As the number of coaching candidates the Jets interview seems to grow by the hour, you have to wonder if Mike Tannenbaum and Rick Spielman are getting paid hourly.
I joke, but the Jets have interviewed 12 people for the job with five others expected to interview. That is not even getting into the 15 general manager candidates they have interviewed.
You can’t say the Jets have not been thorough. They interviewed their first coaching candidate two weeks ago. They seem to still be at least a week or two away from hiring a coach. It felt like a good time to recap the coaching search.
The people’s choice
Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn feels like the candidate who has the most support from fans. Glenn checks a lot of boxes. He is not afraid to get on players and hold them accountable, something the Jets felt was lacking under Robert Saleh. Glenn’s defense with the Lions ranked seventh in points allowed this season despite suffering numerous injuries.
Glenn, 52, has ties to the organization as the team’s first-round pick in 1994. Jets owner Woody Johnson can’t worry about winning the press conference, but it feels like Glenn would give Johnson a head coach who would bring more excitement and optimism than any other candidate.
The one that got away
Whoever ends up as the Jets coach is going to have to deal with the shadow of Mike Vrabel hanging over them. Vrabel felt like the slam-dunk hire of this coaching cycle. That may end up being proven wrong, but that is what it feels like now. The Jets interviewed Vrabel on Jan. 3 in Florham Park, and the interview went well, by all accounts.
The Patriots then swooped in, firing Jerod Mayo and bringing Vrabel back to Foxborough. Now, the Jets will face him twice a year, and the new coach is going to have to live with comparisons to the new Patriots coach.
Are you experienced?
The Jets have interviewed or will interview eight candidates who have been full-time head coaches in the NFL and two who were interim coaches. There has been a thought that the team would like to have at least one of the two open jobs filled by someone who has been in the job before.
Vrabel, Ron Rivera, Rex Ryan, Matt Nagy, Steve Spagnuolo, Vance Joseph and Arthur Smith have already interviewed, with Brian Flores scheduled to interview Friday. Of that group, it does not feel like Rivera or Ryan has a real shot at the job. The others all have questions about what happened in their first stint as coaches.
That is the rub of hiring someone who has been a head coach before — there is a reason they were fired. The Jets also interviewed Jeff Ulbrich and Darren Rizzi — who both were interim head coaches this season, Ulbrich with the Jets and Rizzi with the Saints. Ulbrich went 3-9 after replacing Robert Saleh, and he is not expected to get the job.
Going on the offensive
There is some thought that the Jets should hire an offensive coach after the struggles of Saleh, Todd Bowles and Ryan with the Jets. But Adam Gase was an offensive coach, and how did that work out? Nagy and Smith are offensive minds who have also been head coaches before.
The Jets also talked with Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and have requested an interview with Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady. The Jets have not requested interviews with Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen or Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who are hot names in this cycle.
There is debate about whether it is smart to just hire the hot offensive coordinator. It worked out for Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, Matt LaFleur in Green Bay and Sean McVay in Los Angeles, but there are many other examples of the offensive genius not translating into a good head coach.
The Jets have also asked to interview Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, who played for the Jets in 2017-18. McCown has not been a coordinator in the NFL yet but is seen as a coach on the rise. One coach the Jets requested who declined the request was 49ers quarterbacks coach Brian Griese.
They interviewed who?
The biggest head-scratcher in this whole process has been Maryland coach Mike Locksley getting an interview. He is 35-67 in 10 years as a college coach. This had to be a favor to someone.
The latecomers
The Jets requested interviews with Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. and Packers DC Jeff Hafley this week. Both have extensive experience, and Hafley was a head coach at Boston College for four years.
