Pro Football Rumors
2024 was going to be the year. Well, the 2023 season was intended to be the year, but the Jets earned a mulligan for that injury-riddled campaign. So instead, the 2024 season was positioned as the year.
In typical Jets fashion, pretty much everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers showed his age and some rust following his missed 2023 campaign. Robert Saleh couldn’t right the ship on offense, and his once-dependable defense struggled to keep teams out of the end zone before his midseason ouster. Many of the team’s big-name additions, including veterans who were once considered final pieces of the championship puzzle, either struggled or got hurt.
Signs of discontent were evident before they were definitively reported, and for yet another time in the franchise’s history, the Jets were seeking a fresh start ahead of the 2025 offseason.
To the organization’s credit, it’s hard to be too critical of any of their offseason moves. And following a five-win campaign in 2024, there’s really only opportunities to improve in 2025. However, the team’s main offseason moves also seemed to limit their ceiling, both now and going forward.
The Jets moved on from both of their franchise leaders during the 2024 season, with Robert Saleh earning his walking papers in October and Joe Douglas being canned in November. Interim HC Jeff Ulbrich and interim GM Phil Savage never seemed like true contenders for the full-time gigs, and the Jets confirmed that sentiment when they embarked on an extensive hiring process.
At least 16 candidates interviewed for the head coaching job, with the team extending their search to the college ranks and even to some old friends, including a very public push from old friend Rex Ryan. The team did end up settling on a somewhat familiar face, hiring former first-round cornerback Aaron Glenn to lead their locker room.
Glenn has been coaching in the NFL for more than a decade, most recently as the Lions’ defensive coordinator. Detroit generally didn’t stand out statistically during Glenn’s first three seasons at the helm, ranking 31st, 28th and 23rd defensively between 2021 and 2023. To Glenn’s credit, he managed to guide the Lions to a top-10 defense in 2024, even after Aidan Hutchinson went down with a season-ending injury in Week 5.
With no head coaching experience and low expectations, it seems like Glenn will have a relatively long leash in New York. Outside of Adam Gase, owner Woody Johnson has generally given his head coaches at least three seasons. Since the Jets may soon be facing another rebuild under this new regime, it would only be natural for...
