As the New York Jets prepare to host the Las Vegas Raiders this afternoon, Aaron Glenn’s job security will be the hot topic at MetLife Stadium.

Time is running out for Glenn to prove worthy of an NFL head coaching job. If the Jets drop to 2-6 on the season and 5-20 under Glenn with a second straight home loss to a fledgling AFC rival, Glenn’s fate may be all but sealed, even if it does not become official until January.

Given the dire state of Glenn’s job security, it’s worthwhile to start pondering who the Jets may consider replacing him with if they do ultimately wind up on the head coaching market in two months.

Jets’ future head coaching options

There are some blockbuster names who will undoubtedly generate plenty of hype, namely Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott, two longtime perennial playoff coaches who have taken the 2026 season off after being let go by their teams.

Tomlin and McDermott, though, both hail from the defensive side of the ball. After numerous failed attempts to win a championship under a defensive head coach—Glenn, Robert Saleh, Todd Bowles, Rex Ryan, Eric Mangini, Herm Edwards—many Jets fans are sick and tired of defense and want to try the route that seems to work for every other team nowadays: the “hotshot young offensive coordinator”.

It’s easy to rattle a list of names off the top of your head. Liam Coen. Ben Johnson. Kevin O’Connell. Nick Sirianni. Matt LaFleur. Sean McVay. Kyle Shanahan. These are just a few of the 40-and-under offensive coordinators who were hired as first-time head coaches and are now viewed among the league’s best leaders. Shanahan and McVay laid the groundwork back in 2017, and now, the majority of NFL teams try to copy the same route, with mixed, but often positive results.

Even the Jets’ opponents today are led by a head coach from the “young hotshot OC” category, Klint Kubiak.

Las Vegas hired the 39-year-old after his lone season as the Seattle Seahawks’ OC culminated in a championship. Kubiak’s Raiders are on a four-game losing streak, but he has the team trending in the right direction after landing the first overall pick last year (and using it on a QB who is redshirting the season).

Kubiak has already led the team to a three-game win streak, something Glenn has yet to do in New York. If the Raiders win today, Kubiak will have reached four wins in eight games, compared to Glenn’s 18 games.

Clearly, the “young hotshot OC” is all the rage around the NFL, and there is plenty of evidence that it’s a smart route to take. Expect the Jets to dip their toes into that pool if they do end up looking for a head coach.

But is there a Ben Johnson, Liam Coen, or Klint Kubiak to be found in the 2027 cycle?

The young hotshot OC pool isn’t too crowded right now

Looking around the NFL, there are not as many intriguing head coaching candidates in OC roles as there were in 2025 when the Jets wound up with Glenn.

Here are the OCs currently calling plays, along with their ages and their teams’ current rankings in offensive DVOA:

  • Bobby Slowik, Dolphins (39, 28th)
  • Josh McDaniels, Patriots (50, 11th)
  • Frank Reich, Jets (64, 19th)
  • Declan Doyle, Ravens (30, 10th)
  • Nick Caley, Texans (43, 8th)
  • Brian Daboll, Titans (51, 31st)
  • Mike McDaniel, Chargers (43, 32nd)
  • Matt Nagy, Giants (48, 26th)
  • Sean Mannion, Eagles (34, 29th)
  • David Blough, Commanders (31, 21st)
  • Drew Petzing, Lions (39, 9th)
  • Tommy Rees, Falcons (34, 17th)
  • Brad Idzik, Panthers (35, 12th)
  • Zac Robinson, Bucs (40, 20th)
  • Brian Fleury, Seahawks (56, 22nd)

It’s not an inspiring list, particularly if you’re looking for someone who is both on the younger side and in charge of a thriving offense this year.

The only coaches on the list who are under 40 and leading a top-10 offense are Detroit’s Drew Petzing and Baltimore’s Declan Doyle, but neither offense’s success is really a feather in the OC’s cap.

The Lions’ ninth-place ranking in offensive DVOA would be their lowest finish since 2021. Before coming to Detroit, Petzing had three forgettable seasons as the Cardinals’ OC.

As for Doyle, his success is entirely reliant on Lamar Jackson’s health; in three games without the two-time MVP, Baltimore is averaging 15.3 points per game in regulation. To Doyle’s credit, he has gotten a lot out of Jackson when healthy, as Jackson’s 82.6 QBR is his best since his 83.0 mark in 2019, but it’s a small sample size. Plus, at just 30 years old, Doyle is probably a little raw for the pressure of being a head coach in New York.

Outside of Petzing and Doyle, the only other play-calling OC leading a top-10 offense is Houston’s Nick Caley, who at 43 years old is still on the younger end for a head coaching candidate.

The Jets already have a history with Caley as a coaching candidate. He interviewed for their offensive coordinator vacancy in 2023, after Robert Saleh fired Mike LaFleur. At the time, Caley was the Patriots’ longtime tight ends coach and had never called plays at any level, making him a mysterious candidate. However, given the rise he has made since then, it’s clear that he had a good reputation despite his lack of experience.

New York hired Nathaniel Hackett instead, and Caley became the Rams’ tight ends coach. Los Angeles added pass game coordinator responsibilities to his title in 2024. After a successful year in that role, Caley began garnering OC interest; one report indicated that he was the “favorite” to land the Jets’ OC role on Aaron Glenn’s debut staff. Instead, Caley let it be known that he had no interest in the Jets’ job, and the Texans hired him as their OC.

Caley’s first season saw the Texans finish 19th in offensive DVOA, a seven-spot jump compared to 2024. This year, he has them taking another leap, as they’ve jumped 11 spots to eighth. It has yet to translate to the standings, as Houston is 2-5, but that’s mostly because of a defense that has dropped from second in DVOA to 16th.

Quarterback C.J. Stroud has rediscovered himself under Caley after two down years. He has thrown 11 touchdowns to one interception while posting a career-best 68.6 QBR, good enough for seventh in the league.

Caley certainly profiles as a strong head coaching candidate out of the OC spot, although his interviewing history with the Jets could complicate matters. They turned him down in favor of the notoriously woeful Hackett, and two years later, Caley had no interest in taking a promotion with them. He might not have interest in the organization, although none of us can know for sure.

Beyond Caley… where are the Ben Johnsons and Liam Coens?

Let’s pull the list of play-calling OCs back up, for a refresher.

  • Bobby Slowik, Dolphins (39, 28th)
  • Josh McDaniels, Patriots (50, 11th)
  • Frank Reich, Jets (64, 19th)
  • Declan Doyle, Ravens (30, 10th)
  • Nick Caley, Texans (43, 8th)
  • Brian Daboll, Titans (51, 31st)
  • Mike McDaniel, Chargers (43, 32nd)
  • Matt Nagy, Giants (48, 26th)
  • Sean Mannion, Eagles (34, 29th)
  • David Blough, Commanders (31, 21st)
  • Drew Petzing, Lions (39, 9th)
  • Tommy Rees, Falcons (34, 17th)
  • Brad Idzik, Panthers (35, 12th)
  • Zac Robinson, Bucs (40, 20th)
  • Brian Fleury, Seahawks (56, 22nd)

We’ve already highlighted Doyle, Caley, and Petzing. Excluding Patriots loyalist Josh McDaniels, the only other coach on the list who is leading a top-16 offense is Carolina’s Brad Idzik, another youngster at 35 years old.

Idzik is in his third year as Carolina’s OC after following over head coach Dave Canales from Tampa Bay, where Idzik served as the wide receivers coach in 2022 while Canales was the OC. Canales called the offensive plays over his first two years in Carolina, but he handed the duties over to Idzik this year.

Overall, their 12th-place ranking is a 13-spot jump compared to last year, and quarterback Bryce Young is having his best NFL season. The results were incredible early, with the Panthers averaging 29.2 points per game over a 3-2 start, but Carolina is on the downswing. The Panthers are averaging just 262 yards and 16 points over their active two-game losing streak, with six turnovers. So, we need to see the rest of the season play out before making a determination on Idzik’s overall play-calling impact.

Idzik is the son of former Jets general manager John Idzik. That mojo won’t go over well with some Jets fans, although his last name obviously should not matter at all in the grand scheme of things.

Beyond the questionable quartet of Petzing, Caley, Doyle, and Idzik, it can be argued that there isn’t another play-calling OC whose resume even marginally screams “head coaching candidate”. The rest of the list is comprised of washed-up names like Brian Daboll, Mike McDaniel, and Matt Nagy, or younger names whose offenses are struggling mightily, like Sean Mannion, David Blough, and Bobby Slowik.

It’s also possible that the Jets could go for a non-play-calling OC. Teams have recently been eager to hire non-play-callers from the McVay and Shanahan trees, including former Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor (Bengals), former 49ers OC Mike McDaniel (Dolphins), and former Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur (Cardinals).

Plucking a disciple from a highly proven coaching tree despite a lack of play-calling experience isn’t a bad idea, as long as the interview process confirms his readiness (the interview process is something the Jets certainly need to clean up next time, as their “search party” in 2025 wasn’t exactly the most impressive). There could be an under-the-radar, non-play-calling head coaching candidate who we aren’t talking about, but is highly respected in league circles.

There is plenty of football left to be played. Over the final 11 weeks, any coach could significantly strengthen or weaken his resume.

For now, though, the “young hotshot OC” pool isn’t what it was a couple of years ago. That should not affect the Jets’ decision with Glenn, but it does complicate the process of highlighting the franchise’s best course of action if they choose to go another direction. As easy as it is to say that the Jets simply have to choose an offensive coach this time, they might not want to force it if the list of offensive options remains this uninspiring, especially with accomplished defensive names like Tomlin and McDermott out there.

That surely isn’t what many Jets fans want to hear as they prepare to sit down and watch a team mired in its 11th straight season with a bottom-10 ranking in points per game, but it’s the reality of the situation. The franchise and its fan base had better hope that some quality offensive coaching candidates can emerge over the next 11 weeks, or the Jets may be forced to choose between taking a massive risk on a low-quality offensive coaching candidate or rolling with yet another defensive-minded leader.

All of this, of course, will only be relevant if Glenn is no longer the Jets’ coach after January 10. His quest to avoid that fate begins this afternoon against one of those young hotshot offensive coaches that many New York fans are pining to replace him with.