Tennessee Titans fans should get a kick out of this one: New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh said his new passing-game coordinator, Todd Downing, will be the “main voice” in the team’s quarterbacks room this season.
Saleh said so last Thursday while down at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. He also spoke highly of the former Titans offensive coordinator and pointed out some of the quarterbacks he’s worked with.
“Todd Downing, bringing him also from Tennessee. His experience with quarterbacks, he was with (Matthew) Stafford in the early years of his career,” Saleh said. “He was with Derek Carr at the early years of his career and obviously with (Ryan) Tannehill during Tannehill’s resurrection, if you will. He comes with a wealth of knowledge of quarterback play, so he’ll be kind of a, God rest his soul, that Knapper (Greg Knapp) role in terms of running the quarterback room and being the main voice in that regard.”
While Downing was on the staff for Tannehill’s “resurrection”, as Saleh so aptly calls it, he was coaching the tight ends during Tannehill’s two best years in Nashville (2019 and 2020), so he had little, if anything, to do with that.
He then took over as offensive coordinator in 2021 with disastrous results, as Tennessee’s offense took a step back two years in a row and struggled with throwing the ball in particular. Of course, Tannehill struggled, also.
Granted, Downing didn’t have a ton to work in 2022, but there was never a point where we could say he elevated any part of the offense or made things easier with his play-calling, and especially not the quarterback position.
Knowing that, it’s almost comical to see what his new role with the Jets will be, both as the “main voice” for quarterbacks and the passing-game coordinator.
Maybe Downing will be better suited in those roles than as a play-caller, but even then that won’t be saying much. It’s also possible he won’t have to do much if the Jets can find a way to land Aaron Rodgers.
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