Jets head coach Robert Saleh coaches against the Giants during...

Jets head coach Robert Saleh coaches against the Giants during the second quarter of a preseason game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sunday. Credit: Brad Penner

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Robert Saleh feels much better about the Jets heading into his second season as the coach and doubled down on his bold statement from when he took the job.

“I still believe we’re going to win championships here,” Saleh said Wednesday afternoon.

The Jets went 4-13 in Saleh’s first season as an NFL coach and missed the playoffs for the 11th straight season. Yet there is definite optimism that this team is starting to ascend.

Saleh wouldn’t say he expects them to be a playoff team this year. But he feels with the talent that general manager Joe Douglas has assembled, how well they work together and the support they get from owner Woody Johnson and his brother Christopher Johnson that a dramatic turnaround is coming.

“Our process is too good,” Saleh said. “It’s too good for this not to work. Just really excited to continue to build this roster and develop these young men and live up to the promise we made when we first got here.”

The Jets have made major upgrades and have signed or drafted potential difference makers on both sides of the football.

Douglas has assembled a talented roster mixed with youth and veterans that is built around second-year quarterback Zach Wilson, who is rehabbing from a bone bruise in his right knee and arthroscopic surgery to trim his meniscus.

The Jets drafted cornerback Sauce Gardner, receiver Garrett Wilson and edge rusher Jermaine Johnson in the first round. They signed left guard Laken Tomlinson and left tackle Duane Brown and tight ends Tyler Conklin and C.J. Uzomah. They also signed linebacker Kwon Johnson, cornerback D.J. Reed and safety Jordan Whitehead.

“We’re certainly a more talented team than we’ve ever been,” Douglas said.

Douglas also wouldn’t slap any playoff expectations on this team, but he wants them to be in the hunt late in the season.

“The goal is to be playing meaningful games here down the stretch,” Douglas said. “I feel like the energy that we’ve had since coming together in OTAs, how that’s progressed through OTAs, training camp, you see the progress. We have to go out and prove it on Sundays.”

Douglas was asked if he expects the Jets to be playing meaningful games in December.

“Absolutely, I do,” he said. “I feel like just look at our training camp, our preseason games, I feel like we’re in a good place in terms of the chemistry of the team. The locker room is in a great place. Now we just have to build confidence and put it all together on Sundays. I think we have the right group of guys.”

Counting Wilson, the Jets are expected to start six rookies or second-year players and four players who have made Pro Bowls.

Saleh likes the makeup of the roster and how it’s being put together. Past Jets’ regimes would make splashes by throwing significant money at big names, but that didn’t get them anywhere. Douglas is very methodical and smart with his spending and is trying to build a team that will grow organically.

“I’m very excited about this roster and its potential,” Saleh said. “It’s a team that’s being built, different than what I feel this organization has had in the past. Not to speak poorly on anything that’s been done in the past, but this is a built roster, not bought. Because of it I just feel like there’s a chance for this team to grow together and last for a long time.

“A lot of exciting players, a lot of potential to have some game changers. It’s going to come down to coaches developing them the way that allows them to play to their capabilities.”

The Jets had seven of their waived players claimed on Wednesday, more than any other NFL team:

S Jason Pinnock, Giants

CB Isaiah Dunn, Seahawks

CB Rachad Wildgoose, Commanders

CB Javelin Guidry, Cardinals

LB Del'Shawn Phillips, Ravens

OT Chuma Edoga, Falcons

TE Trevon Wesco, Bears

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