The New York Jets have three highly successful coaches who deserve promotions
The inevitability of the NFL is when an assistant coach succeeds, they’ll probably gain a promotion elsewhere. Coordinators like the Lions’ Ben Johnson, choosing to remain an offensive coordinator rather than become a head coach with another team, are few and far between.
With how good the New York Jets’ defense has been over the last two seasons, they’re lucky their coaching staff has remained intact. If the defense keeps it up for a third consecutive season, though, the Jets will be hard-pressed to keep their coaches.
These three Jets assistant coaches could be looking at promotions in 2025. Unsurprisingly, they’re all on the defensive side of the football. (Even if the Jets’ offense succeeds in 2024, it will be attributed to Aaron Rodgers rather than any of the Jets’ coaches, deservedly so.)
Jeff Ulbrich
It’s hard to understand why Jeff Ulbrich hasn’t garnered more head coach consideration after his work with the Jets’ defense. The 49ers tried to poach him away, but the Jets refused the interview because it was for a lateral move at defensive coordinator. (That Ulbrich even considered it was discouraging, but that’s another matter.)
The Jets hired Ulbrich in 2021. His defense got off to a slow start, ranking last in the NFL that season. One year later, though, that improved to fourth — the biggest single-year defensive improvement in NFL history. In 2023, the Jets moved up to third defensively.
The Jets’ defensive coordinator is passionate and articulate. He deserves credit for developing players like Bryce Huff, John Franklin-Myers, Quinnen Williams, Quincy Williams, Sauce Gardner, and Michael Carter II into some of the best players at their positions. In particular, Huff, Franklin-Myers, and Quincy Williams were cast-offs from other teams, and Huff and Franklin-Myers earned large contracts, while Williams became a steal at a $6 million-per-year price tag.
Even Jamien Sherwood and Tony Adams have outperformed expectations coming into the league, while Ashtyn Davis developed from a liability into a nice role player in 2023.
Perhaps Robert Saleh’s reputation as a defensive guru has overshadowed Ulbrich’s performance with the Jets. Still, Ulbrich calls the plays and is undoubtedly heavily involved in player development. Maybe it’s the fact that the Jets just haven’t been that good as a team.
Still, if the Jets’ defense maintains its reputation in 2024, it’s hard to believe Ulbrich will remain a defensive coordinator regardless of how the Jets perform. He may lose his job with the Jets if they don’t win — or maybe they would promote him to head coach if they fire Saleh. Either way, he’ll likely be a head coach somewhere in 2025.
Tony Oden
The Jets’ defense runs through their cornerback room, which means their cornerbacks coach deserves a boatload of credit. Even in 2021 when the Jets’ defense was the worst in the NFL, Tony Oden squeezed extraordinary results from fifth-round pick Michael Carter II, sixth-rounder Brandin Echols, and 2020 fifth-round pick Bryce Hall.
That many Jets fans thought the Jets didn’t need Sauce Gardner in 2022 because they already had Hall attests to the job Oden did.
It’s easy to attribute the Jets’ defensive turnaround to bringing in Gardner and D.J. Reed. Still, Gardner’s pristine technique development at the NFL level is a credit to his coaching. Reed has also maintained a strong level of play in a changing defensive scheme, another feather in Oden’s cap. Meanwhile, Carter II has developed into one of the best slot cornerbacks in the league — perhaps Oden’s biggest success story.
In May 2023, Oden joined the NFL coaching accelerator program. The program features 40 coaches of diverse backgrounds whom the league considers to have “high potential to be considered for a head coach position in the future.” In 2024, it was tight ends coach Ron Middleton rather than Oden who attended, but Oden is still building a strong reputation around the NFL.
The Jets’ messy situation as a whole may have prevented Oden from receiving a promotion, but it’s only a matter of time before he gets a defensive coordinator job. If he continues his stellar work in that capacity, a head coaching job could be around the corner.
Aaron Whitecotton
If the Jets’ defense runs through their secondary, the defensive line is a close second. That’s Aaron Whitecotton’s domain as the defensive line coach.
When Whitecotton joined the Jets in 2021, Quinnen Williams was coming off a promising second season but was not close to justifying his No. 3 selection in the 2019 draft. After a setback in 2021, Williams broke out to become one of the league’s best defensive tackles the following season. The primary difference in Williams was learning to harness his power properly. Credit for that goes to his coach.
Bryce Huff and John Franklin-Myers are also Whitecotton’s success stories. Huff went from undrafted free agent to one of the best pure pass rushers in the NFL, earning a three-year, $51 million deal this offseason. In a little over a year, Franklin-Myers went from the Rams waiving him to earning a $14 million-per-year extension with the Jets.
Developing Jermaine Johnson from Year 1 to Year 2 is also on Whitecotton’s resumé. Johnson took a major leap as a pass rusher, and like Williams, he learned how to use his raw power properly.
Even Solomon Thomas’ impact in 2023 after an invisible 2022 season is a credit to Whitecotton. The same applies to Nathan Shepherd’s overachievement in 2022, leading to a $5 million-per-year free-agent contract and a compensatory pick for the Jets.
If Whitecotton can work his magic with Will McDonald, there’s no doubt he’ll earn a defensive coordinator position somewhere. He’s been pigeonholed into a defensive assistant role for a long time, but one more year of excellent play should catapult him to the next level.
