Recently fired Jets head coach Robert Saleh was at a Green Bay Packers practice on Wednesday and is helping out with the team’s offense by providing a defensive perspective, head coach Matt LaFleur said.
Saleh hasn’t been hired in any official capacity. Yet.
“I’d say it’s pretty fluid,” LaFleur said when asked about the period of time Saleh will be helping.
“We’ve been close for a really long time,” LaFleur added. “Shoot, we were roommates together back at Central Michigan, so we thought it was a good idea just to bring him here … for him to learn and also for him to help us and give us perspective on how teams might see us, how they might defend us. Certainly can find holes in, or some vulnerabilities if you will, in the defense that we’re playing. So yeah, that’s how we’re going to use him.”
This isn’t the first time the Packers have done this with a veteran defensive coach. They brought Aubrey Pleasant in as an offensive consultant in 2022, which LaFleur said he thought that was mutually beneficial. Pleasant is now the assistant head coach and passing game coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams.
For now, Saleh is staying in Green Bay through Thursday — at LaFleur’s house — and going back to his own family on Friday.
The Jets fired Saleh earlier this month after starting this season 2-3. He was in his fourth season as New York’s head coach. Previously, Saleh served as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator from 2017-2020. LaFleur said he reached out to Saleh immediately after the Jets fired him, as a friend, and told him the opportunity to help Green Bay’s staff would be there if he wanted it. LaFleur said he told Saleh to hit the beach, but he didn’t listen.
Not only were LaFleur and Saleh roommates while both on Central Michigan’s coaching staff in 2004, but LaFleur was the best man at Saleh’s wedding. They also coached together on the Texans staff in 2008 and 2009, when LaFleur was an offensive assistant and Saleh coached on the defensive side.
Saleh also knows Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who was the 49ers defensive backs coach in 2018 under Saleh.
And though Saleh is a defensive coach, LaFleur doesn’t want him influencing the Packers on that side of the ball.
“I think Haf (Hafley) and our defensive staff have a great thing going right now,” LaFleur said. “And I totally trust them, so I think it’s Year 1, he’s kind of got to go through it himself. So I don’t want to do that.”
Saleh’s defense stifled LaFleur’s offense in the 2019 regular season and playoffs before the Packers beat the 49ers, 34-17, in the 2020 regular season. Saleh’s Jets then beat the Packers at Lambeau Field in 2022, 27-10.
“We felt like if we just keep taking them down to deeper water, they’ll find out they can’t swim,” Saleh said after that game.
Perhaps some of that insight can help the Packers’ offense, albeit vastly different than it was two seasons ago, fare better against its upcoming opponents. Green Bay (5-2) will visit Jacksonville (2-5) on Sunday and then host Detroit (5-1) before a Week 10 bye.
(Photo: Mike Stobe / Getty Images)
