It’s hard to imagine anyone in their right mind being envious of New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn at the moment. The first-year head coach just wrapped up one of the worst seasons in franchise history, finishing 3-14. It was a year in which more players regressed than developed.
Glenn’s hand-picked quarterback, Justin Fields, played about as poorly at the position as any day 1 starter in team history. His defense didn’t intercept a pass, his best player was a return man, and the club lost an NFL record five consecutive games by 23 points or more. Ouch.
In response, Glenn fired a bevy of assistant coaches, is believed to be considering a demotion for offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand, and is still working on replacing defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, who was fired in-season.
It was widely reported yesterday that former Ravens defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, believed to be a favorite for the DC job, was coming to 1 Jets Drive to meet with the team in person. Should the Jets land Martindale, there will be both good and bad to look at, but Glenn can’t afford to miss again the way he did with Wilks.
And when it comes to Glenn making his decision, all things considered, he’s in a difficult spot. With such a horrendous performance last season, it’s fair to assume that his seat is, at the very least, lukewarm. With that being the case, he needs a proven coordinator who can assemble a staff and has shown he can do the job. Presumably Martindale, who has been in the league since 2004, has the connections to tick the first box. He has also overseen multiple top 10 defensive units with the Ravens from 2018-2020. Then things got ugly.
Martindale would see his Ravens defense go from second in the NFL in points allowed in 2020 to nineteenth the following season. He would then move on to the Giants for two seasons where his group ranked 17th and 26th respectively. In fairness to Martindale, reports would surface that claimed his relationship with head coach Brian Daboll was so strained that the head coach would sometimes go on in-game tirades over his head set, making it difficult for Martindale to get his play calls in on time.
From there it was a two-year stint in Michigan for the Wolverines where Martindale saw his defenses ranked 19th and 29th in the country in points allowed. Disappointing? Certainly. But the end of the world knowing what we know about the suboptimal conditions at Michigan last season? Hardly.
Assuming Martindale meets with the Jets and wants the job, Aaron Glenn will have to consider a proven but recently less effective coordinator, or a potential first-time candidate who has never put a staff together or called plays on defense. As we said; hard to imagine anyone being envious of Aaron Glenn right now.
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