When the New York Jets hired Aaron Glenn, many fans wanted the team to hire an experienced offensive mind to balance his head coaching inexperience.
The idea was sound, and it was appeased when New York hired Steve Wilks—a former head coach—to be its new defensive coordinator. Naturally, the next thought was obvious: It would be smart for the team to do something similar on the offensive side.
That didn’t happen.
Tanner Engstrand, a first-time play-caller, was brought in as the offensive coordinator. Despite the lack of experience on that side of the ball, specifically as it concerns Engstrand as an offensive coordinator, it doesn’t mean the Jets intentionally ruled out the possibility of veteran offensive coaches.
One in particular almost made his return to New York.
Jets had interest in Todd Haley reunion
Todd Haley, son of former Jets Director of Player Personnel Dick Haley (1991-2002), got his NFL start with the Jets. In 1995, he was hired as a scouting assistant and grew into a wide receivers coach by 2000.
Haley was part of the Bill Parcells era with Gang Green in the late 1990s. Along the way, he met Jets cornerback Aaron Glenn, and the two began to cultivate a friendship.
That friendship is going strong decades later, with the former Kansas City Chiefs head coach acknowledging the rumors surrounding a potential job in New York this offseason.
“I wouldn’t say they were accurate or inaccurate,” Haley responded when asked about the rumors connecting him to the Jets this offseason on Sirius/XM’s Mad Dog Radio Thursday. “I know Aaron very well, we talked a bunch at different times leading up to it. It was just one of those things that didn’t work out for now, and that’s fine.”
Haley was very careful with his words. The “for now” part at least opens the door for a potential reunion with both Glenn and the team that gave him his first job in the NFL.
So long as Glenn remains the head coach, the door may be open for the offensive-minded Haley.
“I’m a huge (Aaron) Glenn fan, my father drafted him with the Jets way back. I have coached with him and worked with him a bunch as a scouting pro assistant…we have a great relationship,” Haley explained. “I’m a huge fan, I’m excited to see him take charge of his own team, a team that he was a part of as a player.
“I think that is a neat aspect of it. I’m definitely in Aaron’s corner and rooting for the Jets this year.”
Glenn worked all offseason to develop a coaching staff that he has full faith in to help guide the Jets past their recent years of ineptitude.
But why didn’t the organization look for a more experienced offensive mind in Glenn’s first season with the Jets?
Breaking down the offensive coaching staff
While the Jets did not hire an offensive mind as experienced as Haley, they did bring in a former play-caller to help Engstrand this season and beyond.
Scott Turner, the former offensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders and New Orleans Saints, was hired as the team’s passing game coordinator. His experience should help Engstrand a lot as a first-time play-caller.
There’s also the reality that Haley could eventually come to help the Jets and Glenn in more of an advisory role instead of just a “senior offensive assistant” or another position.
It’s clear New York toyed with the idea of bringing in Haley to help guide the offensive staff. It may not be happening yet, but it’s certainly in the cards for the future.
