. And there was no information provided as to how many players per team participated. Did the Jets have five guys weigh in or 50? That unanswerable question is likely why Saleh and others in the building will likely take this in stride.
That said … Saleh and his staff have been painted as immature and unprepared at times. And this type of anecdote plays into the narrative.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.