When Aaron Glenn announced that he would call plays for the New York Jets defense in 2026, no one was surprised. After a dismal three-win season in 2025, the pressure was on the team’s head coach to get the play-calling correct.

There was another reason that the move was obvious, though: his choice for defensive coordinator.

In early February, the Jets concluded their DC search by hiring Brian Duker, the Miami Dolphins’ secondary coach and defensive pass game coordinator. Duker is a respected mind around the NFL, but he has no play-calling experience, which signaled that Glenn would be taking over play-calling.

Glenn, though, was thrilled about the hire.

“Brian consistently demonstrated a high-football acumen and an aggressive approach to defense,” Glenn said in a statement following the hire. “I’m confident that his energy and knowledge of the game will help elevate our players and push this team forward.”

As respected as Duker is, his promotion to Jets defensive coordinator comes with plenty of questions. As a coordinator without play-calling experience, his exact role with the team has been a major question mark.

Until now.

Duker addresses Jets role

Speaking to reporters for the first time since his hiring, Duker made it clear that he will have plenty of crucial responsibilities despite working under a play-calling head coach.

“From the defensive coordinator role, there’s certainly some details, coordination of the little things that need to be taken care of, that sometimes just based on the plate of responsibilities that the head coach has, it helps if someone can handle some of those,” he said. “Some of the finer details and just some of the little things that I can help stay organized.”

Some of those finer details for Duker could include formulating a gameplan, communicating different personnel groupings, and orchestrating practices, among other ways to support Glenn’s play-calling.

On the offensive side of the ball, this is very common with offensive minded play-calling head coaches. In Los Angeles, Sean McVay calls the plays, but his former assistants, such as Matt LaFleur, Kevin O’Connell, and Liam Coen, made names for themselves by assisting with the game-planning process, preparing them for success when they went out on their own.

New York is hoping for something similar with Duker on defense, especially with a group that struggled as much as it did last season.

In 2025, the Jets ranked 31st in points allowed and 32nd in takeaways. It didn’t matter who was on defense or who was calling plays; Gang Green’s defense was arguably the worst in football.

They are hoping an experienced play-caller like Glenn will help improve the unit. If Duker can provide the kind of assistance that O’Connell or LaFleur were able to with McVay, Gang Green will be just fine.

That’s the hope, at least.