Following a disappointing 3-14 season, Aaron Glenn will return to calling defensive plays in 2026.
At the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Glenn confirmed he will call the plays for the Jets defense.
“To me, play calling is my superpower,” Glenn said. “Doing it for four years in Detroit and just looking at the maturation of those four years of how we improved every year and how I improved as a playcaller. I really miss doing that, and I think it’s a huge part of helping us become the team that I see us becoming, the team I know Moug [Jets general manager Darren Mougey] sees us becoming, Woody [Johnson] sees us becoming. So, that was a huge part of that.
“I will go back when I say mistakes that I made, I’m not going to make that same mistake and I feel like I need to do that when it comes to the team. When it comes to the schematically of who we are going to be, we have a number of guys on defense that are going to be able to build that. That’s the fun part, building a defense that I think that’s gonna actually put the players in position to be successful. That is not my defense, this is gonna be the New York Jets defense.”
In his first season as Jets coach, Glenn was more of a CEO coach, hiring Steve Wilks as the team’s defensive coordinator and playcaller. Glenn said he and Wilks would blend their two schematic styles together to form the Jets defense. However, the move proved to be disastrous.
The Jets’ defense, which finished in the top five in yards allowed from 2022-24, plummeted to 25th in yards (355.6) and 31st in points allowed per game (29.6). Wilks was fired with three games remaining in the season following a 48-20 embarrassing loss at Jacksonville in Week 15.
Brian Duker will replace Wilks as defensive coordinator, but will assist Glenn rather than calling the defense. Duker and Glenn worked together in Detroit for three seasons (2021-23).
“Being a first-time head coach, I really wanted to do it the right way,” Glenn said about what led to the change. “The best decision for me was to allow someone else to be able to do that, so I can manage the game.
“As the season progressed, I started to feel like I can still call be able to manage it just as well. And again, I missed being a play caller. I miss being able to be in the fire with those guys. Being able to talk to the MIKE [middle] linebacker, being able to be in the meeting room and try to put a game plan together to be successful against another team
“All those things came into it for me, and I’m excited about this opportunity, I’m excited about moving forward in that direction.”
Calling plays was what got Glenn the Jets coaching job in the first place. So it isn’t a major surprise he decided to return to that route, especially in a critical year for him and the Jets.
After finishing the 2021 season 29th in defense, Glenn helped the Lions orchestrate a dramatic turnaround. Detroit went from one of the league’s worst defenses to a top-10 unit by 2024, his final season as defensive coordinator. Despite significant defensive injuries in 2024, Glenn’s defense ranked seventh in scoring defense (20.1 ppg) and fifth in rushing yards allowed (98.4), helping the Lions finish 15-2.
But the process of how Glenn ended up calling plays was bizarre. He overhauled the entire Jets staff after replacing 12 coaches three weeks after the conclusion of the season.
Glenn then interviewed former Ravens and Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale for the same position with the Jets in late January. Martindale initially thought he would run the Jets’ defense. But after meeting with Johnson at his Palm Beach home to discuss the team’s vision, Glenn decided to call plays himself after interviewing defensive coordinator candidates.
That, along with the end of Martindale’s involvement with the Jets, led to speculation that Johnson is forcing Glenn to call the defensive plays, a claim he denies.
“He is not pushing me to pick coaches, he is not pushing me to operate this team a certain way,” Glenn said. “The only thing he’s doing is supporting him, and I’m fortunate to have an owner like that.
“When I brought Wink in and told him that, he was still go. But then again, as I thought about the whole situation, Brian Duker has been with me for three years. He’s been through the fire with me and he knows exactly how I want to operate. I think there’s nothing more valuable than having that type of relationship with somebody. I thought Wink was gonna do a really good job, but I thought Brian Duker was the right guy for this job.”
