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Aaron Glenn, the new head coach of the New York Jets, deserves a fresh start. He's going to be tied to his legacy as a player in New York, which was undoubtedly awesome. Glenn was selected 12th overall in the 1994 NFL Draft by the Jets, and he went on to have two Pro Bowl seasons in New York before ending his career elsewhere.
That history with the Jets — the draft selection, the Pro Bowls, the 24 interceptions he pulled down in eight seasons with the franchise — is going to be all you see or hear regarding the Jets and Glenn for quite some time.
It makes sense, too. Former first-round pick returns to be the head coach “savior' of the franchise in a marketing match made in heaven. There are Madison Avenue executives who have gone their whole careers without such an obvious pitch, and that's a story the Jets can sell. Heck, that's hope the Jets can sell. Glenn was on the team when the Jets made the AFC Championship Game in 1998-99. He knows what it takes to play at that level and one would think that should inspire some loyalty amongst the locker room rather quickly.
The issue when talking about the Jets and their history is that, at least recently, it has not been very good. They were last a playoff team in 2010, and they've now gone through three coaches since that Rex Ryan regime. They've also gone through a handful of highly-drafted quarterbacks. That's a list that includes Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith, Sam Darnold and Zach Wilson.
Speaking of quarterbacks, it was four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers who was supposed to be the magic pill to finally turn this team back around and get them over the Super Bowl hump, but after two seasons, we all know how that has ended up. You'd have to be hiding under a rock to not hear that Rodgers' first season with the Jets was only four snaps long before his Achilles snapped. You'd have to be on a perpetual ayahuasca retreat to look at what Rodgers did in his 5-12 “comeback” season and think that it was anything but disappointing.
Yes, Rodgers still made some vintage throws, and he can still put some zip on the ball, but his trademark ability to move around in the pocket and throw off-balance is gone, plus he threw 11 interceptions. Mind you, he threw just nine in 2020 and 2021 combined. Even trading for Davante Adams midseason couldn't help Rodgers turn the Jets' fortunes around.
This isn't meant to be Rodgers slander, either, because he is 41 years old and coming off a major injury. The fact that he even played in 2024 rather than retired is a testament to his competitive spirit, and he's absolutely going down in Canton as a Hall of Famer when all is said and done.
But is another round of an even older Rodgers worth it for Glenn and the Jets in 2025? For his part, the Jets' new head coach is saying that he'll have to wait and evaluate his roster to see.
“This thing is not about Aaron Rodgers, folks. This is about the roster,” Glenn told reporters on Monday, according to Rich Cimini of ESPN. “We plan on building the best roster that we can. So, whatever that may be — guard, tackle, defensive tackle — that's what we're evaluating.
“Listen, everybody's under the microscope. That's just what it is.”
Aaron Glenn deserves a fresh start with Jets
Everyone is under a microscope in New York — and that's always the case — but any discussion of bringing back Rodgers or not really should center around what's fair to Glenn as a new head coach. Keep in mind, the Jets also hired a new General Manager in Darren Mougey — formerly the Assistant General Manager of the Denver Broncos — so there's a completely clean slate on the table, and that's something this new regime deserves.
No new head coach and GM combination wants to be stuck with the other regime's “guys” — unless they're good, of course —and there's a strong case to be made that very little went right in the Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas era.
Sure, young and exciting players like Garrett Wilson, Will McDonald, and Sauce Gardner are well worth building around, and the Jets do have Douglas to thank for those players, but what's the point of keeping an aging — and somewhat problematic if not just crabby — quarterback just to sell a few more tickets next season and ultimately start over at the position in 2026?
It doesn't make sense, and saddling this new regime with Rodgers just wouldn't be fair.
Of course, Rodgers could decide to retire, and this would all be a moot point, but if he wants to keep playing — and he is ultimately a competitor — the Jets' best move would be to let him go seek greener pastures so that they can start a real rebuild in earnest.
