Mike LaFleur is now the Rams' offensive coordinator after serving...

Mike LaFleur is now the Rams' offensive coordinator after serving in that role for two seasons with the Jets. Credit: Noah K. Murray

Former Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur has landed a new job in Los Angeles.

The Rams are hiring LaFleur as their offensive coordinator, the club announced Friday. The Jets parted ways with LaFleur after a rough ending to this season and replaced him with Nathaniel Hackett on Thursday.

LaFleur, 36, spent two years as the Jets’ offensive coordinator. Robert Saleh brought LaFleur with him from San Francisco after Saleh became the Jets’ head coach in 2021.

The offense was much more creative and diversified in LaFleur’s first year. The Jets struggled to score in the second part of this season and Zach Wilson regressed as a quarterback in Year 2. Quarterback play was a big reason the Jets lost their final six games and missed the playoffs for the 12th straight year.

The Jets finished 25th in total offense and 27th in scoring this season. They didn’t score a touchdown in their final three games and their running game became nonexistent late in the season. Wilson’s lack of development also fell on LaFleur, who acknowledged that the offensive coaches “failed” the young quarterback.

Wilson was benched twice during the season. The second time, he was replaced in-game by practice-squad quarterback Chris Streveler. The Jets are expected to acquire a veteran quarterback to help them end the NFL’s longest active playoff drought.

When Saleh announced that LaFleur wouldn’t return, he indicated that LaFleur had other opportunities. It had been rumored that LaFleur was a leading candidate to join Sean McVay’s staff in Los Angeles to replace Liam Coen, who left to become Kentucky’s offensive coordinator.

LaFleur runs the same West Coast offense that McVay favors and the two have other ties. Like McVay, LaFleur comes from the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree. He worked under Shanahan in Cleveland, Atlanta and San Francisco. McVay also worked under Shanahan for four seasons in Washington, where Shanahan was the offensive coordinator.

LaFleur’s brother, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, was the Rams’ offensive coordinator in 2017 under McVay.

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