The New York Jets are looking for a new defensive coordinator this offseason.
Head coach Aaron Glenn provided some insight into what he’s looking for in that person who fills the void left by Steve Wilks.
“Man, I like to be aggressive. I want to make sure that whoever the guy that we do have in that there is a lot of synergy between me and that coach. I’m not saying that there wasn’t synergy between me and Wilks, it’s just that I want to make sure that I go through this process that isn’t a step that I miss. There will be a number of coaches that we take a look at. [Darren] Mougey will be a huge part in that because I do respect his opinion, and he has a good eye just for talent in general. I want to make sure that it’s collaborative between all of us. We just want to get the best guy,” Coach Glenn explained.
Questions from @ZackBlatt & @Connor_J_Hughes
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Coach Glenn Explains Why He Hired Wilks
With three weeks left in the regular season, Coach Glenn fired Wilks from his position as the DC. That has raised questions about the hiring strategy that brought him on board in the first place.
“Well, first off, I have been known Wilks for a while. To give you a really good background of that whole deal, number one, he is a former head coach. Somebody that I could bounce ideas off of. The one year he had in San Francisco was the same defense that we actually ran here. So bringing him here, allowing him to run the same defense — I knew there was going to be some tweaks here and there [but] to be able to run the same defense to me that was intriguing,” Coach Glenn explained.
“That was really the basis behind [hiring him]. [A] former head coach [who] can come here and run the same defense, so there doesn’t have to be any change when it comes to that. Then I can go about managing the team. Obviously, things didn’t work out the way that we wanted them to work out, and things like that happen. You try to make a decision, you try to move forward, and then you try to think of the solutions you have to do to fix it. That is where I’m at right now,” Coach Glenn added.
🏈 Being a former #NFL HC
🏈 Wilks being able to run the same defense he had w/ #49ers in 2023 when they went to #SuperBowl when he was the DC
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This feels like a right church, wrong pew situation. An experienced coordinator is a sensible solution, but he picked the wrong guy.
Coach Glenn’s thought process in hiring Wilks made plenty of sense. Before Glenn arrived, the defense was run by head coach Robert Saleh from his San Francisco days. It made sense to keep that infrastructure in place to keep it familiar for the players.
Wilks was the defensive coordinator for the 49ers in 2023 when they went to the Super Bowl. Despite the thought process making sense in theory, it failed miserably.
Coach Glenn Expands on His ‘Synergy’ Desires for DC Vacancy
One of the things Coach Glenn is looking for with his next DC is “synergy.”
NFL Insider Connor Hughes of SNY asked Glenn a follow-up about that desire, whether that is driven from a personality standpoint or whether that is schematically based.
“Personally, as far as fit or how I see defense being played. All of those things are huge. I have said this before, but compatibility is just as important as coachability. So I want to make sure that we see things the same way. I also want to make sure we can vibe as far as sitting down talking about how we see football,” Glenn explained.
Glenn said he isn’t married to a DC who has experience doing it previously or a first timer. He hasn’t made that decision yet for this process.
Aaron Glenn Reveals Details About the Jets Search for a New DC