Robert Saleh has witnessed the worst to first story before.
The Jets head coach watched the 49ers go from a downtrodden franchise to a Super Bowl contender in three years while he was San Francisco’s defensive coordinator. Now he’s seeing the same thing from the Bengals, who will face the Rams in the Super Bowl just three years into their rebuild and only 22 months after drafting Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick.
New York is heading into its second year with Saleh at the helm and third with Joe Douglas leading the front office. It’s impossible to know how long it will take Saleh and Douglas to reach the mark the Bengals hit this season, but there is confidence that a similar trajectory is possible.
“Not to put a number or compare, but there is a blueprint,” Saleh said at the Senior Bowl this week, per the New York Post’s Brian Costello. “When you develop within, you draft well, you select the right free agents and you build a culture that you believe in and you stay with continuity and you don’t fall into peer pressure with whatever Cincinnati has had to endure over the last couple of years, you end up reaping the benefits of your patience.”
Saleh believes – and has for a while – that the Jets are on the right path. The Bengals are a great example of what the Jets can become, namely for the reasons Saleh mentioned: strong drafting, the right free agents and culture building. New York looks on its way after a solid 2021 class, but what Saleh and Douglas do this offseason will be crucial to the Jets’ rebuild over the next few years. If they can emulate the Bengals and 49ers, it could lead to a similar rise up the ranks of the NFL. It’s just a matter of executing the plan they enacted in 2020.
“We’re excited about the things we’ve got going,” Saleh said. “Joe and I, we’re in lockstep. We see it exactly the same. We’re excited to attack this offseason and build this roster.”
