Aaron Glenn often spoke last offseason about wanting to move in silence — not chasing headlines and attention like the New York Jets often have in the past — and that appears to have carried over into 2026 as he rebuilds his coaching staff.
Steve Wilks was fired as defensive coordinator Dec. 15 with three games left in what was a miserable 3-14 season. In the weeks since the Jets’ season ended with a 35-8 loss to the Bills on Jan. 4, there has been little to no noise coming out of the building about whom the Jets are pursuing for the job, a concerted effort by Glenn to keep things in-house.
Still, it did get out that veteran defensive coordinator Wink Martindale — formerly of the University of Michigan, the Giants and the Ravens — was a leading contender for the job, and also that Glenn requested permission to interview Vikings defensive backs coach Daronte Jones. According to multiple league sources, Glenn actually spoke with Martindale before the end of the season and there’s a feeling that he is the early front-runner for the job. It’s unclear if Glenn spoke to any other candidates before the season ended. Until (or unless) Martindale is actually offered the job, nothing is certain — and Glenn wouldn’t have also interviewed seven other candidates if Martindale was already offered the gig.
A consequence of Glenn’s protracted defensive coordinator search: Holdover Jets position coaches on defense are in a holding pattern, which, according to league sources, they’ve been told will be decided in coalition between Glenn and whomever he hires as defensive coordinator. On Friday, the Jets released a full list from their first round of interviews with candidates. Many aren’t household names: Martindale, Jones, interim Jets defensive coordinator Chris Harris, Packers run game coordinator DeMarcus Covington, Broncos pass game coordinator/assistant head coach Jim Leonhard, Lions defensive assistant Jim O’Neil, Browns safeties coach Ephraim Banda and Dolphins cornerbacks coach Matt Araujo.
Other candidates the Jets looked into weren’t interested in the job. That’s what Glenn is up against as he attempts to rebuild his coaching staff, especially on the defensive side: This is not the most appealing opportunity. The biggest reason is the perception that Glenn could be on the hot seat with another bad season, and sought-after coordinators typically aren’t eager to take jobs if the head coach is a lame duck. There has been no indication from Jets owner Woody Johnson that Glenn is on the hot seat heading into 2026, but Johnson also hasn’t spoken since the league meetings in October, when he placed blame for the Jets’ struggles on the shoulders of Justin Fields and expressed his belief that Glenn was still the man for the job.
Another knock against this job: This is a defense that currently lacks blue-chip players and is certainly lacking playmakers (you don’t go an entire season with zero interceptions if you’re brimming with ballhawks). That’s not to say there’s no talent — at their best, Jowon Briggs, Harrison Phillips, Will McDonald, Jermaine Johnson, Jamien Sherwood and Brandon Stephens can all be starting-caliber players, though most of them lacked any sort of consistency in 2025. Young players such as Jarvis Brownlee, Azareye’h Thomas and Malachi Moore also flashed, though Brownlee and Thomas missed much of the season with injuries. But the Jets have to contend with the other teams in search of a new defensive coordinator, and most of them have more appealing rosters.
The Jets own the Nos. 2, 16, 33 and 44 picks in the draft, which should help infuse some talent — same for the $90 million in cap space at general manager Darren Mougey’s disposal. So there is an avenue to adding talent, though that wasn’t enough to entice bigger names to take interviews for this defensive coordinator job, at least not yet.
As for the candidates themselves: Leonhard is perhaps the most intriguing on the list as a former Jets safety (2009-11) who called plays for seven seasons at the University of Wisconsin. He’s spent the last two years with the Broncos — the NFL’s best defense over that stretch — as defensive passing game coordinator, and he was promoted to assistant head coach before this season. He interviewed for the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator job and could replace Denver D-coordinator Vance Joseph if he gets a head coaching job. He won’t be able to interview in-person until the Broncos’ season ends.
Jones has been a coordinator only in college (at LSU in 2021) but has learned under Brian Flores, as well as under Mike Zimmer before that. He also interviewed with Dallas.
O’Neil was the Browns’ defensive coordinator in 2014-15 when Glenn was on staff as an assistant defensive backs coach, and Glenn brought him onto the Lions’ staff in 2024. O’Neil has also been a defensive coordinator for the 49ers (in 2016) and at Northwestern (2021-22), and was an assistant defensive backs coach for the Jets under Rex Ryan from 2010 to 2012. The Browns ranked No. 23 and No. 27 in total defense under O’Neil, and the 49ers were 32nd in 2016.
Covington (another Cowboys interviewee) was on Bill Belichick’s staff in New England in various roles from 2017 to 2023 before Jerod Mayo bumped him up to defensive coordinator during a disastrous 2024. The Packers ranked No. 12 in total defense in 2025 with Covington on staff.
Banda (who also interviewed for the Dallas job) has called plays only in college, while Araujo has never called plays at the NFL or collegiate level.
Harris is well-liked by players in the Jets’ building but was put in a tough spot to end the season, coaching three games as the Jets made it clear winning was no longer the priority. Harris was stuck with a roster of players that probably shouldn’t have been getting so much playing time. Still, it was bad enough — 106 points allowed in three games — that it would be hard to sell Harris as the solution … unless Glenn is the one actually calling plays.
That is an outcome that should at least be considered a possibility depending on what route they go off this initial list of interviews.
If Martindale is the Jets’ next defensive coordinator, he will be calling plays. Martindale had a tumultuous end to his tenure with the Giants, but his blitz-happy defense performed well throughout his career, including those two years in New York. He fits the “aggressive” style Glenn wants, though it’s fair to wonder if Glenn and Martindale would be a fit personality-wise.
“When it comes to the coaches, man, I like to be aggressive,” Glenn said in his season-ending news conference. “I want to make sure that whoever the guy that we do have in, that there’s a lot of synergy between me and that coach. And I’m not saying there wasn’t synergy between me and Wilks, it’s just I want to make sure, as I go through this process, that that’s not a step that I miss.”
If the Jets were able to reel in Leonhard, viewed as a hot commodity around league circles, it would be safe to assume also that Leonhard would be calling plays. But if the pick isn’t Martindale or Leonhard, don’t be surprised if that leads to Glenn taking on a bigger role in the defense. It’s at least notable that Glenn isn’t forcing something that he did last year, when he hired Wilks largely because of his experience. This new list, outside of Martindale and O’Neil, doesn’t have much experience in this job, at least not in the NFL.
The Jets’ next defensive coordinator also has a low bar to clear — it can’t get much worse than this unit performed in 2025.
