Robert Saleh can look across the field on Sunday to the opposing sideline and think about what might have been.
Saleh and Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans both became head coaches after serving as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator. Ryans succeeded Saleh in San Francisco after Saleh left in 2021 to become the Jets’ head coach. Saleh actually gave Ryans his start in coaching in 2017 when he hired him as a low-level coach with the 49ers.
While the two share some history, their present could not be more different thanks to how each of their teams handled having the No. 2-overall pick in the NFL draft.
The Jets had the No. 2 pick when they hired Saleh in 2021 following a dismal 2-14 campaign. The Jets selected Zach Wilson with that draft pick and that decision has colored everything about Saleh’s time with the Jets all the way through Monday when a report from The Athletic said Saleh wanted Wilson to be the starting quarterback again, but Wilson was hesitant because he feared getting injured.
Saleh said that Wilson never expressed any reluctance to him and instead Wilson told him he wants to start, but there clearly was some truth in the report because Saleh did not completely deny it.
It is just the latest chapter in the sad saga between Wilson and the Jets, a marriage that has been rocky for more than a year now.
On the other side, Ryans enters Sunday’s game with C.J. Stroud, who the Texans drafted No. 2 overall in April. Stroud is having one of the best rookie seasons a quarterback has ever had, throwing for 3,540 yards, 20 touchdowns and five interceptions in his first 12 games.
The Texans are 7-5 and primed to make a run at the playoffs. The Jets are 4-8 and trying to figure out how to score a touchdown.
It drives home the point which has been made many times — there is no more important position in sports than quarterback.
When a team gets it right, the coach looks like a genius. When the team gets it wrong, the coach is heading for unemployment.
Do we know that Ryans is a better coach than Saleh? No, we don’t. But Nick Caserio picked the right guy and Joe Douglas picked the wrong one.
Look around the league. Bill Belichick is not the same coach without Tom Brady. The Bengals are not going anywhere with Joe Burrow injured. The crosstown Giants have managed to win a few games with Tommy DeVito, but does anyone think they are going to make a run here?
Everything comes back to the decisions you make at quarterback and the selection of Wilson has bitten the Jets for three years now. They tried to move on this offseason when they made the trade for Aaron Rodgers, but they decided to keep Wilson as the backup. Then, when Rodgers’ Achilles tendon burst four plays into the season, they were forced to turn back to Wilson. Jets fans will always view Wilson as the No. 2-overall pick and not just another backup quarterback. So, when Wilson throws an interception it is another indictment of Douglas and Saleh.
Saleh benched Wilson two weeks ago but Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian look worse, so now he may have to put Wilson on the field again.
All of this horrible quarterback play has led to a lot of losing. Saleh is 15-31 in his three years as the Jets’ coach. He has built a championship-quality defense here, but that gets overshadowed by the failures at quarterback.
Saleh should not be exonerated here. He was part of the decision-making when the Jets drafted Wilson and when they decided to bring him back this year.
But we won’t truly know whether Saleh can coach until we see him with a good NFL quarterback. We may get that chance if he can survive this losing streak and return next year with a healthy Rodgers.
Ryans will get the genius treatment and maybe it will be proven he deserves it. Having a quarterback like Stroud, though, is like getting a head start in a race.
Two defensive coaches who had success with the 49ers and landed head-coaching jobs. One has a quarterback. The other doesn’t. That will be on display Sunday at MetLife Stadium and it could determine how both are remembered as head coaches.