Robert Saleh oversaw a San Francisco 49ers defense that came within minutes of winning the Super Bowl last year and that managed to rank among the league’s best this season despite missing many of its top players.
But that is not why the Jets coveted him.
After one of the worst seasons in franchise history, a 2-14 fiasco that exposed a lack of comprehensive oversight and resulted in Adam Gase’s dismissal after two years on the job, the Jets did not focus on finding an offensive mastermind or a defensive wizard when they searched for Gase’s replacement.