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The New York Jets won't be waiting long to begin the search for their next head coach, as they've already scheduled an interview with former head coach and current ESPN analyst Rex Ryan for Tuesday next week. But even as there seems to be some momentum for Ryan to return 15 years after being dismissed as the team's head coach, New York is continuing to build out their list of potential candidates who they hope to interview in the upcoming weeks.
According to sources of NFL insider Josina Anderson, this list includes a pair of offensive coordinators who will soon be coaching in the NFL Playoffs.
“I'm told the Jets have internally discussed interest in interviewing Steelers OC Arthur Smith and Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury for the head coach vacancy,” Anderson said on X, formerly Twitter.
Though Kliff Kingsbury and Arthur Smith have remarkably different offensive philosophies, their respective coaching careers are similar in a lot of ways. Both of these Jets targets gained notoriety first as play-callers — Smith with the Tennessee Titans and Kingsbury with the Texas A&M Aggies — before getting their shot as head coaches.
Kingsbury had various opportunities at the collegiate level before what was ultimately a disappointing tenure as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. He won just 43 percent of his games in Arizona and was ousted after a 4-13 campaign in the 2022 season. Meanwhile, Smith was equally uninspiring as the head coach in Atlanta. After three consecutive seven-win campaigns, the Falcons decided to move on from Smith after last season.
This year, both Kingsbury and Smith have undergone a career makeover of sorts. Under the guidance of Kingsbury, the Washington Commanders offense has been one of the best units in the NFL, despite the fact that they've started a rookie quarterback since Week 1. Yes, it helps that this rookie quarterback is a player as talented as Rookie of the Year front-runner Jayden Daniels, but even still, this is far easier said than done.
Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, the Steelers have cobbled together a middle of the pack offense, which doesn't necessarily sound like a ringing endorsement for Arthur Smith, but given Pittsburgh's uneven and somewhat unpredictable quarterback situation, this is considered a win, especially since the Jets quarterback situation heading into 2025 is unlikely to be stable.
What potentially stands in the way of the Jets hiring either of these two coaches is the fact that both Pittsburgh and Washington are Playoff bound, and will be playing during Wild Card Weekend. This doesn't mean that the Jets won't be able to interview both candidates — we've seen coordinators in the postseason interviewing for head coaching jobs in the past — but it does complicate the situation just a little bit.
