Jets 2-5. Aaron Glenn 5-19. Zero wins in eight AFC East games. And as many as three first-round picks coming next spring. Somebody has to say it.
| NFL Opinion | Monday, October 26, 2026
Let's get something straight right from the beginning: I don't think Aaron Glenn is a bad person. I don't think he's a bad human being, and I certainly haven't forgotten what he meant to the New York Jets as a player. I respect what he accomplished on the field, and I respect the work he put in as a defensive coordinator.
But being a good man, a respected former player and a successful coordinator doesn't automatically make you a good NFL head coach.
And unfortunately, Jets fans are learning that lesson the hard way.
Sunday, the Jets lost 28-25 at home to a Miami team that came into MetLife Stadium without a win (Dolphins-Jets box score). Miami ran 14- and 15-play touchdown drives in the first half, led 21-7 at the break, and then converted a fourth-and-1 with about three minutes left to put it away. The boos were loud, and they were earned.
It's time to have a serious conversation about whether Aaron Glenn is the right man to lead this franchise.
I'm not saying this because I enjoy watching somebody fail. I'm saying it because I'm a Jets fan, and I'm tired of watching this organization find new and creative ways to disappoint the people who have supported it for decades.
At some point, being patient stops being a virtue and starts becoming an excuse. And the Jets have been making excuses for far too long.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 5-19: Aaron Glenn's record as Jets head coach, 3-14 last season and 2-5 this season.
- 0-8: his record against the AFC East.
- 15: straight seasons without a playoff appearance, the longest active drought in the NFL.
- 3 targets, 2 catches, 26 yards: Garrett Wilson's day against Miami. His first target came more than four minutes into the third quarter.
- As many as 3: first-round picks the Jets can hold in the 2027 draft: their own, Indianapolis's from the Sauce Gardner trade, and the higher of Dallas's two from the Quinnen Williams trade.
Standings, streaks and rankings are on the power rankings, the team streaks and the NFL hub.
FROM RESPECTED COORDINATOR TO WALKING MEME
There was a time when Aaron Glenn represented hope. He was a respected former Jet, an accomplished defensive mind, and somebody who seemed to understand what it meant to wear the uniform.
You could understand why the organization wanted him to succeed. You could understand why fans wanted to believe he was the guy who could finally turn this franchise around.
But the NFL doesn't award victories for good intentions. It doesn't hand out playoff appearances because a coach is a nice guy. It doesn't care about your playing career, your reputation in the locker room, or how badly you want things to work.
You have to win football games.
And when the losses pile up, the decisions get questionable and the same problems keep showing up, the narrative changes. Suddenly you're not the promising young coach anymore. You're the punchline.
Aaron Glenn has become one of the most talked-about and meme-worthy coaching figures in recent memory, and that's a shame, because nobody who respects him wants to see his career reduced to internet jokes.
But this is the NFL. The memes don't create the problem. They feed on the problem. The only way to stop them is to change the story on the field.
After Sunday, Glenn said he was "highly disappointed," and in the same breath said the Jets are on the right track, that his players "show up" and have no quit in them. I believe the effort is real. I don't believe "on the right track" describes a 2-5 team that just lost to a team that hadn't won all year. And this is supposed to be his side of the ball: a defensive head coach whose defense gave up two 14-plus-play touchdown drives in one half.
Right now, the Jets need more than inspirational speeches, good intentions and another round of explanations. They need a football team that looks prepared, disciplined, competitive and capable of executing a plan.
That's the job. And if the head coach can't consistently get that out of his team, something has to change.
BEING A COORDINATOR AND BEING A HEAD COACH ARE TWO DIFFERENT JOBS
Here's where I want to be fair to Glenn.
I don't believe every coordinator who struggles as a head coach is automatically a bad football mind. Those are two very different positions, and sometimes the transition is simply too much, too soon.
As a coordinator, your responsibilities are focused. You develop one side of the football, install a scheme, prepare your players and work within the larger structure of an organization.
As a head coach, you're responsible for everything. You're managing coordinators, overseeing game plans, making decisions under pressure, setting the culture, communicating with the front office, managing personalities and keeping an entire roster moving in the same direction. You're responsible for the operation, not just your preferred side of the ball.
And when things go wrong, there's nowhere to hide.
Maybe Aaron Glenn needed a few more years. Maybe another run as a defensive coordinator, or a role with more leadership responsibility, would have helped him develop the skills to run an entire franchise. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Plenty of good football coaches need time to learn how to become great head coaches. Some never make that leap. Others eventually figure it out.
But the Jets are not a coaching development program. They're an NFL franchise that has been desperate for a turnaround, and they cannot afford to confuse Glenn's potential with his current performance.
You can respect the man and still recognize that the job might be bigger than his present skill set. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.
And if Glenn isn't ready, keeping him in the job simply because we like him or want the story to work out isn't helping him either. Sometimes the kindest thing an organization can do is admit a situation isn't working before it damages everybody involved even further.
THE REAL PROBLEM: I DON'T TRUST THIS REGIME WITH THE NEXT DRAFT
This is where my patience really starts to disappear.
The Jets are sitting on serious draft capital. Last spring this regime already had three first-round picks: David Bailey at No. 2, Kenyon Sadiq at No. 16 with the pick from the Gardner trade, and Omar Cooper Jr. at No. 30. Next spring it could have three more. That kind of ammunition can change a franchise's future if the organization uses it properly.
But that's the million-dollar question, isn't it? Do we actually trust this regime to get it right?
I don't. And that concerns me more than any individual loss.
High draft picks are not lottery tickets that automatically turn into great players. They require excellent scouting, sound evaluations, a clear understanding of roster needs, and a coaching staff capable of developing the players who are selected.
You can have three first-round picks, four first-round picks, or a pile of selections that makes the draft look like Christmas morning. If the people making the decisions can't identify the right players and build the right system around them, all that capital can disappear without producing a real turnaround.
The Jets have seen enough promising plans fall apart to know that draft picks alone don't save a franchise.
The people making those picks matter. The coaching staff matters. The organizational structure matters. And the ability to develop talent matters.
So before this regime gets another massive infusion of young talent, I want to know why we should believe the results will be any different.
What is the plan? What is the identity? What are we building toward? And who is going to be held accountable if it doesn't work?
I don't want to hear that the roster needs more time while another season slips away. I don't want to see another batch of young players arrive, struggle in a dysfunctional environment, and leave us wondering whether the problem was the players or the people coaching them.
The Jets need to get this decision right before they spend another fortune in draft capital. Because if they get the next draft wrong, the consequences won't be limited to one bad Sunday. They could cost this franchise years.
AND THEN THERE'S FRANK REICH
Oh, Frank Reich.
Listen, I'm trying to keep this article respectful, and I'm going to do my best here.
Reich is the offensive coordinator, and the offense he's running doesn't look built around its best player. Garrett Wilson leads the team with 37 catches, 444 yards and three touchdowns, but his production has dropped from 81 yards a game over the first three weeks to about 50 over the last four. The Jets are 2-2 when he gets seven or more targets and 0-3 when he doesn't. Sunday he got three. He didn't see his first target until the third quarter, and the cameras caught him heated on the sideline next to Geno Smith in the fourth.
Glenn said afterward he would take responsibility for Wilson not getting the ball and would push Reich to get him more touches. Push him? That should not have to be a conversation in Week 7. Your best receiver getting the ball is not a creative wrinkle. It's the plan.
Reich has experience. Nobody can take that away from him. He's been a head coach, he's worked with quarterbacks, and he's spent years around NFL offenses.
But experience and effectiveness are not the same thing. Having a resume doesn't automatically make somebody the right person to run your offense, and the last thing the Jets need is to mistake a familiar name for a legitimate solution. Yardage is up from last year. Scoring barely moved, from 18.4 points a game through seven games last season to 19.6 this season.
If the offense isn't working, I want to know why. Is it the scheme? The play-calling? The personnel? The quarterback situation? The lack of continuity? All of the above?
Those questions need honest answers, not another round of musical chairs on the coaching staff. I'm not interested in somebody simply because he's been around long enough to sound qualified at a press conference.
The Jets need an offensive identity that makes sense, a plan that fits their personnel, and a staff that gets the most out of the players it has. If Reich can't provide that, then what's the point? And if the organization believes he can, it better have a convincing explanation for why.
Because Jets fans have heard enough promises to last several lifetimes.
STOP HIRING FOR HOPE. START HIRING FOR RESULTS.
This is the part that frustrates me about the Jets more than anything else.
Every new regime arrives with a fresh supply of optimism. Every new head coach is introduced with the promise of a new culture, a new direction and a new beginning. And every time, we're expected to believe this is finally the group that gets it right.
At some point, you have to stop asking fans to buy into the next great plan and start showing them evidence that the plan works.
The next head coach shouldn't simply be somebody with a familiar name, a good reputation or an impressive history as a player or coordinator. The Jets need somebody who understands the entire operation of an NFL team. Somebody who can manage a staff, develop talent, make difficult decisions and establish a recognizable identity. Somebody who can adapt when the original plan isn't working. Somebody who can look at a roster, see what it does well and what it doesn't, and build a coherent strategy around it.
And somebody who understands that accountability isn't something you talk about after a loss. It's something you show through preparation, decision-making and results.
Most importantly, the next hire needs to be made by people with a clear vision for the franchise. If general manager Darren Mougey and the front office don't have that vision, replacing the head coach alone won't fix the underlying problem.
That's why I don't believe the Jets should automatically hand this entire regime another chance to oversee a potentially franchise-altering draft. If ownership decides a change is necessary, it needs to evaluate the football leadership as a whole. It shouldn't protect everybody upstairs while firing the man on the sideline, only to repeat the same mistakes with a different name on the office door.
The organization needs to figure out who can be trusted to make the next set of decisions before it makes them.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR FANTASY TEAM
If you roster Jets, the coaching situation is a fantasy story too. Wilson's weekly floor depends on whether this staff actually feeds him, so watch his target count, not just his name. Braelon Allen led the backfield with 104 yards on 17 carries Sunday, with Breece Hall coming off a quad injury, Mason Taylor scored twice, and Omar Cooper Jr. caught five passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. Those roles can move fast if the staff changes. Track them on the depth charts, the NFL injury report and the volume board, and run your lineup through the Lineup Doctor before the Raiders come to MetLife this week.
Any coaching move will hit the NFL player news and the transactions wire first.
AARON GLENN DESERVES RESPECT. THE JETS DESERVE BETTER RESULTS.
I want to finish where I started.
I respect Aaron Glenn. I appreciate what he contributed to the Jets as a player, and I respect the work he has done in football. I don't want his legacy to become a collection of viral clips and jokes. I don't want a man who has given so much to the game to be defined entirely by a difficult head-coaching experience.
But respecting somebody doesn't mean pretending everything is fine.
If Glenn isn't ready to be an NFL head coach, the organization needs to acknowledge it. Maybe he would benefit from going back to a coordinator role, working under an experienced head coach and continuing to develop the skills it takes to lead a franchise.
That wouldn't erase his accomplishments. It wouldn't make him a failure as a person. It would simply recognize that this particular opportunity hasn't worked out the way anyone hoped. There's a difference between failing at a job and being a failure.
I hope Glenn finds success in football, whether that's with the Jets or somewhere else. I genuinely do.
But my loyalty is to the team, not to one individual. And my loyalty to the team means I can't keep pretending good intentions are enough.
The Jets have valuable draft capital. They have an opportunity to reshape the roster and change the direction of the franchise. They cannot afford to waste it because they're too sentimental to make difficult decisions. They cannot afford to hand another group of decision-makers a blank check because fans are desperate for something to work. And they certainly cannot afford another season hoping the people responsible for the problems will somehow become the people who solve them.
If Aaron Glenn isn't the right man for the job, it's time to make the change. If the front office can't be trusted to build the team, that needs to be addressed too. And if Frank Reich isn't the answer on offense, stop pretending experience alone makes him one.
I'm not asking the Jets to be cruel. I'm asking them to be honest. I'm asking them to stop confusing loyalty with competence. And I'm asking them to stop wasting opportunities that other franchises would kill to have.
Because at the end of the day, Aaron Glenn might be a good man. He might be a good football mind. He might even become a good head coach someday.
But the New York Jets cannot afford to keep waiting for someday. Not with this franchise's history. Not with this much at stake. And certainly not with another potentially franchise-changing draft on the horizon.
Respect the man. Appreciate the player. But if the results aren't there, make the change.
For once, Jets ownership needs to prove it cares more about building a winning football team than protecting the people who are supposed to build it.
Because the fans have been patient long enough. And frankly, we've suffered enough.
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