Despite the New York Jets‘ pursuit of Aaron Rodgers, they are still, at their core, a defense-first team. Robert Saleh is a defensive head coach and runs his team from that perspective.
After a dead-last finish in 2021, the Jets’ defense rebounded to place in the top five in 2022, a historic turnaround. No other defense in NFL history had gone from worst to top-five in just one season.
However, as Michael Nania previously wrote, both the Jets and their fans must be wary of the fallacy of guaranteed replication. The fact that the Jets’ defense was this good last year does not mean they will reproduce the same results in 2023.