The New York Jets surprisingly interviewed longtime CB Aaron Glenn for their head coach opening. Is he a realistic option?
The Jets’ all-time franchise leader in games started at the cornerback position? That would be Aaron Glenn, who played 121 games for the Jets from 1994-2001, starting 120 of them.
Nineteen years after donning a Jets uniform for the final time in a 38-24 Wild Card round loss to the Raiders, Glenn is being interviewed by New York for its vacant head coaching position.
The #Jets have requested permission to interview #Saints secondary coach Aaron Glenn for their vacant head coaching job, and it should happen next week, source said. An up-and-coming candidate.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 7, 2021
Glenn, 48, currently serves as the secondary coach for the New Orleans Saints, a role he has held since 2016. Over that time, New Orleans has developed fantastic young defensive backs such as Marshon Lattimore, Marcus Williams, and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.
To see Glenn’s name in the head coaching mix was a shock to many Jets fans. Merely a position coach with no experience as a coordinator or play-caller in any way, it seems very early for him to jump all the way up to a head coaching role.
Some coaches have made it work – Green Bay quarterbacks coach Andy Reid and Tampa Bay defensive backs coach Herman Edwards come to mind – but it certainly seems like a massive risk for a team like the Jets that desperately needs to nail this hire.
It also seems possible that the Jets are bringing Glenn in to explore hiring him as a defensive coordinator if they go in another direction at head coach.
Why is Glenn being considered by the Jets to make such a big leap? Could it actually happen? How did he earn so much respect from the league from his lower-level coaching position?
In order to find out more about what Glenn has been up to in New Orleans and whether or not he is ready to become a head coach, Ben Blessington and Michael Nania spoke to John Hendrix of Saints News at Sports Illustrated, who dives deep into the details behind Glenn’s resume.