Gang Green Nation
The new head coach was once a standout cornerback for the Jets
Last week, the New York Jets announced that they are hiring Aaron Glenn as their head coach. There will obviously be a lot written about Glenn’s coaching acumen in the days and weeks ahead. Today, however, we look at Glenn’s playing career in detail.
The 52-year old Glenn was listed at 5’9” and 183 pounds. He was the 12th overall pick in the 1994 draft out of Texas A&M. He retired in 2008 as a three-time Pro Bowler, having played the first eight seasons of his 15-year career with the Jets.
Background
Glenn played as a running back and defensive back in high school and was originally going to Purdue, but he ended up having to go down the Junior College route and spent his first two seasons at Navarro College.
Having earned junior college all-American honors, Glenn transferred to Texas A&M, where he broke up 20 passes in his first season to be named as the Southwest Conference Newcomer of the Year. He was a two-time all-Conference selection and a consensus all-American in his senior year with the Aggies.
The Jets were widely expected to target a wide receiver in the 1994 NFL draft, but they selected Glenn with the 12th overall pick, and he immediately moved into a starting role.
Predictably, the media was quick to write him off as a bust when he didn’t intercept a pass and gave up a key game-winning touchdown pass in a late season loss to Miami during his rookie year.
He finally intercepted his first pass in his 27th career start during his second season, although the media simply accused him of whining when he said he was going to be glad to put some of the criticism behind him.
By the end of Glenn’s third season, the Jets had won just 10 games, losing 33 of the last 37. However, he had established himself as one of the Jets’ few exciting youngsters by intercepting four passes and returning two of them for a touchdown in 1996.
1997 and 1998 saw Glenn voted to the first two Pro Bowls of his career, with the 1998 Jets winning the division and reaching the AFC title game in part thanks to Glenn’s career-high six interceptions.
Glenn would play three more seasons with the Jets, intercepting 12 passes with one more pick-six. He led the Jets with 14 pass breakups and five interceptions in his final season as the Jets reached the postseason again.
Ahead of the 2002 season, Glenn was essentially a cap casualty, as the Jets agreed to leave him unprotected ahead of the expansion draft and the Houston Texans took him off their hands. However, although he turned 30 before the season began, Glenn had plenty left in the tank.
He intercepted five passes and made the Pro Bowl in his first year with Houston, which included one game where he had two pick-sixes. He would then go on...
