Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett will remain the primary play-caller for the offense during the 2024 season, head coach Robert Saleh said Tuesday before the team’s first open-to-the-media OTA session.
According to a report last week from SNY’s Connor Hughes, the team made “legitimate attempts” this offseason to hire someone who would have been above Hackett on the staff and effectively put him in charge of the offense.
That hire never materialized, so this offense is still Hackett’s. Saleh wouldn’t talk about whether the team tried to replace Hackett but did confirm Hackett will still call plays this season.
“Last year was a tremendous learning experience for everybody (regarding overcoming the plethora of injuries the team went through),” Saleh said. “It’s about building an offense that can weather the storm of injury. Last year we got caught behind the eight ball.”
Hackett downplayed the reports the Jets were looking to essentially replace him, saying, “I don’t know what those reports are and I don’t know where their sources came from. I know what happened with us and it was great. We had a lot of conversations and got to talk with a lot of different people. It’s that simple. It’s already been addressed.”
Hackett said he does believe Saleh still believes in him. He also said he was involved in all the conversations that happened this offseason involving potential hires. The Jets did make a couple of changes to the offensive staff. Tony Dews replaced Taylor Embree as running backs coach while Shawn Jefferson returns as wide receivers coach after three years between Arizona and Carolina. Zach Azzanni left to become Pittsburgh’s wide receivers coach.
The Jets look to have an effective offense on paper, but it will come down to injury luck and how Hackett navigates the offense throughout the season.