Everything isn’t always as it appears.
According to the pundits, New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn is as firmly on the hot seat as anyone heading into the 2026 season.
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic said not so fast.
“You will see Glenn’s name at or near the top of just about every ‘first head coach fired’ list. There are a lot of assumptions being made about Glenn and [Woody] Johnson based on how last season went (fair, it was a disaster), how Glenn fired half his coaching staff and because Johnson recently fired Robert Saleh in-season. There has been some baseless speculation that Johnson has already started looking into potential replacements for Glenn — he hasn’t,” Rosenblatt wrote.
“Don’t make any assumptions about how Johnson feels about Glenn’s job security. I’ve spoken with a number of people in the Jets building over the last few months — by all accounts, Johnson is on board with the plan that Glenn and Mougey have presented to him. Glenn’s pitch is to build something sustainable, and the Jets, at all levels, are trying not to skip any steps. Johnson has, so far at least, bought into that plan. Obviously, things can change if this season unravels as last year’s did,” Rosenblatt explained.
“I don’t believe there is a set win total that would necessarily save or cost Glenn his job — it will all be about context. Can Glenn afford to win three games again? Probably not. However, if the Jets only win five or six games, but things look cleaner, Glenn improves on his deficiencies, the defense takes a leap and it feels like they could get somewhere closer to contention with the right quarterback — that, among other factors, might be enough for him to stick around,” Rosenblatt continued.
The Other Element to Consider
Ultimately, this is a results-oriented business. The easiest way to prove you deserve to stick around is by winning games. However, there are other ways that Glenn can show his competence.
Last year during training camp, coach Glenn had a viral moment talking about Will McDonald’s improvement, saying it’s “coaching” that made the difference.
That seemingly took an indirect shot at Robert Saleh, the previous head coach, and his struggles with developing players. That press conference came back to bite Glenn because McDonald was invisible for most of the year.
That dragged into training camp.
“McDonald had a disappointing summer,” Rosenblatt wrote. “McDonald had a terrible camp,” NFL Insider Connor Hughes of SNY wrote.
Not great, but can Glenn improve in that area in 2026? If Glenn shows a knack for developing talent, that would go a long way toward helping his job security.
Do the rookies make immediate impacts? Do the second-year players show progress: Mason Taylor, Azareye’h Thomas, and even Armand Membou?
Coach Comments on New Addition
General manager Darren Mougey was back to his old tricks.
On Sunday, August 30, the Jets struck a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders. The team identified that they had a weakness on the interior, and they addressed it.
On Monday, August 31, head coach Aaron Glenn explained why it was important to add Jordan Meredith to the squad.
“Depth, depth. I think I’ve said that over the course of my time here, is if it’s two groups that you want to make sure are steady, it’s O-line and D-line. Listen, plus he’s familiar with Geno, he’s familiar with (Dylan) Parham, and I’m glad we got the player, I really am. Just talking to him and his fiance for quite a bit, he’s a tough guy, he loves football, he has a passion for winning, and from what you hear, he endears himself to his teammates, so all those traits that we want in a player,” Glenn responded.
Meredith will now serve as the Jets’ top interior backup. He has experience at the NFL level playing all three interior spots (left guard, center, and right guard).
Insider Provides Surprising Aaron Glenn Jets Job Security Update