Now that Aaron Glenn has officially been hired as the New York Jets’ head coach, his next step is to build a coaching staff. Of course, the most important hire will be his offensive coordinator.
While nothing is official yet, Glenn is reportedly zeroing in on a particular target. According to NFL reporter Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2, the “leading candidate” for New York’s offensive coordinator role is Los Angeles Rams passing game coordinator and tight ends coach Nick Caley. Wilson says Caley’s status as the Jets’ No. 1 target “isn’t expected to change” as their search process continues.
Jets fans should be thrilled about this news.
That excitement should be sustained whether Caley is hired or not, because it doesn’t even have to do with Caley himself. That’s not to say Caley does not have an appealing resume – he does, and we’ll get into that – but there is one reason this news is so important regardless of who Glenn ultimately hires: it proves that Glenn is not allowing nepotism to constrict his hiring process.
Aaron Glenn is already doing what Robert Saleh never could
Glenn and Caley have never worked together. It is currently unknown whether they formed a relationship somewhere outside of their workplaces, or if they have a mutual connection that introduced them, but the fact of the matter is that they have never been a part of the same football team. That is a massively positive sign for the Jets’ future under Glenn.
Just days into his tenure as the Jets’ head coach, Glenn is already checking a box that Robert Saleh never could. In fact, it was one of the most important boxes that the Jets’ new head coach would have to check after Saleh was fired.
Back in November, I listed five things that I believed New York’s eventual new head coach should immediately do after getting the job. Number one on that list: “Be open to going outside of personal circle to hire the best possible coordinator on the other side of the ball.”
And Glenn is already doing it!
When I wrote that, it felt like an unrealistic ask. The NFL is a nepotism-driven league. Friends hire friends, and your friend’s friend can come, too. That’s how it works.
But Glenn is already proving that his mind is wired differently than his close-minded peers. We shall see if he ends up hiring Caley, but the fact that Glenn’s number-one target for the Jets’ OC role is somebody he has no connection with is incredibly encouraging for Jets fans after what Saleh put them through for four years.
Robert Saleh: Constricting nepotism
Saleh was detrimentally nepotistic when building his Jets staff. Both of his initial coordinator hires were coaches he had worked with in the past. So was his second offensive coordinator hire, Nathaniel Hackett. The Jets’ new passing game coordinator in 2023, Todd Downing, previously worked under Hackett. Their new offensive line coach in 2023, Keith Carter, worked with Saleh in Seattle and Downing in Tennessee.
Saleh’s reliance on nepotism prevented the Jets from hiring the best possible coaches. By only hiring from your personal circle, you are closing yourself off from a plethora of other potential options, a vast pool that is extremely likely to include a better option than the best one from your friend group.
Not only did Saleh’s nepotism limit the collective strength of the Jets’ coaching staff, but it created a group-thinking environment that constricted the team’s creativity and adaptability. Since nearly every coach on the staff came from the same coaching tree, there weren’t many new and unique ideas being brought to the table.
Well, perhaps there were new ideas being presented (I was not in the building), but if that is the case, they were certainly squashed, because the Jets’ schematic philosophies barely changed throughout Saleh’s tenure. And that is hardly surprising when everyone comes from essentially the same philosophical background.
Both offensively and defensively, the Jets played a static brand of football for four years. The lack of adjustments or imagination on offense led to rigid results as the Jets routinely played beneath their talent level. Defensively, while the Jets peaked for two years when their talent level was immense, the unit tanked in 2024 after the talent dipped and the Jets failed to coach their way around it with creative solutions.
Glenn is already inspiring confidence that these problems will cease under his watch. That does not guarantee victories, nor does it guarantee the hires he makes will be the correct ones. What it does guarantee is that Glenn will exhaust every option on the quest to success. He isn’t limited to a “my way or the highway” mentality – his focus is finding the best way.
Aaron Glenn: A refreshingly open mind
Glenn has long been driven by his curiosity. Back when he worked as the Saints’ defensive backs coach under Sean Payton, Glenn learned to view things from the offense’s perspective after he discovered Payton was doing the same from the opposite side.
“Sean Payton used to always tell me with his process, the first thing he used to look at was how would a team operate in base personnel against slot,” Glenn said. “Corners over? Corners stay? So I started to think about how all these offensive coordinators think. What are they looking for? How are they trying to make sure that they can attack me on some of the things that I run?”
According to ESPN, Glenn has spent every offseason since 2021 meeting with offensive coordinators to learn about their game-planning approach, NCAA defensive coordinators to learn about their schemes, and veteran coaches to prepare for certain situations near the end of games.
With his insatiable appetite for knowledge from every imaginable perspective, it is no surprise that Glenn is aware of which coaches around the league intrigue him, even if he does not know them personally. It is also no surprise that he is eager to target these coaches rather than begin his search by scrolling through the numbers he already has in his phone.
The list of OC options who have worked with Glenn is quite unappealing. There are experienced play-callers on there (such as Pete Carmichael and Joe Lombardi), but all of them have flamed out after tumultuous tenures, hence why they are currently not head coaches despite their extensive OC experience.
It seems Glenn is willing to admit this. If he were tied to a candidate who legitimately would be one of the Jets’ best OC options, Glenn would surely call him up. But Glenn isn’t constricting his search, and it will allow the Jets to land the best candidate.
Caley is one of the Jets’ most intriguing OC options because of his upside, a contrast to other candidates who may have OC experience but were underwhelming with that experience. A college assistant at various schools from 2005-14, Caley started his NFL career as an offensive assistant with the Patriots in 2015. He worked his way up to tight ends coach, then added fullbacks coach as a second responsibility.
In 2023, Sean McVay added Caley to the Rams’ staff despite not being connected to him; the same year, Caley interviewed for the Jets’ OC job. Being pulled by McVay and landing an OC interview despite no play-calling experience speaks to the reputation Caley built in league circles.
Following just one year in Los Angeles, McVay added pass game coordinator to Caley’s responsibilities alongside his work with the tight ends. After helping Matthew Stafford earn the fifth-best QBR (64.7) of his 16-year career and his best since 2021, the 42-year-old coach is back on the radar for OC roles.
Caley would be a strong hire for a Jets team looking to establish a fresh, unique identity under Glenn. Whether they ultimately hire Caley or not, Jets fans should still be ecstatic about the news that Glenn is prioritizing him. It sends all of the right messages about Glenn’s philosophy as an organizational leader.
The days of the Jets being a friend group may finally be over. Perhaps they have achieved the rank of “professional football team.”
