It sounds like if Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur is back for the 2023 season, he’ll have some help. 

Jets coach Robert Saleh said Monday that he will “definitely” bring in an experienced coach to join the offensive staff as a senior assistant. Saleh hired Greg Knapp in 2021 to be a senior voice on the offensive staff but Knapp was tragically killed while riding his bike before he ever got to coach a game with the Jets. The Jets replaced him with veteran coach Matt Cavanaugh, but chose not to bring him back for the 2022 season. Saleh seemed to regret not hiring someone this season to play a similar role. 

“I can look back and reflect on whether I should have replaced that position last year,” Saleh said. “I chose not to. I wanted to quiet the room. But that is a position we are definitely going to replace.” 

No one was saying much about LaFleur’s future on Monday. Jets GM Joe Douglas said the decision on the coaching staff is up to Saleh. 

The Jets’ offense failed to score a touchdown in the final three games. Saleh said it was not all on LaFleur. 

“It always starts with the coach. It always starts with me,” Saleh said. “There’s an identity, there’s a mindset, there’s principles. But at the same time, there’s a lot of things. Like I’ve said, it’s not the quarterback’s fault, it’s not the O-line’s fault, it’s not the receivers, it’s not the coordinator. It’s all encompassing.” 

After losing six games in a row to end their season, players had T-shirts hanging in their lockers Monday with the word “Finish” written on them. Saleh’s main message to the team was about finishing the job next year. 

Saleh said last year even though the team was out of the playoffs early they tried to simulate a playoff push in December by telling the team that they had to win a certain amount of games in their final four to make the playoffs. This year, they were in playoff contention until a Week 17 loss in Seattle. 

“The finish is that we’re going to be in this situation, once simulated, once experienced, now let’s finish,” Saleh said. “Finishing doesn’t mean let’s wait until December. It means starting today everything we do is about finishing — finishing our workout, finishing whatever it is that we’re doing make sure we have the mindset to finish because come December we’re going to finish and hopefully that gets us in.” 

Douglas stated before this season that the goal was to play meaningful games in December. The Jets did that, but lost all of them. Douglas expressed his disappointment on Monday. 

“I know when I talked to you guys in the past, one of the things I said was it was going to be a good season if we were playing meaningful games in December,” Douglas said. “Well, when you get to December at 7-4 that target changes. We were fully expecting to be playing beyond January and we weren’t able to get that done.” 

The Jets signed seven players to reserve/future contracts: QB Chris Streveler, OL Chris Glaser, DB Craig James, DB Jimmy Moreland, DL Marquiss Spencer, LB Chazz Surratt and WR Malik Taylor.