The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)

Jets hire former Broncos coach Hackett to run offense

- By Dennis Waszak Jr.

The New York Jets have their new offensive play caller. Next up: finding their quarterbac­k.

Former Denver Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett was hired Thursday as the Jets’ offensive coordinato­r to replace Mike LaFleur after coach Robert Saleh interviewe­d more than 15 candidates for the vacancy during the last two weeks.

“When it came back to a certain checklist that I was trying to go through,” Saleh said during a video call, “just checking boxes with regard to what we were looking for from this next offensive coordinato­r, we just kept circling back to him.

“He checks every box that we’re looking for.”

The hiring of the 43year-old Hackett fuels speculatio­n about whether the Jets could pursue Green Bay quarterbac­k Aaron Rodgers, whose playing future is uncertain. Hackett and Rodgers have a connection: Hackett served as the Packers’ offensive coordinato­r from 2019-21 with Rodgers as the quarterbac­k.

Rodgers said recently during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on SiriusXM and YouTube he believes he can still play at an MVP-type level in the right situation. But the four-time MVP hasn’t decided whether to return to the Packers, retire or request a trade.

Saleh said during the interview process that he and Hackett didn’t discuss specific quarterbac­ks. The Jets coach had said he was looking for an experience­d play caller to replace LaFleur, who was a first-time offensive coordinato­r.

“Everybody’s got a connection to everybody in this league,” Saleh said. “The most important thing was finding a guy who could continue developing our young guys at a very high level, a guy who has done it before and a guy who’s had success in this league with a variety of different quarterbac­ks.”

Hackett went 4-11 in less than one season as head coach of the Broncos, who fired him a day after Denver’s 51-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Christmas. Hackett, who has helped lead three top-10 scoring offenses as a coordinato­r, replaced Vic Fangio last January.

 ?? Jack Dempsey/Associated Press ?? The New York Jets hired former Denver Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett as their offensive coordinato­r on Thursday.
Jack Dempsey/Associated Press The New York Jets hired former Denver Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett as their offensive coordinato­r on Thursday.

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