‘At the front of our minds’

INDIANAPOLIS — The Jets’ quest to help Zach Wilson this offseason won’t just be about surrounding him with weapons. It will also be about stopping the other team’s weapons.

Jets coach Robert Saleh said Wednesday that improving the team’s defense, which gave up the most yards and points in the NFL last season, is a priority and can benefit their second-year quarterback.

“We got a little bit better toward the end of the year but there was a minute there where we were giving up 40 points a game, 30, 40 points,” Saleh said. “If you’re having to play a shootout, that’s a lot of pressure on a quarterback. I don’t care which quarterback you are. To wake up on Sunday morning knowing that you’re about to go into a shootout and you have to keep pace because you can’t get enough stops. Absolutely, it helps [offensive coordinator Mike] LaFleur, it helps Zach, it helps everybody because you can play a style of ball where you can call plays to set things up. You don’t have to be impatient. It’s OK to punt. It’s OK to keep the game a one-score game and then shoot, the fourth quarter comes, it’s playmaker time, let’s go make some plays and win a football game. If you’re asking Zach to play quarterback in the second quarter because you’re in the middle of a shootout, again that’s not good for Tom Brady. That’s not good for anybody. Absolutely, having a better defense and improving on defense is at the front of our minds.”

Saleh did not travel to the Scouting Combine this week, staying in Florham Park to do work on free agency and the 2022 NFL Draft. The Jets have around $48 million in salary cap space and four draft picks in the top 38. They have ammunition to improve the team. Saleh knows there are plenty of holes to fill and all of them can aid Wilson’s development.

“The one thing you can say is if you go through offense and defense, there’s a laundry list [of needs] that you can check off,” Saleh said. “It’s not like teams picking 25 through 32 where it’s very easy to say, ‘oh yeah, for sure they’re going this direction and this direction because those are the only two spots.’ Cincinnati, I bet they do something with their offensive line. There’s not a lot of things that they have to do differently.

“Anything we do to this team is going to be helping the quarterback at this point, whether it’s improving the defense, adding a skill guy, improving the O line, adding a tight end. It doesn’t matter. Everything that we do, no matter what decision we make we feel like will be indirectly or directly improving the quarterback.”