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New York Jets owner Woody Johnson wants everyone to know that he didn’t engage in any type of “heated argument” with head coach Robert Saleh during the NFL’s owners meetings.
Johnson took to social media Thursday and said to “disregard” an “irresponsible report from NFL Network.”
Woody Johnson @woodyjohnson4
All this nonsense about a heated argument between Coach Saleh and me at the League Meeting is absolutely false. It is yet another irresponsible report from NFL Network. Please disregard.
His comments come after NFL Media’s Colleen Wolfe said on Tuesday’s episode of the Around the NFL podcast (1:33:30 mark), “At the owners meetings, there was a very heated conversation between Woody and Robert Saleh. To the point where it was a little awkward.”
To be fair, Wolfe stressed that she wouldn’t describe the exchange as an argument but rather just a passionate conversation. She also said she was unsure about what it was about, adding, “it could have been about anything.”
Wolfe issued a statement Thursday as well:
Colleen Wolfe @ColleenWolfe
pic.twitter.com/W0lMPuuG8v
While Johnson denied engaging in any type of argument with the head coach, Saleh will certainly be under the microscope in 2024.
It will be his fourth season as the head coach of the Jets, and he is yet to finish with a better record than 7-10. He’s just 18-33 during his tenure, which has largely been defined by offensive struggles even if the defense is playing at a high level.
Saleh was previously a defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers before the Jets hired him, so he can at least point to some success on that side of the ball.
Still, the offense will have to be much better during the upcoming season to take him off the hot seat. It finished last year 31st in the league in yards per game (268.6) and 29th in points per game (15.8).
It wasn’t supposed to be that way for the Jets in 2023 considering they brought in future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers ahead of the season. However, he tore his Achilles during the first game, which left the combination of Zach Wilson, Trevor Siemian and Tim Boyle to take snaps the rest of the way.
Rodgers’ expected return elevates the ceiling for New York going into this important campaign.
However, it will also have to make improvements elsewhere and is surely eyeing the NFL draft as an opportunity to do so. The Jets have the No. 10 pick and could add an impact player to either side of the ball.
With the focus on April’s draft, Johnson dispelled the notion there is friction between ownership and the head coach during an important time in the offseason.
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