Mike LaFleur - Exploring New Opportunities

Edition #305

Good morning ☀️

There was a little confusion yesterday as multiple reports leaked online in relation to the job security of Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.

Aaron Wilson reported that the Jets and Mike LaFleur were going to part, which was quickly squashed by the New York Beat.

I spoke to Aaron after that and he stood by his source, saying it wasn’t done but that’s the way it was going. Hours later it was revealed that Mike was indeed going to “explore new opportunities”. We can argue on semantics in relation to the language used, but at the end of the day the Jets will have a new offensive coordinator next year and that’s what we’re going to focus on.

We’re going to get into that this morning straight after the quick throw.

For the first time, NFL players voted on a “Players All-Pro Team” - Jets special teams ace Justin Hardee was the only jet to make the list. Massive congratulations to Justin who’s had a fantastic year in 2022. But I can’t help but think that both Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams deserved to be on there.

The Jets announced that they had signed Tanzel Smart to a reserve/future contract making him the 8th player to sign such a deal in the last week.

PFF released their final offensive line rankings for the 2022 regular season. The Jets finished at number 31. 11 different linemen played at least 61 snaps and the group allowed 192 pressures on 689 pass-blocking snaps. They also named Connor McGovern as the best player, likely because only he and Tomlinson stayed healthy and Tomlinson was a bit of a mess.

PFF graded Sauce Gardner at 88.5 this year saying: “Gardner wasn't just the best first-round rookie this season but also the best rookie in the league and arguably the best cornerback overall in just his first season of play. He was outstanding in both man and zone coverage, allowing just 45.2% of passes thrown into his coverage to be caught”

They graded Garrett Wilson at 82.7 saying: “The job that Garrett Wilson did this season give his quarterback situation was remarkable. In games with Mike White under center, Wilson was on track for a huge year, and even with Joe Flacco and Zach Wilson hampering his production, he was still able to show a complete skill set and cause endless problems for opposing defenses. If the Jets find a quality starter to pass him the football, Wilson could look like one of the best receivers in the game next season”

Finally, they graded Jermaine Johnson at 71.7 saying: “Johnson was deployed as a fairly steady rotational body for the Jets defensive front - one of the best in the league in 2022. He averaged a little under 20 snaps a game and notched 14 pressures on 151 pass-rushing snaps over the season. He was consistently better in the run game, setting a hard edge and often impacting runs to his side of the line”

PFF also released its annual free agent ranking, putting together the 50 best players who are about to hit the market. The Jets only had one player on the list and that’s defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins who came in at number 44. Considering the Jets have absolutely no depth at that position, I would expect us to make a play at a DT in free agency, it may not be Rankins, but we’ll likely look for veteran help there.

According to multiple reports, teams had inquired about the availability of Mike LaFleur this week, sensing that there was some indecision by the Jets on whether to bring him back. The Jets decided to allow him to explore those opportunities, it sounds a lot nicer than he was fired, but in reality, he was fired.

There have been rumors that Robert Saleh wanted to bring Mike back, but Woody Johnson was unhappy with that and was forcing his hands. According to all reports and everything I know, that wasn’t the case. The Jets decided that they needed to make a change to catapult their team into contention.

Once Breece Hall went down, the Jet’s offense failed to generate anything, and over the final three games they failed to register a single TD. Even with all the injuries, the lack of adjustment by MLF was always likely going to lead to his firing. I actually think MLF will be a good play caller in this league, but the Jets weren’t willing to bet on that being 2023.

The search for a new offensive coordinator has already begun and I’m led to believe that the Jets have 5-6 names on their list. Here are the first three who are almost certainly on that initial list and then we’ll look at who else may be on there.