Mike LaFleur's latest Nate Hackett comments will have Jets fans crying laughing

LaFleur said what?

Charlie Baduini

Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett / Mark Henle/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

One of the funniest things to happen this offseason has to be former New York Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett landing another gig after his disastrous tenure in New York.

In an even more ironic twist, he's serving under another former Jets offensive coordinator, Mike LaFleur, now the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

With two former Jets OCs running the show in Arizona, it should certainly provide Jets fans with a few laughs here and there, and LaFleur's latest comments are sure to make those who remember the 2023 and 2024 offense burst out laughing.

Mike LaFleur calls former Jets OC Nate Hackett 'very successful'

In one of his first press conferences, the new Cardinals head coach, LaFleur, spoke to reporters about his new offensive coordinator. The words he chose to describe Hackett were interesting, to say the least.

"He's been very successful, he's very, you know, thought of, particularly within our profession. And there's not a quick, I mean, like, you guys believe one thing from this, from this press conference. It is literally, I wanted him and nobody else, and he's here."
Mike LaFleur

There are a lot of words you can use to describe Hackett as an NFL offensive coordinator, but I'm not sure successful would be the most accurate.

His time serving Matt LaFleur as head coach of the Green Bay Packers was easily his most successful stint in the league. Green Bay was a perennial playoff contender, and Aaron Rodgers won two MVPs in 2020 and 2021. But Hackett was the offensive coordinator in title only; LaFleur called the plays and had full control of the offense.

After a failed stint as the head coach of the Denver Broncos, a season in which he didn't even get to finish out all 17 games, he landed with the Jets as Rodgers bait.

Hackett's Jets offenses were an abject disaster. In 2023, New York finished dead last in offensive efficiency according to Sumer Sports' EPA/play. 2024 was improved; they finished 17th in the same statistic with a relatively healthy Rodgers, but it's important to note Hackett had playcalling duties stripped away in favor of Todd Downing midseason.

If LaFleur plans to call plays in Arizona and relegate Hackett to weekly game-planning duties, that's probably the right way to go about things in his first stint as a head coach with the Cardinals.
I just wouldn't try to pass off Hackett as a "successful" coach when his resume states otherwise.

Charlie Baduini

Charlie Baduini covers the New York Jets as a site expert for The Jet Press and FanSided. He is a sports journalist based in Northern New Jersey with a wide variety of sports reporting experience in print and broadcast journalism. Baduini’s byline can also be seen on Heavy and The Sporting News, where he covers several teams across the NFL and NBA. His work has been featured in Heavy, Athlon Sports, The Sporting News, Yahoo Sports, MSN, and Yardbarker. He also serves as a seasonal intern for ESPN, working as a production assistant for the Heisman Trophy Ceremony every year since 2022. Baduini has been a Jets fan for as long as he can remember, with his family's fandom dating back to the 1960s when his grandfather, Louis, became a season ticket holder. His family has since held on to the tickets to this day. He is an avid fan of the New York Knicks and New York Mets.