The Jacksonville Jaguars are in the midst of a search for a head coach after firing Doug Pederson. While they've set their sights on several intriguing candidates, there doesn't seem to be a clear-cut favorite. Ben Johnson is probably the best of the bunch but is far from the only viable option to fill the vacancy. The Zach Rosenblatt of The Athletic, for one, believes the Jags will go a with proven commodity.
Rosenblatt predicted every coaching vacancy in the NFL and thinks that Jacksonville will hire a familiar face in Robert Saleh. In fact, he reports that there's legitimate chatter about the Jaguars potentially hiring the former New York Jets head coach.
"This one might feel like it’s out of left field, but there’s some real buzz about Saleh’s chances of securing this job. "
Later in his prediction piece, Rosenblatt goes on to say that Saleh has several fans in the Jaguars building after coaching their linebackers from 2014-2016.
"Saleh has a lot of fans in the Jaguars’ building from his time as the linebackers coach from 2014-16. He’d also be inheriting a more talented roster in Jacksonville than he did with the Jets in 2021, starting at quarterback. No matter what you think about Trevor Lawrence, he’s an obvious upgrade over what Saleh had with Zach Wilson. The Jaguars have weapons on offense and some talent on defense."
Saleh began his coaching career at Michigan State in 2002 and made the leap to the pros as an assistant in the Houston Texans staff in 2005. He worked his way up the ranks and became the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers in 2017.
Following four successful seasons in the Bay Area, Saleh became the head coach of the Jets in 2021. There, he routinely fields some of the best defenses in the league. However, he couldn't get the quarterback position right, which is one of the reasons he got the pink slip in 2024.
In his defense, Saleh didn't seemingly have much input in which quarterbacks the Jets would acquire. Moreover, New York objectively got worse once he was fired. Add the fact that observers say that he's "the one that got away" in Jacksonville, and he's a legitimate candidate to replace Pederson.
The Jaguars cannot go wrong with Robert Saleh
You could make the case that the Jacksonville Jaguars should go with a young, and innovative voice to replace Doug Pederson. If that's the case, Ben Johnson and Liam Coen are arguably their best two options. However, the former is seemingly becoming a favorite to land with the Las Vegas Raiders due to the Tom Brady factor, and the latter is seemingly in no hurry to leave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If the Jags don't land Johnson or Coen, Saleh would be a pretty good alternative. Granted, they will probably look for a coach who can get the most out of Trevor Lawrence, but a coach with a defensive background could also make sense.
After all, the Jaguars' defense was among the worst in the league last year, and it wasn't due to a shortage of talent. Moreover, Saleh, or any other defensive-minded coach may have a viable plan to get the offensive going. This is just a conjuncture, but he could reach out to long-time collaborator Mike LaFleur to oversee the offense. All things considered, that would be a solid plan.
Ultimately, this is a fluid process. Many things could change in the upcoming weeks days, but there are many believable reasons — apart from Zach Rosenblatt's scoop — to think that the Jacksonville Jaguars could hire Robert Saleh.