Let's Hope this time around the Jets get it right

 The New York Jets have themselves a new Head Football Coach. Aaron Glenn trades the Defensive Coordinator job in Detroit for the head seat with his old team, the New York Jets. The Jets will have to give up compensatory third round picks in the next two drafts to ink Glenn to a fresh five-year deal, but if the former Jet Defensive Back is who every Jet fan hopes he will be, the draft compensation will be well worth it.

One thing that is particularly odd about the Glenn hire is not that this is his first Head Coaching gig following the Jets doing the same with Robert Saleh and Todd Bowles. Nor is it that Glenn is a defensive minded coach, that seems to be the only qualification at times to be able to have the Jets Head Coaching headset. It’s the fact that Woody Johnson, Christopher Johnson, and the 33rd Team hired Glenn before hiring a General Manager. There are rumors that Washington’s Assistant General Manager, Lance Newmark, will be hired to fill the GM vacancy, but as of now, the Jets new Head Coach has no boss. Instead, whoever assumes the General Manager position will have to be in lock step with Glenn being his Head Coach.

In many situations this simple detail would be just a bookkeeping error. In Florham Park, there are no bookkeeping errors. Every move is intentional, and this yet again screams of Woody Johnson putting the cart before the horse. This has nothing to do with Aaron Glenn. What Glenn was able to do this season in Detroit despite the vast number of injuries his unit went through is nothing short of extraordinary. But given the pressure on Glenn and new General Manager, taking the traditional route would’ve been nice. Instead, Woody Johnson gets yet another headline on the back pages, and again for the wrong reasons.

The optimism for Aaron Glenn should be celebrated and all the hopes Jets fans have for the future of their beloved football team should be expressed and prays should be said. This is not an easy job to walk into and that should say something about the character of Aaron Glenn. Yes, he is familiar with the organization, but the circumstances are completely different now than when Glenn left in 2002.

Not only is Glenn tasked with figuring out what to do at the quarterback position, change the culture around the biggest laughingstock in the National Football League, but he also needs to rework a defense that is at a critical inflection point. DJ Reed is a free agent. As are Haason Reddick and Javon Kinlaw. Sauce Gardner is in the last year of his rookie contract. CJ Mosley seems like his best playing days are in the past due to injury and has a cap hit of $12.7 Million. Michael Clemmons has an estimate option and could also be a training camp casualty. The amount of salary cap maneuvering the new General Manager will have to do to put Aaron Glenn in a position to succeed is as tall as to coach a defense on a budget.

Offensively, like the last two seasons, everything hinges on the shoulders of Aaron Rodgers. Will he come back? Will he retire? Will he force his way somewhere else? All of those are impossible to answer. Only Rodgers will know those answers. Hopefully, he will not keep the new hires waiting until the last minute, but with Aaron Rodgers, anything is possible. After Rodgers lays out his intentions, you will have your answer on Davante Adams as well. They are a package deal. If Rodgers calls it a career, then Adams’ $38.3 Million will come off the books. What outcome is best for the 2025 Jets is a complete fresh start. There is a viral clip of Aaron Glenn from the 2022 Hard Knocks talking about changing the feeling in Detroit. That’s exactly what needs to happen in Gotham with the Jets. Part of changing the losing and getting rid of the five-decade black cloud is also getting rid of the contributors of the bad karma. Having Aaron Rodgers move on is best for the immediate future of the Jets. I understand that talent wise you cannot do much better, if at all, than Rodgers even at the advanced age of 41, but all the hope of a blank canvas is what’s fair to Aaron Glenn and presumptive General Manager.

What is perhaps most important for Glenn is not who his boss is or whether Aaron Rodgers is leading the Jets offense onto the field—it will be who is calling the offense and defense as coordinators under Aaron Glenn. The reason why this is the most important detail of Glenn’s coaching tenure is because if he has experienced play callers around him it will make the job of transitioning into the head coaching seat easier. It will also give the fans a breath of relief. Look at what’s going on with the Washington Football Team. Dan Quinn, albeit a coach with previous experienced hired Kliff Kingsbury to be his offensive coordinator. Kingsbury had previous success calling plays as a coordinator before and has worked wonders this season with the favorite for Rookie of the Year, Jayden Daniels. Quinn is a defensive minded head coach and has an offensive whiz kid as his coordinator. Aaron Glenn must try to do the same. Whether that be Eric Bieniemy, Klint Kubiak, Anthony Lynn, or someone else it must be someone with previous experience. The defensive coordinator spot doesn’t necessarily need to be someone with previous experience because it is assumed Glenn will call plays defensively because he’s used to doing so, but it will have to be someone who can help promote Glenn’s style of play. Still a tall ask, nonetheless.

The brutal mid-winter winds have arrived this week in the Tri-State area. Hopefully for the Jets those winds will also bring a change of fortune.