1. Be open to going outside of personal circle to hire the best possible coordinator on the other side of the ball
Whoever the New York Jets hire as their next head coach, they’ll have their specialty: offense or defense. Whichever side of the ball they specialize in, the new HC must strongly emphasize getting the best possible coach to run the other side.
That isn’t a groundbreaking point in itself, but it is uncommon to see HCs have the openness to go outside of the box to accomplish this task. Usually, HCs simply hire a network of coaches they’re familiar with. This is where I believe the Jets’ new HC must set himself apart.
If the Jets’ new HC is connected to a brilliant coach who can be trusted to run the other side of the ball, then by all means, go get him. However, it is paramount that the new HC does not limit his search to people he knows closely. To ensure the Jets get the best possible coordinator on the other side, the new HC must weigh all options – both within his circle and outside of it.
An exhaustive search process will lead to the strongest coaching staff possible. A close-minded search process will lead to disappointment in the end. Just ask Robert Saleh. Nearly every coach hired by Saleh was tied to him in some way. It’s no wonder this staff is poor; it’s just a big clique. Saleh’s staff construction was focused on building a group of coaches he would have the best relationship with, not maximizing the Jets’ chances of winning.
If I’m the Jets’ new HC, I’m focused on building the best staff, with no regard for whether I have a past relationship with everyone on the staff or if some of the coaches I hire have different ideas than me. The Jets desperately need a diverse array of backgrounds and philosophies in the coaching staff. The Saleh regime was hamstrung by chronic yes-manning. Why could the Jets never make adjustments in-game or game-to-game? Because everyone on the staff was a Saleh clone who thought the same way. This cannot happen again.
You want to hire Rex Ryan? Make sure he is going to hire a real OC, not one of his buddies that he coached with in the stone age that was the 2000s and early 2010s. You want to hire Kliff Kingsbury? Make sure he hires a real DC, not someone he knows from the Commanders or Cardinals, two teams that have not played well defensively during Kingsbury’s respective tenures with those franchises.
Be open-minded.
2. Emphasize hiring a quality offensive line coach (remaining open to going outside of the box)
Regardless of whether the Jets’ new HC is offensive or defensive-minded, his second priority after hiring a great coordinator must be to hire a great offensive line coach.
The Jets’ offensive line is talented. They have two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and a veteran stud at left guard, all under 28 years old. The unit’s baffling underperformance this season can be largely chalked up to offensive line coach Keith Carter, who has been publicly criticized by many of his former players as one of the worst coaches they have had in the NFL.
At some point in the near future, New York will likely draft a new franchise quarterback. The Jets have failed many young quarterbacks in the past by throwing them into the fire behind a turnstile offensive line. Ensuring that does not happen again must be one of the franchise’s top priorities, and acquiring a great offensive line coach is the biggest key to accomplishing that goal.
It falls on the head coach to make the right hire, and, just like with his non-specialty coordinator, it’s imperative that he conducts an exhaustive search process and does not merely settle for a buddy. Carter was hired because he has ties to Robert Saleh from their Seattle days. If Saleh expanded his horizons instead of sticking within his circle, he probably would have found a better offensive line coach.
3. Fully embrace analytically influenced decision-making on gameday
The Jets are far behind the curve when it comes to making analytically influenced decisions on gameday. This was an issue when Saleh was running the team and it has persisted since Jeff Ulbrich took over, most notably in the Jets’ latest loss, when he elected to kick a 35-yard field goal to up by 5 with 2:44 on the clock instead of going for a fourth-and-2 to try and seal the game.
This isn’t just about nerdy numbers or playing football on a spreadsheet. It’s about identity. As much as old heads love to complain about how analytics are ruining sports, embracing analytics in football actually makes you a more aggressive and confident coach, not just a smarter one. It’s not as if embracing analytics makes you softer – it makes you tougher.
Look at Dan Campbell in Detroit. Since taking over the Lions, Campbell has established himself as the most notoriously aggressive fourth-down decision-maker in the NFL. Not only does it improve Detroit’s chances of winning via sheer logic, but it sends a message to both his team and his opponents. Campbell’s decisions show his team that he believes in them, and it shows opponents that he isn’t scared. When you make decisions like the one Ulbrich made, you do the opposite; the players think you don’t believe in them (just ask Aaron Rodgers, who publicly criticized Ulbrich’s decision), and the opponents smell blood in the water.
If I’m the Jets’ new coach, I’m getting with the times and dialing up my aggressiveness with game-day decision-making. Some HC candidates might already be on board with this concept, but if the Jets hire a more old-school coach, he needs somebody to sit him down and explain the math behind why it makes sense to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the 17-yard line when you are leading by 2 with 2:44 left, and so on.
Similar to the outside coaching hires, open-mindedness is the crucial element here. Let’s say that I’m Rex Ryan. If I am hired by the Jets, I must have the self-awareness to know this is something I need to be educated on. I cannot come in here and expect things that worked in 2010 to work in 2024. It’s a different league, and I must be aware of that and seek the necessary knowledge to optimize my chances of winning. And I shouldn’t be afraid, either, because embracing the analytics only displays more confidence in my team and strikes more fear in my opponents.
4. Enforce strict social media rules
The Jets have had a social media problem for years now. Whenever something goes wrong on the field, players run to Twitter or Instagram to pout about it, creating new storylines and new distractions that ultimately lead to a less focused team on the football field.
That’s done and over with. If I’m the Jets’ new HC, the social media shenanigans are going to be a thing of the past.
It is a daunting task to try and control the social media behavior of young athletes in the great year of 2025. At this point, the majority of current NFL players have been engrossed by social media since they were in middle school. Think about it: on opening day in 2025, a 28-year-old player will have been born in 1997, meaning he graduated high school in 2015, when Instagram was already 5 years old and Twitter was 9 years old.
Plus, these are professional athletes. It’s not college. So, I understand that the new HC cannot come to Florham Park and start enforcing curfews or anything like that.
However, I think it is important for the new HC to at least make it a point of emphasis that being on social media does players a lot more harm than good – if it does any good at all. A presentation on this topic should be given early in the offseason, and a few more refreshers through the year would not hurt.
I believe there is more on-field value to be gained here than most other people probably do. A silly tweet here or there might seem trivial to some, but to me, it points to deeper issues within the Jets’ culture. If the Jets had a strong culture, going on social media to deflect blame for a loss would never even cross the mind of any player on the team, let alone one of its best in Sauce Gardner. The fact that Gardner and other players in the Saleh era – whether it was Breece Hall, Quinnen Williams, John Franklin-Myers, Mekhi Becton, Elijah Moore, and so on – felt comfortable hitting “Post” or “Like” on something that knocked their own coaches and/or teammates proves to me that the locker-room culture was weak.
It’s somewhat of a chicken-or-the-egg situation. Was the Jets’ culture bad because players made silly posts online? Or did the players make silly posts online because the culture was bad? Most likely, it’s a bit of both. While the social media antics certainly did not cause all of the Jets’ culture woes, they undoubtedly exacerbated the drama that overshadowed the team. And there is simply no reason for that to continue when it is something the players have full control over.
The new HC can only go so far when it comes to threatening discipline on the players for their social media behavior, but I do think it would be worthwhile to enforce some sort of consequences. Perhaps he can issue one warning, followed by extra laps/work in practice, followed by a few snaps on the bench in a game. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure how to pull this off with a locker room of 53 young millionaires who have been tweeting since they were 12 years old, but a message needs to be sent. If the Jets are going to turn this culture around, they cannot have players going online and stirring up unnecessary drama.
Maybe you think drama on the internet does not translate to what happens on the football field, and you might be right. I think it goes further than that, though. To me, it’s a mindset thing. If a player’s head is in a place where he feels the need to publicly blame others, he is not in the right mindset to be the best version of himself. Great athletes hold themselves accountable and always think first about what they can do to make things better before they think about what anyone else is doing wrong. So, even if one bad tweet doesn’t hurt the team in a vacuum, it shows the player is not fully focused on his own self-improvement; at least some portion of his focus is on factors outside of his control. That is an unproductive headspace to be in.
By strictly enforcing that these types of online antics will not be tolerated, the Jets’ new HC will not only lessen the drama around the team, but he will ensure that every player remains in the right mindset, where he holds himself accountable and is focused on what he can do better instead of how he’s been wronged.
5. Enforce usage of the Jets’ new logo and branding
Few things bug me more than how much the world has refused to acknowledge that the Jets changed their logo in the 2024 offseason. In fact, it was only mere days ago until Google – the epicenter of the internet – finally updated the Jets’ logo to its current state.
I would understand this phenomenon if it only transpired outside of the Jets’ organization. They’re the Jets! Who cares?
While the lack of acknowledgment around the NFL world is annoying, it is not the biggest crime at play here. The chief offender is the Jets themselves. Even they have not gone full-throttle on wiping the organization clean of the symbol that was once donned by Adam Gase during an 0-13 start.
Look at Joe Douglas rocking the Jets’ current logo on his cap, but their old logo on his shirt.
Here is Robert Saleh wearing a sweatshirt with the Jets’ 2019-23 logo on it, just days before their 2024 season opener.
Enough is enough. If I’m the Jets’ new HC, I am eradicating Florham Park of any trace of that so-called “updated oval shape” that represented the Jets over a five-year pit of despair. This franchise has a cool, sleek new logo, and it is the only one that should be seen around the building, save for a smattering of throwback merch featuring the 1998-2018 logo.
You might think I’m joking or exaggerating. Well, to an extent, I suppose I am. But I truly do think there is value to be gained here.
It’s an identity thing. Identity, identity, identity – that word is going to be thrown around six million times by the Jets’ new leaders from January through August. Well, a big part of a team’s identity is its logo. So how about you pick one and stick to it?
Why do sports teams wear uniforms in the first place? That’s right, to create a sense of identity. It creates a feeling of togetherness among the players and coaches. If you have two different logos and branding styles floating around the building, there is a subconscious loss of that feeling of togetherness, even if it is incredibly subtle.
That ugly oval with way too much text inside of it is not the official logo of the New York Jets. Stop wearing it. If the new head coach ever sees that logo, he should cease practice and hold a sacrificial burning ritual of the logo at midfield, sending the message that the Jets of yesteryear are gone.
Okay, I’m joking with the last part, but… come on. Let’s wear the right logo, people. Not only is it a significantly more pleasing logo to look at, but it’s a subtle thing that can ever-so-slightly help the new HC achieve his ultimate goal of establishing an identity.
