Robert Saleh ‘moving on’ after Joe Benigno text debacle over Jets’ Zach Wilson
If Robert Saleh has any regrets about being too loose-lipped with former WFAN host Joe Benigno, he’s not going to say so out loud.
Earlier this week, Benigno, who has remained a regular WFAN contributor after retiring from hosting every day, told Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber on-air that based on his text message communications with Saleh, the Jets head coach does not “like” quarterback Zach Wilson.
Despite some reported reluctance about returning to the job, Wilson is resuming the role as the Jets’ starting quarterback this Sunday after he was relieved by Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian — and they played even worse than the performance that got Wilson benched.
On Wednesday, Saleh spoke to reporters and was asked about what Benigno had said on air.
“As far as Joe B.’s concerned, I’m just gonna keep all that with myself and just move on from it,” Saleh said.
A follow-up question was asked: Does he have any regrets?
“No,” Saleh answered. “I like Joe B. It is what it is. Just moving on.”
For his part, Benigno returned to speak with Roberts and Barber on Tuesday and explained that he talked things over with Saleh after spilling the beans on the coach’s opinion of Wilson.
“I think I can say this — we spoke for about 25 minutes last night,” Benigno said.
“Coach called me last night and we discussed a lot of different things. I don’t know where I’m at today. It sounded last night like we left it in good stead. I will say that. I was gonna text him this morning and say ‘Boy, coach, Jake Browning looked great last night.’
“I didn’t want to go there … but he did. Say what you want. Zac Taylor doesn’t have Joe Burrow … but maybe we should look into this guy to back up Aaron Rodgers.”
Benigno believes Saleh’s job is safe.
“The bottom line is this: his record is 15-31. He knows I’ve been through this,” he said. “I don’t think he’s gonna get fired, I think he’s gonna get his year with Aaron Rodgers … we talked about a bunch of different things. I don’t want to reveal all the different things anymore that we talked about last night. I think I’ll stop with that.”
