Changes are coming to the New York Jets’ defense. The question is more about how and where those changes occur.

It’s hard to argue against the notion that sweeping alterations across the board are needed. New York gave up the second-most points in the league last season, the eighth-most total yards, the most passing touchdowns, the fourth-most rushing yards, and didn’t record an interception all season.

Nothing about the unit was impressive in 2025.

Head coach Aaron Glenn has already begun implementing some of the necessary changes the team is seeking. Plus, the Jets’ position coaches have been completely overhauled.

With coaching, changeover comes tweaks to the scheme and concepts. With that in mind, one of the recent hires suggests the Jets might be targeting a bigger change than just who blows the whistle in individuals.

Dunbar’s experience

The hiring of defensive line coach Karl Dunbar is the first sign that changes outside of coaching and players will be made next season.

Dunbar has taught the 3-4 alignment for the last 13 years, rather than the 4-3 that the Jets have grown accustomed to in recent years. In fact, Dunbar, who had mainly coached within the 4-3 front for much of the first half of his career — under the likes of Mike Tomlin and Leslie Frazier in Minnesota, and Lovie Smith in Chicago — more or less transitioned to the 3-4 when Rex Ryan hired him in 2012.

(For those wondering, yes, Tomlin, as Vikings’ defensive coordinator in 2006, ran the 4-3 Tampa 2. The reason his Steelers’ units have been 3-4 under his watch is largely due to Dick LeBeau’s entrenched stature at the time of his arrival.)

In any event, the 3-4 alignment has been highly successful for Dunbar. This is true not just in his previous stop in Florham Park, but also most recently with the aforementioned Steelers.

Could New York go back to the 3-4 scheme now that Glenn is expected to call plays and Dunbar is running his defensive line?

Is it 3-4 time?

Just because a positional coach is coming in with a specific alignment doesn’t mean that will be the be-all and end-all. Glenn’s previous stop as a play-caller with the Detroit Lions saw the unit operate more in a multiple setting.

Detroit had players to run the 3-4 and the 4-3, along with a blend of 5-1 (or 3-3 Odd) to even out the opposing offensive line. It’s the same principle that top defenses around the league, such as the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, employ.

Neither Super Bowl team runs a straight defensive line look. Both Mike Vrabel and Mike Macdonald run hybrid fronts depending on the situation, which makes them so dangerous.

What Dunbar’s hiring shows, though, is that the Jets understand the defense’s schematics must change. They don’t have the players to run a base defense and force offenses to beat them. Instead, they have to get tricky and confuse the opposition with alignment deception.

This idea is what Jets fans should be excited about most with their defense.

Everything is going to be different on that side of the ball this year. The coaches are different, the players are different, and now, a chance to run multiple front looks could even the playing field for the 2026 New York Jets.

Maybe, just maybe, that’ll be what the team needs to have a fighting chance.