A deep dive into the disastrous Jets season by Zack Rosenblatt and Dianna Russini of The Athletic painted offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett as a play caller who concerned other coaches in the building with his lack of urgency.
Per the report by The Athletic, one anonymous coach revealed that it was “concerning” to see how little urgency the new Jets coordinator showed in trying to adjust to his offensive line being consistently outperformed in practice leading into the season, and the offensive line continued to be an issue throughout the regular season. That same coach said that he had “never seen a team watch less practice tape in training camp” than the Jets did with Hackett running the show this past summer.
The report also portrayed Hackett as a coach with a collaborative relationship with Aaron Rodgers, his quarterback from his days with the Packers, and that relationship included the offense resetting after Rodgers would overrule a play call from Hackett, and Hackett’s offense centered around Rodgers would last just four snaps before Rodgers tore his Achilles in Week 1 against the Bills.
Without Rodgers, Hackett struggled to adjust, and reportedly went back to practicing plays that were centered around Rodgers after the Jets put an emphasis on playing their younger players by Week 11, when the team began sliding. The offense became riddled with penalties and fell even further.
According to The Athletic, head coach Robert Saleh has “explored” adding to the team’s offensive staff to potentially reduce Hackett’s role after last season’s disaster, and Rodgers has been involved in those discussions.