Stevie and the Boss

The search is finally over! The widest net I’ve seen a coaching search have has yielded an array of hires to lead the Jets to their next disaster…I mean hopefully successful era. Now I know what you want to ask. And the answer is yes, Woody Johnson did listen to me when I said hire Aaron Glenn. He didn’t take my advice on Luis Riddick for the GM job but hey, ya can’t win ‘em all. In all seriousness, it’s time to talk about the new Jet hierarchy and their lieutenants who have joined the staff. To be honest I feel good about the hires and I’ll elaborate on that in a bit, but first impressions are everything and this group is off on the right foot.

Glenn always felt like an easy PR win of a hire for this franchise. He was a well liked and popular player in his time as a Jet, who came out Parcells era, one Jets fans hope can make a comeback. While nostalgia can be one hell of a drug, results are going to be what matters here and as far as candidates went, Glenn showed he was able to get them in Detroit. A feat that was even more impressive when you consider the fact that he coached the less talented of the Lions units, as his defense was always greater than the sum of its parts.

The quote above was the stand out remark from the usually fluffy new coaches presser from Glenn. He, like all other new hires, said all the right things. I don’t mean that as a criticism of him, as it wasn’t all fluff as he made his introductions. I really had three positive takeaways from his remarks to the media.

• Glenn’s time as a scout has prepared him well to help the front office identify players in areas of need.
• He is big on game preparation and film study, an area where the past staff underwhelmed.
• Glenn and GM Darren Mougey will be fully evaluating the roster player by player and trying to diagnose the clear culture issue.

Now let’s take these each one at a time. We’ll start with the scouting background Glenn brings to the table, one that I think serves just about any prospective hire well. After retiring Glenn wanted to get into coaching, and sought the recommendation of Bill Parcells. But Tuna told him he would better serve his career to be a scout so he steered him toward that path, to better understand players of all types. Glenn feels this has helped him relate to and lead his players better as a coordinator, something easy to understand when you see how poorly most top players fair as coaches.

Who ever thought we’d be talking about Al Groh’s influence on the Jets in 2025? I certainly didn’t, but he received one heck of a plug from Aaron Glenn. During the press conference Glenn thanked the former Jets who have made a positive impact on his life, and top of the list was former head coach Al Groh. Groh has served as Glenn’s study partner for several years now, going over film and game prep with him at his summer home. It always felt like Robert Saleh underwhelmed in this department, ditto for Jeff Ulbrich, so I’m definitely in favor of Coach Groh developing some of Glenn’s habits.

Finally it was refreshing to hear Glenn talk about trying to fix the Jets culture once and for all. A lot of his messaging around this was similar to Dan Campbell in Detroit. About trying to reach the beleaguered Jets fans on a different level, to turn doubters to believers, if you will. That relates back to a broken locker room culture as well, as this roster doesn’t exude belief at all. Glenn doesn’t have to do this by being a cheerleader like Saleh did, but rather by holding guys accountable while also having their backs. This includes Aaron Rodgers who may soon become his charge.

As for Aaron Glenn’s staff, he’s put together a group that he seems comfortable to work with going forward. The most important of this group in my opinion is honestly Steve Wilks, who will serve as defensive coordinator. I’m thrilled to hear Glenn will not call the defense and instead wants to focus on coaching the actual game and its situations. Wilks also boasts a solid resume as a DC and some head coaching experience that may help Glenn through the growing pains. Wilks is also joined by Chris Banjo as special teams coordinator, who played nine seasons in the NFL. Banjo comes highly recommended for the position so it feels like the Jets may have a good one here.

Of course the public will have their eyes on the offensive staff, as the Jets look to finally improve in that department. First time OC Tanner Engstrand comes from the Lions to keep some relationship continuity with Glenn. While he had a hand in Detroit’s high powered attack, this is a big step up. But he’ll be backed up by veteran assistants Scott Turner as passing game coordinator and Charles London as QB coach. Who they’ll be working with under center and at receiver is an open ended question, but we’ll get to that later.

As for the front office side of things, let’s talk about Darren Mougey. Mougey was with the Broncos organization in a number of roles, starting with scout (there’s a theme here) and eventually moving up to assistant GM over 12 years. Given his background he’s going to place an emphasis on the draft and looking to develop solid young players, something this franchise stinks at if you haven’t noticed. But as he talked about in the clip above, he and Glenn will be aggressive in trying to find ways to make the current roster better. As I mentioned earlier they will be evaluating this group closely, and I’d expect some changes to come as a result, but just how sweeping that is, is hard to say. Especially if they want to win quickly.

There has been some concern around the potential relationship between Mougey and Glenn going forward. That mostly stems from the two being hired almost simultaneously instead of allowing the GM to help pick the coach. Yes they both shared stories of positive past interactions and one wanting the other to get the respective job, but at the end of the day this could breed internal dysfunction. Especially if the two should be debating a certain move for the roster, and come to Woody Johnson for the tie-breaking vote, who would likely side with Glenn based off his comments. Fingers crossed these two can last together.

There are still so many questions to answer for this staff and front office. It almost feels unfair to place it upon them but this business waits for no one. Will Aaron Rodgers be back? Or for that matter do Glenn and Mougey even want to deal with him? What happens with DeVante Adams? Will Garrett Wilson push his way out of here? Can Breece Hall be fixed? Can Glenn get Sauce Gardner back on track? It’s enough to make your head spin, but fortunately it’s not up to us fans to figure out. We get to sit back and watch it unfold and it will likely be anything but boring. We’ll start to get answers to these questions and more after the Super Bowl on Sunday, so stay tuned everyone!

On Twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon!