The Jets and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur recently agreed to part ways, and LaFleur may soon find himself in another OC role. Per Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network (video link), LaFleur is expected to land on the Rams as part of Sean McVay‘s staff, and it sounds as if he could replace the recently-departed Liam Coen as Los Angeles’ offensive coordinator.
McVay himself recently indicated that he would return to the Rams after earlier reports suggested he was more likely to walk away. The Rams will therefore retain one of the game’s brightest offensive minds as they seek to regroup following the worst Super Bowl title defense in league history. In light of McVay’s overall success — the 2022 season notwithstanding — other clubs have poached head coaches from the McVay coaching tree, so LaFleur could certainly do worse as he seeks to rebuild his own stock following a disappointing campaign with the Jets.
LaFleur joined Gang Green as the OC on Robert Saleh‘s first staff in 2021, and his offense finished near the bottom of the league in terms of both total yardage and points that year. Of course, the club was also in the midst of a rebuild, was starting a rookie quarterback in Zach Wilson, and did not boast a great deal of offensive talent, so there were no rumblings about LaFleur’s job security.
But while the Jets’ defense took a major step forward in 2022, the offense did not, and it was the underwhelming performance of LaFleur’s unit that prevented the team from securing a playoff berth. There were reports that owner Woody Johnson would want to fire LaFleur at season’s end, and Tony Pauline of ProFootballNetwork.com writes that the front office blamed LaFleur for Wilson’s lack of improvement. The coaching staff, on the other hand, reportedly feels that Wilson is simply not a good quarterback and would have welcomed LaFleur back in 2023.
Regardless of any conflict between the team’s execs and coaches in that regard, LaFleur is now a free agent and could get a chance to oversee an offense with an established quarterback in Matthew Stafford. Nonetheless, McVay will likely retain play-calling duties, so even an OC job would represent something of a demotion for LaFleur.
Of course, LaFleur’s brother, Matt LaFleur, worked under McVay as the Rams’ offensive coordinator in 2017 before taking the same position with the Titans in 2018 and parlaying his OC experience into the Packers’ head coaching job in 2019.
Of course. The Jets finally have something good going. Killed the draft last year, showed huge signs of improvement and have all the building blocks besides QB in place.
But our front office and coaching staff aren’t on the same page? Well at least the owner stepped up and said we need to upgrade at QB. Hopefully now that’s the page the entire organization is on.
Let Wilson sit and learn and play some backup. If he’s called into action and impresses, then we can reassess his future. We still technically have 3 more years of control, right?
Most likely two. At this point, it’s unlikely they’ll use his fifth year option.
I still think the Jets should sign Geno. Would be a good bounce back story and give them a decent QB for 4 years or so. He could be a good role model for Wilson. Show him you can comeback and being a backup isn’t a bad thing.
No, no, no to Geno. Doesn’t make sense for a few reasons. Lamar as the pipe dream who probably won’t be traded and Carr, Jones, and Jimmy as the other 3 options.
For once I may agree with the Jets staff regarding Wilson not being a good QB. He may have some physical talents that are attractive for a QB (ability to throw on the run, strong arm) but mentally the kid doesn’t look like he can rebound from bad play. He’s young, but his character doesn’t seem to support the potent. Not sure if it’s the OCs fault for Wilson’s lack of progress – White looked solid when he played. Other offensive positions did relatively well considering who was taking the snaps.
Carr could be an interesting option, and perhaps keep Wilson as a BU for a year or two and see how he does then.
Greg Olson doesn’t seem to be the favorite for the Jets’ OC position but if he gets it, that would raise the odds that the Jets make a move for Carr.
Perfect example of an OC getting fired over a dud QB pick.
Seems like Lafleur got a lot out of qb’s not named Wilson.
The Jets have a crappy QB and the offense under performs? So the OC gets fired ?? Lol Only the Jets
Ummm… Not only the Jets. When your team doesn’t score a TD in three straight games while fighting for the playoffs in the first two of those, someone is usually going to take the fall. It also wasn’t great to continue sending White out there when he was clearly still suffering from his rib injury.
Also, injuries bit a lot of teams, but the amount of turnover on the o-line was crazy. The loss of AVT was huge. Then, the loss of Breece Hall as the lead RB was big. He will be a star in the future.