He is back?
Fired New York Jets defensive coordinator Steve Wilks has made an NFL comeback. Insider Mike Garafolo shared on X that the Washington Commanders have hired Wilks “to work with the defensive coaches under Dan Quinn and Daronte Jones, per me and Ian Rapoport. The decision to hire Wilks was made last month. He started last week. Wilks will help with game planning. He won’t be with the team on game days.”
Unceremonious Exit From Jets
Head coach Aaron Glenn was ready to build a super staff with his top choices when he was hired by the Jets.
One of those choices was Wilks. Wilks, 57, is about as experienced as they come. He played college football at Appalachian State, had a very brief stint in the Arena Football League, and then became a coach.
Wilks has been coaching some level of football since 1995. That is over 30 years of coaching experience. Despite that wealth of football knowledge, it didn’t translate or mesh with what the Jets were doing.
The Jets fired Wilks with three games remaining in the 2025 season.
“Mired in one of the worst defensive seasons in franchise history, the New York Jets fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks on Monday, ending his tenure after only 14 games. The move comes one day after a 48-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who scored on eight of their first nine possessions. The Jets (3-11) have allowed 82 points in the past two games, the highest back-to-back total since 2021,” ESPN’s Rich Cimini wrote.
“The Jets, a top-four defense (yards allowed) in each season from 2022 through 2024, have underachieved this season. They’re 30th in scoring, 20th in yards allowed and 28th in EPA (expected points added),” Cimini said.
“The most damning statistic: The defense has only two takeaways and no interceptions. On Sunday, the Jets tied the 2024 San Francisco 49ers for the longest streak in NFL history without an interception: 14 games,” Cimini wrote at the time. Spoiler alert, they didn’t fix that issue when Wilks left.
The Jets ended up becoming the only team in NFL history to go through an entire season without recording an interception.
So How Does Last Season Compare to This Season?
Wilks flopped and didn’t make it through the year with the Jets. After the season, coach Glenn decided to add defensive play calling to his plate. He called it his “superpower” during the offseason.
So how do the two defenses compare statistically? Let’s take a look.
In 2025, here is how the Jets defense finished (per ESPN):
- 29.6 points per game allowed (31st)
- 139.5 rushing yards allowed per game (29th)
- 216.1 passing yards allowed per game (17th)
- 355.1 total net yards allowed per game (25th)
- 26 total sacks (31st)
Through the first six games of the 2026 season, here is how the Jets defense ranks (per ESPN):
- 20.3 points per game allowed (8th)
- 123 rushing yards allowed per game (23rd)
- 185 passing yards allowed per game (4th)
- 308 total net yards allowed per game (11th)
- 17 sacks (4th)
Glenn has been significantly better than Wilks in every category with the exception of run defense only being marginally better in that category.
The next step for Glenn’s defense is playing a special level of defense when the game is on the line. That happened in the Week 5 victory over the Cleveland Browns, but it has to happen more consistently.
Fired Jets Coach Makes NFL Comeback With New Job