NY Jets didn't wish Robert Saleh happy birthday and everyone is freaking out

What on earth is going on?

Justin Fried

NY Jets, Robert Saleh / Dustin Satloff/GettyImages

Wednesday's bombshell report from The Athletic about the dysfunction within the NY Jets organization still has fans a little on edge about the state of the franchise and the future of members of the coaching staff.

One such individual who was the primary subject of Wednesday's report is head coach Robert Saleh. The story detailed a culture of excuse-making and paranoia within the Jets' coaching staff, and Saleh was the primary culprit.

To add insult to injury, the report was released on the day of Saleh's 45th birthday. That's where the conspiracy theories start to develop.

You see, the Jets have wished Saleh a happy birthday on social media each of the last three seasons. Heck, they've wished their head coach a happy birthday every year since 2012 (h/t @NYJ_Matt). But for whatever reason, that happy birthday post never left the drafts on Wednesday.

Let the conspiracy theories fly.

Why didn't the NY Jets wish Robert Saleh a happy birthday?

Fans eagerly anticipated the expected birthday shoutout from the Jets after The Athletic's report went viral on Wednesday morning. Everyone was waiting around to see how the Jets' social media team would handle the situation and what the replies to the post would look like.

Only that post never arrived. And as the hours passed, Jets fans grew suspicious as the team's social media accounts just moved forward as if nothing had happened.

Did this mean the Jets were going to fire Saleh? Was The Athletic's report the last straw? Speculation continued to mount, but it was never anything more than that — speculation.

No, the Jets aren't firing Robert Saleh. The reason the Jets likely didn't post about his birthday on social media is rather simple. There is no conspiracy here — only logic.

The Jets likely told their social media team to hold off on the post because of the expected negative feedback they'd receive. The timing wasn't right, with The Athletic's report being released earlier that morning. That's it. That's all that happened.

Of course, it can be fun to speculate, especially as a form of distraction from the discouraging report earlier in the day. But any rumors that the Jets could fire Saleh and hire his replacement this offseason are unfounded and, quite frankly, untrue.

The Jets may not have wished their head coach a happy birthday, but that doesn't mean he's losing his job. It's still business as usual at Florham Park.

Justin Fried

Justin Fried is an editor for FanSided who has over seven years of experience covering the NFL and various other sports. A diehard Jets fan since birth, Justin has served as the editor for The Jet Press since 2019, interviewing athletes such as Sauce Gardner, Curtis Martin, LaDainian Tomlinson, Joe Klecko, and many others. Justin has also worked closely with brands like Red Bull to help highlight the niche sectors of the sporting world. His four-part series on the sport of breaking remains one of his proudest pieces of work. In his spare time, Justin is an avid pro wrestling fan who is fortunate enough to have traveled to nearly 30 different countries.