Since the start of training camp, several key players on the New York Jets have made it clear how different Aaron Glenn’s practice regimen has been from that of his predecessor.
Robert Saleh coached the Jets for three and a half seasons, totaling a much-maligned 20-36 record. Throughout his tenure, infighting and anonymous sources seemed to permeate the walls of his locker room.
Saleh had a reputation as a player’s coach who wanted to empower his roster rather than challenge them. At least, that is the argument many of his former players are making this offseason.
As training camp goes on, though, and the Jets seem willing to discuss the major differences between what they see from a Glenn-led camp and a Saleh-led one, a growing reality may be setting in.
Jets Continue Rampage Against Former Regime
The Saleh era was incredibly frustrating for Jets stars like Garrett Wilson. Sure, the former Offensive Rookie of the Year set a team record for consecutive seasons to start a career with over 1,000 yards, but those numbers did little to help New York’s win total.
Perhaps that is why the recently extended star has praised his new coach’s handling of things.
“The competitiveness. Not just talking about being competitive, you’ve got to train that way,” Wilson said this week. “It’s got to feel like that at practice. It’s got to feel like if you lose, it sucks at practice – it can’t just be, ‘Oh, we’ll turn it on when the game comes.’
“The way we’re practicing, the intensity…the stakes feel higher. It feels like you won the drill when you won the drill, and it feels like you lost when you lost.”
Other offensive stars, such as guard Alijah Vera-Tucker and running back Breece Hall, previously voiced their pleasure (and disappointment) in how Glenn ran things compared to his predecessor.
This is all excellent news for Glenn. In just seven short months, he has gotten total buy-in from the roster with his demands of excellence in every rep during practice.
The Jets are hungry for a winner, and Glenn’s attitude seems perfect for those goals.
However, New York may be overly comparing the previous regime. It’s perfectly fine to talk about all the great things Glenn has done to improve the roster.
When the conversation turns toward what was not done in the past, though, it seems like bitterness from some of the current players on the roster.
That isn’t to say Vera-Tucker, Hall, and Wilson shouldn’t feel frustrated with how they were coached in previous years. They are all stars in their own right, and were not used to the best of the team’s chances to be successful. That would drive any young star crazy.
Does it mean they should go out of their way to talk about how much better Glenn is than Saleh?
Probably not.
A Change for the Future
One of the great things Glenn has done in his short time in New York is his ability to alter the organization’s mindset about focusing on improvement. The Jets’ lone goal right now is to build something sustainable.
That is a stark contrast to how Saleh altered his approach after an improved 2022 season. The organization believed they were a quarterback away and tried to cut corners on building a dynamic winner.
It’s the central reason why Saleh failed in Florham Park.
As much as Glenn has pushed for his players to block outside noise, the fact that they keep bringing up differences in accountability and how they practice, while also detailing how much of that wasn’t going on before, is a clear defiance of that.
If the organization is focused on getting better, then trashing their former coach for his failings isn’t doing that. How the Jets handle past failures can be a stepping stone for future success.
Yes, Saleh should be heavily criticized for his failures with the organization. That should be for the fans to do, though.
Not the players. They have bigger fish to fry at this point in camp to point out how bad things were under the previous regime.