Not too long after getting fired by the New York Jets, Robert Saleh is reportedly joining the Green Bay Packers — not as a head coach or offensive or defensive coordinator, but as an offensive assistant in a “fluid” role.
Saleh had been the head coach of the Jets starting in 2021, and prior to that, he had been a defensive coach for many years.
He made his name as the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers from 2017 and 2020, and during that time, he made the Niners into one of the NFL’s most feared defenses.
Sports personality and former NFL player Pat McAfee said on his ESPN show that if the Packers were to win the Super Bowl championship this season, it would be quite a story, given the prior relationship between Saleh and Packers head coach Matt LaFleur.
Coach Saleh getting a ring if the Packers win the Lombardi this year would be such an absurdly wild story.. so many layers.
The documentary would be an all-timer. pic.twitter.com/uOhHWcm8Fe
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 23, 2024
The two were graduate assistants at Central Michigan University in 2004 and were even roommates, and four years later, Saleh got Gary Kubiak, who was then the head coach of the Houston Texans, to hire LaFleur as an offensive assistant.
The Packers were expected by many to at least have a puncher’s chance at getting to the Super Bowl this season, and after some early jitters, they now have a 5-2 record and are threatening the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, both of whom are 5-1.
Meanwhile, the Jets are floundering with a 2-5 record, and even though they traded for star wide receiver Davante Adams last week, their chances of making the playoffs are in very serious jeopardy.
