Aaron Glenn confirmed previous suspicions that he might be calling plays on defense this season. The Jets’ second-year coach indicated (via ESPN.com’s Wealthy Cimini) that might be case, with latest DC hire Brian Duker being in place as a game-planning lieutenant. This offseason change probably helped influence today’s Jermaine Johnson–T’Vondre Sweat trade.
Johnson is reuniting with Robert Saleh in Tennessee. He follows Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams as Joe Douglas-era defensive pillars shipped out via trade since deadline day. Unlike Gardner and Williams, Johnson stays on his rookie contract.
One season, a fifth-year option the Jets exercised in 2025, stays on Johnson’s deal. While Johnson stands to be a greater scheme fit with the Titans, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes he had quietly sought a Recent York exit. This got here after a report a 2026 Jets extension was unlikely.
A Nashville reunion with Saleh was considered one of Johnson’s preferred destinations, per Fowler. The Titans might be running Saleh’s scheme, which has included a 4-3 alignment in San Francisco and Recent York, while the Jets might be transitioning to a 3-4 look as Glenn takes the reins on defense, SNY’s Connor Hughes notes. Sweat will definitely be a greater fit as a 3-4 nose in Recent York; he served in that capability for the past two seasons in Tennessee.
As Johnson joined Williams in in search of a Jets exit, Sweat was falling out of favor in Tennessee. Sweat couldn’t consistently keep his weight where the Titans wanted it, per veteran reporter Paul Kuharsky. He’ll now be a part of an overhauled Jets front seven, one that also features Will McDonald as an EDGE pillar. However the Jets have moved on from Williams, Johnson, John Franklin-Myers, Haason Reddick and Bryce Huff because the 2024 offseason. With Micheal Clemons a free agent, McDonald is about all that’s left from Joe Douglas‘ regime on that unit.
With Johnson out of the image, the Jets might be closely connected to using the No. 2 overall pick — presuming the Raiders follow through on their long-rumored Fernando Mendoza selection — on an edge defender. Ohio State’s Vell Reese and Texas Tech’s David Bailey definitely didn’t do anything to lower their draft stocks on the Mix today. One might be added to enrich McDonald come April. The Jets viewed McDonald because the higher-value player in comparison with Johnson last 12 months, with the latter struggling in his first season following an Achilles tear.
The Jets is probably not done trading assets acquired under Douglas, with Hughes adding talk on the Mix points to internal interest in unloading more players from the previous regime. This doesn’t include Breece Hall, whom Gang Green plans to tag before next week’s deadline. However the dwindling variety of Douglas-Saleh-era pieces may thin out further soon, because the deadline showed nobody added prior to the Glenn-Darren Mougey duo’s arrival is especially protected here.
Garrett Wilson isn’t going anywhere, and Cimini adds center/guard Joe Tippmann could also be an extension candidate. Sliding to right guard (instead of the injured Alijah Vera-Tucker) after the Josh Myers signing, Tippmann has full-season starter experience at center and RG. The Jets’ two-year left guard starter, John Simpson, is a free agent. Being acquired under Douglas would make him less prone to return, but Tippmann looks to be a player this regime wants to maintain working with beyond 2026.
The Jets are riding a 15-year playoff drought, by far the NFL’s longest skid, and 2025 trade acquisition Harrison Phillips said recently Glenn inherited a “cancerous, truculent” group. Phillips stays under contract, making this an interesting stance to take ahead of an April return to work. However the Jets were worse last season than in the ultimate three Saleh years, continuing an prolonged period of futility.
“I feel AG inherited a really cancerous, truculent group — whole, top to bottom,” Phillips said during an interview with Roundtable Sports (via Cimini). “It’s not individual people’s fault. I used to be there for one season — it was a really difficult season — and I almost desired to waver on a few of my thoughts and my beliefs and my optimism. So, I can’t imagine being there for 12 months after 12 months after 12 months after 12 months and never seeing the outcomes that you just wanted, and it tainted people.”
Amid that struggle, Glenn canned DC hire Steve Wilks — last season’s play-caller — and was tied to being near hiring Don Martindale as his next DC. Rumblings about Woody Johnson changing that plan (and having Glenn call plays) surfaced. Glenn naturally defended his boss, noting (via Cimini) the owner — often called a meddlesome figure — is “not pushing me to select coaches.”
Glenn’s seat is definitely much hotter after a 3-14 debut; he and Duker — a Lions assistant under Glenn from 2021-23 before a Miami relocation — might be tasked with turning around a unit that regressed considerably after Saleh and Jeff Ulbrich‘s exits.
One other former Glenn charge appears to be on the Jets’ radar. Alex Anzalone, who overlapped with Glenn in Detroit and Recent Orleans, is in play for the Jets, per Essentiallysports.com’s Tony Pauline, who notes mutual interest in a signing is present. A 3rd-round Saints pick of their tide-turning 2017 class, Anzalone followed Glenn to Detroit in 2021. He began five seasons with the Lions, however the NFC North team — which has a slew of extension candidates based on its recent drafts — didn’t agree on an extension for the veteran linebacker last 12 months.
The Lions were believed to have interest in re-signing Anzalone, but Pauline adds a market is developing for the 93-start player. Anzalone, 31, played out a three-year, $18.75MM deal. During his Detroit tenure, the Lions used a first-round pick on Jack Campbell and re-signed LB Derrick Barnes. These developments look to point the nine-year veteran elsewhere, and there might be a slot in Recent York — where Saleh-era piece Quincy Williams is nearing free agency.
The Jets even have safeties Andre Cisco and Tony Adams set to hit the market, and Pauline indicates the team is predicted to pursue veteran help in the marketplace next month. Jets meetings with agents representing safety UFAs-to-be are expected to happen this week, because the team’s Week 1 defense is poised to be vastly different from what it looked wish to open last season.