It’s been nearly one day since the New York Jets officially announced that Aaron Glenn would be the head coach on Wednesday afternoon.
The former Jets’ first-round pick will likely be introduced to the media later this week or next week as the 22nd head coach in team history.
With Glenn in place, it’s time for the former Detroit Lions defensive coordinator to put together a staff and turn a franchise around that’s had nine consecutive losing seasons and finished above .500 just once (10-6 in 2015) since Gang Green last made it to the playoffs in 2010.
AARON RODGERS:What his future looks like as Aaron Glenn becomes Jets coach
With the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine nearly a month away, and the NFL Draft almost three months out, here are the key topics Glenn and the Jets are facing in the early stages of the offseason:
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
NY Jets’ offensive coordinator candidates
Now that Glenn has been hired, the next necessary step is finding the right coaches to call the offense and defense.
According to The Athletic, Nick Caley, the Los Angeles Rams’ pass game coordinator and tight end coach, is seen as the favorite for the job, but there’s still a wide range of coaches that have garnered interest in the Jets’ vacant offensive coordinator role that include:
- Thomas Brown, Chicago Bears interim coach
- Jerrod Johnson, Houston Texans quarterbacks coach
- Todd Haley, former Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator
- Mark Brunell, Detroit Lions quarterbacks coach
- Josh McCown, Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks coach
- Anthony Lynn, Washington Commanders run game coordinator
- Pete Carmichael, Denver Broncos senior offensive assistant
- J.T. Barrett, Detroit Lions assistant quarterbacks coach
- John Morton, Denver Broncos passing game coordinator
NY Jets’ defensive coordinator search
Whether or not Glenn decides to maintain calling defensive plays as he did in Detroit or hand it off to the new defensive coordinator, some candidates that have been floated out for the position are former defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and Lions’ linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz.
Darren Rizzi among NY Jets’ special teams coordinator candidates
When it comes to the special teams coordinator, two names that have circulated so far are Broncos’ assistant special teams coordinator Chris Banjo and Darren Rizzi, a North Jersey native who received a head coaching interview with the Jets earlier this month after being the interim head coach with the New Orleans Saints for eight games last season.
Regardless of who ends up filling out these open coordinator roles on Glenn’s staff, expect the Jets to move swiftly with these hires as the franchise is one of seven teams currently without an offensive and defensive coordinator under contract.
Unleashing Breece Hall in 2025
One area that needs to be addressed heading into 2025 is the running game centered around Breece Hall.
In 2023, Hall suffered a torn ACL during his rookie season. He fell six yards short of his first 1,000-yard rushing season in the NFL but still put up 1,585 yards from scrimmage and scored nine times.
In his second year removed from the ACL injury, there were hopes for an even better performance from the former second-round pick to establish himself as one of the best young running backs in the league.
Instead, Hall rushed for under 900 yards on 14 fewer carries and saw his receptions drop off significantly (76 in 2023 to 57 in 2024) with fourth-round pick rookie running back Braelon Allen spelling him at times.
The oft-injured and underwhelming offensive line didn’t help as Hall finished with only one 100-yard rushing performance (113 yards in Week 6) and was held to 60 yards or fewer in each of the last five games of the season.
Yes, there’s certainly other pressing questions surrounding this offense that struggled for large stretches of 2024 such as the Aaron Rodgers dilemma and wide receiver Garrett Wilson stating his unhappiness publicly toward the end of the year.
But finding the right way to unlock Hall and this running game that ranked second-worst in the NFL last season (91.8 yards per game) will be paramount in order for the Jets having more success under Glenn.
Revamp the NY Jets’ offensive line
Whether it’s Rodgers, a bridge, free-agent quarterback such as Sam Darnold or Kirk Cousins, or a QB selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, it’s clear there needs to be changes made to the offensive line.
Pro Football Network rated the Jets’ offensive line as 25th-best unit in 2024 and it showed with Rodgers being sacked 40 times, tied with the Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield for the ninth most in the NFL.
The Jets attempted to go the veteran route last season and it didn’t go well, with free-agent signings Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses both struggling and being injured throughout the year.
With Smith and Moses both free agents and unlikely to return, the attention now has to go to solving that problem.
The good news is Smith’s replacement, 2024 first-round pick Olu Fashanu, showed promise throughout his rookie campaign when Smith was placed on injured reserve with a neck injury in November. However, the 22-year-old left tackle will be coming off a plantar fascia injury that forced him to miss the final two games of the season.
Fashanu should be good to go by the time next season rolls around, so the question here becomes right tackle.
The team will look to upgrade at that spot with Carter Warren, Max Mitchell and Zack Bailey listed as the their only players at the position on the depth chart.
NY Jets’ NFL Draft options
If the Jets decide not to go the free-agent route this time, they could use the No. 7 overall pick on drafting one of the top-tier offensive linemen in this class in LSU’s Will Campbell or Kelvin Banks Jr. of Texas, both who shined at tackle at the collegiate level but have been mentioned to potentially make the move inside once they transition to the NFL.
The Jets have the flexibility to select either Campbell or Banks Jr. and move them inside if they want since current right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker has played across the o-line in his career, including making six starts at right tackle in 2023.
