It's tough to ignore the narrative.
The Tennessee Titans open their 2026 NFL season on Sept. 13 (noon, CBS) against the New York Jets at Nissan Stadium. So, when Robert Saleh begins his first regular season game coaching the Titans, he'll be able to look across the field and see the embodiment of the team that fired him in 2024.
"I’ve been with Saleh eight out of my 10 years. I have a lot of love for him and I’ve been around him a lot. How that ended was so wrong," defensive end Solomon Thomas, who played for the Jets from 2022-24, told The Tennessean. "We were tied for first in our division and our head coach gets fired. In no situation would that ever make sense. I’m sorry. I will talk about that. Just the fact that he has so many former Jets here
just shows that guys love playing for him. They know what he’s about to do here and they want to be a part of it."
Thomas isn't alone among Jets now playing for the Titans. The roster also features safety Tony Adams, defensive linemen John Franklin-Myers, Jacob Martin and Jermaine Johnson II, plus practice squad players Jalyn Holmes and Michael Carter.
It's hard to find any NFL game where there's not at least one player going against his former team or one coach going against an organization with those ties. The Jets employ Titans castoffs T'Vondre Sweat and Jarvis Brownlee Jr., as well as former assistants Chris Harris and Shawn Jefferson.
But the fact remains that Saleh is getting his second opportunity, and the fate of the second chance hinges on just how little blame he's receiving for four losing seasons in New York. His coaching record is a paltry 20-36. But his Jets defenses were top notch, ranking top-two in yards allowed per play in 2022 and 2023. And the talent he accumulated is still highly regarded across the league ― whether that's players like Johnson and Franklin-Myers who figure to start for the Titans, big names like wide receiver Garrett Wilson and running back Breece Hall still with the Jets or third-party former standouts compensated well elsewhere like cornerback Sauce Gardner.
So ... what went wrong? That's not exactly an easy question to answer. Sure, there's the forensic stuff. Quarterback Zach Wilson turned out to be a bust. QB Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in his 2023 debut. The offensive coordinator hires weren't good and the offensive line was porous and Saleh got dinged in the court of public opinion for being too stoic or too lenient or any number of complaints that led to opinions souring.
There was also the matter of the constant turnover and churn above Saleh's head. When Saleh was hired, the Jets hadn't been to the playoffs in a decade. The streak's up to 15 seasons now. They've been through six general managers in that time counting an interim and only produced one winning record. Ownership's gained a bit of a reputation for meddling. The public perception of the Jets, well, isn't good.
"I think there was a such a disconnect based on what was portrayed from the front office to the locker room," Thomas said. "I don’t really like talking about anything other than football. But I’ve never really been in a place where more was said out of the front office than out of the locker room. And said as a distraction. And it was really unfortunate because our locker room was really the opposite of what was going on in the front office."
Thomas makes it clear: He considers his time with the Jets to be among his favorite in his long pro career. No one interviewed for this story had much negative to say about the organization or the circumstances that led to the demise of the Saleh era in New York. Martin said he's not sure if there's an answer to why it didn't work out. Holmes added the behind-the-scenes camaraderie flourished independent of the perceived tumult because the players were adept at focusing on football only being a portion of their lives.
And Johnson, who the Titans acquired via trade with the Jets this offseason, is pretty blatant about how he doesn't care about the "revenge" elements of this matchup.
"It’s a violent game," Johnson said. "I don’t know how you’re going to play with the utmost violence if you’re really having that much regard for the guy over there. That should be the mindset for sure."
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Titans' former Jets talk end of Saleh era in New York: 'How that ended was so wrong' | Exclusive
