Brian, how are you, man? Good. What's up?
And thank you for taking the time to join us. So how much of a shock or were you shocked that the New York just decided to pull the plug on Rob Salah when they did? Yeah, I was. I was very shocked. And, you know, it's kind of my job not to be shocked. But I think there's usually more rumblings.
There's usually more signs that a guy is on the hot seat. We knew it was getting close. I thought it was.
Probably a couple of weeks away. I mean, they're playing for first place on Monday night. They looked really good a couple of weeks ago against the pages. They've had two awful, hideous, offensive games.
And that's kind of where I thought this was going to go. Like, if you if I woke up this morning, you said, hey, Ryan, somebody's going to get fired with the Jets. I'd say, OK, Nathaniel Hackett got canned and Robert Salah. That's his last desperation.
Blame worthy move. He's probably got two weeks. So to see Salah get fired and Hackett still have a job and Joe Douglas, the GM still have a job.
It's very surprising to me. Well, Ryan, we heard the owner of the New York Jets, Woody Johnson, say that this was his decision that, yes, he spoke to Joe Douglas, but this was his decision. How much input realistically do you think Aaron Rodgers had in this?
Look, it's hard to believe that he had very little. I believe it's Woody Johnson's call at the end of the day. But I mean, if you see how the Jets have been operating for the last two years.
And look, let me say this, actually, everybody's going to say, oh, they had that weird, awkward hug push and they were paid in a couple of weeks ago. I don't think those things did it. But that's not what makes me think Aaron Rodgers had some some pull in this.
It's just the way that everything in this opera in this operation runs through Aaron Rodgers. You want to trade for Devante Adams? Then that's what we'll do. You want to trade? You want to sign? Allen Lazard? You want to sign Randall Cobb? You want to sign Billy Taylor? You want to hire Nathaniel Hackett?
That's what we'll do. So everything runs through him. Do I think he, you know, Godfather movie'd Robert Sala? No, I don't necessarily think that, but I don't think he would have stopped it if they said, hey, this is what we're thinking about.
I think he would have said, OK, so that's kind of what I think. I don't think I don't think Aaron Rodgers took him out, but I don't think Aaron Rodgers did him any favors either. Look, Aaron Rodgers hasn't gotten along with Mike McCarthy late in his career. He hasn't gotten along with LaFleur late in his career.
He's not exactly the most easy guy to coach. Ryan Dunleavy is joining us. Covers all things NFL for the New York Post. What do you expect for the New York Jets moving forward? Jeff Albrecht is a new dude. Devante Adams is still on the table. How do you think the next week or so is going to look for the Jets?
I mean, tell me who's calling the offensive plays? Albrecht's going to bring a new energy to the Jets, right? But Robert Sala's thing is energy, right? I don't think he was, I don't think they need a new energy.
I don't think, technically, I guess teams usually get a boost for a couple weeks when they make a change because all of a sudden guys can't slack on things, right? And you realize, oh, he got fired. I could be next. I've got to pray for my job. I've got to impress my new coach.
So, like, all that stuff is real. There's history to it. But, like, if the if Nathaniel Hackett's still calling an offense from the Stone Ages, then, like, I don't know how, they're not going to score any more points. I don't know how they're going to win more games. So, like, to me, I would, the first thing I would do if I was Albrecht is I'd change the offensive coordinator. I would make Todd Downing, and this is by no means, Todd Downing isn't exactly Ben Johnson, the Lions offensive coordinator. But he has play calling experience. He did it for Del Rio with the Raiders. He did it for Vrabel with the Titans.
So, he's done it before. I would probably do that and hope that I could get some more offense. And if I can get more offense, look, I'm the fool who picked the Jets to be the AFC representative in the Super Bowl before the season started. And so they've disappointed me a ton. Woody Johnson's right about one thing. It's an incredibly talented roster. Well, what are your thoughts on them picking up Devontae Adams?
Is that still a formality? We heard about the Saints as a possibility. We see that Derek Carr is now going to be out for weeks. So is Devontae Adams just on a fast track to the Jets?
I think it definitely throws a wrench into that plan, for sure. I would guess it's still where, I don't have insight into this, but I would guess it's still where Devontae Adams wants to go. Especially, like you said, Derek Carr is injured now, so I don't know that he wants to go to New Orleans if it was really between those two. I would guess Aaron Rodgers still wants Devontae Adams. Is Devontae Adams going to want to go to a place that is coaching up in the air like this? Probably he would still do it because he's still going to play with Aaron Rodgers.
And again, he's another guy who played in Green Bay with Hackett, so he probably knows what, he's probably close to Hackett like Lazard and Rodgers are. The question is really, is Woody Johnson going to do it? Is he going to allow Joe Douglas, who let's face it, he's got to be on the hot seat now too. Is he going to allow Joe Douglas to make this trade? If he does, and dip into future resources that might hurt Joe Douglas' replacement, that's a tricky spot. And is Woody going to trade for him if Devontae Adams wants a new contract? Look, he hasn't opened up his wallet for Hassan Reddick, who's still holding out. If Devontae says, I want a new contract, is Woody going to open the wallet and rearrange his contract? Because, well, hey, he's going to open the wallet.
Yes. Aaron Rodgers wants him. Ryan Dunleavy is joining us from the New York Post. What do you expect the rest of the season to look like for the Jets? You said earlier on preseason you expected them to win the AFC. What are your expectations for this team as it stands right now? I think they'll probably end up scrambling it together and being in the wild card hunt at the end of the season.
I picked them to win the AFC East. I'll be surprised if they do that at this point with what they've looked like. I guess trading for Devontae Adams could give them the boost over the top. I think the Jets are probably like a 9-8 team. Right now they're 2-3, so is it crazy to think they go from one game under to one game over 500?
No, I don't think so. I think they're probably about a 9-8 team, and whether that gets you 7th in the AFC or 9th in the AFC, that'll depend on how things shake out around the league. But I certainly don't look at them as a Super Bowl contender anymore.
There's just too many problems I didn't foresee. I thought the talent would overcome, and it has not overcome. So the New York Jets, they go to the playoffs as a wild card. They win or they lose. They're eliminated.
They don't win a championship. Are the New York Jets now in hostage mode? Are they being held hostage by Aaron Rodgers? I mean, it feels that way, right? I mean, it feels that way.
But I don't even know that that's a bad thing, right? This is what they did. They sold their future to him two years ago, right? So people are like, oh, if you were having me on yesterday, we wouldn't be talking about Robert Tso.
We'd be talking about Devontae Adams. That's a big story around the Jets. People have been like, should they do it? I'm like, yeah, they should do it, because this is it.
This is their window. As soon as they traded for Aaron Rodgers, it was like everything else had to be for right now. So yeah, I think they probably are being held hostage by Aaron Rodgers.
That's good. You don't want to have Aaron Rodgers and then think long term. Like that doesn't make any sense. You don't have Aaron Rodgers and then like, OK, well, we're going to build through the draft.
No, you're going for it. So, yeah, I mean, they're being held hostage, not necessarily by Aaron Rodgers. They're being held hostage by a two year window for their starting quarterback. Well, if things don't work and he decides to go, does this team not sink further into the toilet? I mean, is Joe Douglas around? Aaron Rodgers is gone. Salah is gone.
Doesn't everybody? The house gets cleaned completely, no? Oh, yeah. I mean, if that's what we're talking about, if we're talking about that far down the line, yeah, if we're talking about Aaron Rodgers isn't here, then they're going to they're going to start completely from scratch. But they're all playing now for the jobs. It'll be a total sense of clean slate, urgency, panic. And we'll see what what they do against the bills. I mean, we always say winning is the great elixir that Robert Salah didn't do enough winning. If they come out and beat the bills, everybody just say, oh, they made the right move at the perfect time. They just beat the bills.
It was the perfect, the perfect motivational tactic. So that doesn't mean they wouldn't beat the bills if Robert Salah was here. It's just that Woody Johnson was looking to kick his team in the butt.
And that's that's how he chose to do it. And let me let me ask you this final question. Regardless of whether Aaron Rodgers plays another four months, whether he plays another year and four months, do you think that the New York Jets are going to win a Super Bowl? Like ever or this year? No, no. But this next four months or a year and four months over the next two seasons, do you see them winning a Super Bowl? No, no, definitely not.
And I did. Yeah, no. Winning a Super Bowl?
No. Like they could get in the playoffs, which for this franchise is an accomplishment. Let's not forget, they have the longest playoff list drought in North American sports, I think. See, them are the Buffalo Sabres. And so, no, I mean, no, they're not a Super Bowl contender. I thought so.
I'll eat it. They were. I thought they had enough talent. And you see Bree Hall struggling. You see the offensive line is much worse than it was. And that falls not on Robert Salah. That was Joe Douglas, his offseason priority.
And it looked like he did not do a good job building an offensive line. So, no, they're they could sneak into the playoffs this year. They could sneak into a playoff two years in a row.
I don't see this as a Super Bowl team unless Jeff Albrecht is a schematic and motivational wizard that we, you know, more than just an interim head coach, unless they catch lightning in a bottle. Yeah, well, jet fans better pray for that. Hey, Ryan, where can people follow you and all your work with the New York Post? Yeah, NYPost.com has all our Jets coverage. My colleagues, Brian Costello, Mike Picaro, Steve Serby, Mark Anizzaro, all guys you should know if you follow this team. Tons of Jets coverage on this and every single day at a practice. And me, I'm on Twitter or X or whatever we call it now, at Ry Dunleavy, R-Y Dunleavy. Hey, thank you so much, Ryan. Enjoy the circus. The New York Jets. I feel like we're only on the maybe the second or third act of the season.
We'll see what else they do. Thanks for having me.
