Jaguars Head Coach Search: Pros and Cons to Robert Saleh's Candidacy

The Jacksonville Jaguars find themselves in a familiar spot in 2025: looking for a new head coach.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan has gone through five head coaches in 13 years, with each of Mike Mularkey, Gus Bradley, Doug Marrone, Urban Meyer, and Doug Pederson all coming up short in the process.

With the Jaguars search for their next coach now up and running, we are going to take a look at what each candidate brings to the table, their backgrounds and what potential drawbacks could be to their candidacy.

We have already talked about Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Liam Coen. Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, and Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

Now, we move onto former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh.

Background

Michigan State (2002): Offensive assistant

Michigan State (2003): Defensive assistant

Central Michigan (2004): Defensive assistant

Georgia (2005) Defensive assistant

Houston Texans (2005): Defensive intern

Houston Texans (2006-2008): Defensive quality control coach

Houston Texans (2009-2010): Assistant linebackers coach

Seattle Seahawks (2011-2013): Defensive quality control coach

Jacksonville Jaguars (2014-2016): Linebackers coach

San Francisco 49ers (2017-2020): Defensive coordinator

New York Jets (2021-2024): Head coach

Green Bay Packers (2024): Consultant

Pros

There are few coaches who are as widely respected and loved by their locker rooms as Saleh. Saleh is the definition of a players coach and would likely do wonders in terms of energizing a Jaguars locker room that has clearly needed a spark over the last two seasons. If anyone could get through to them and get them to play with more edge, it is likely Saleh.

Saleh consistently had disruptive and productive defenses in New York and could easily help the Jaguars turn around their fledgling unit. His system would likely do wonders for both Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker, and there is a good chance he could help turn around a unit that was amongst the worst in the NFL at getting pressure.

Saleh can also hang his hat on the fact that the Jets were an unmitigated disaster once Woody Johnson made the od move to fire him after just five games. The Jets' season completely fell apart at that point and their defense took several steps back, a potential evidence point of his impact on the franchise as a whole.

Cons

The obvious leading red flag is how Saleh's tenure with the Jets went. The Jets never won more than seven games in a season with Saleh, which obviously has as much to do with their quarterback situation as it does with anything else. Still, Saleh is the one who has to wear that record moving forward since he is the head coach and has to answer for any success or failure.

While it isn't Saleh's fault he was paired with Zach Wilson and an aging, demanding and injury-prone Aaron Rodgers, Saleh didn't make great hires on the offensive side of the ball. Mike LaFleur is likely a better coach than the results showed, but hiring Nathaniel Hackett -- even as a bridge to obtain Rodgers -- was a massive mistake even at the time.

There is also the question of Saleh's Jets teams being among the highest-penalized teams in the NFL during his tenure. Saleh is a great coach in terms of forging relationships and getting his teams to play with aggression, but it is fair to say his teams struggled with discipline and the finer details of the game.

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