Glenn returns to Jets as head coach
After a successful stint as the Detroit Lions' defensive coordinator, Aaron Glenn gets his first chance as a head coach. The former cornerback heads back to New York to be the Jets' head coach.
The Jets are coming off a negative year, posting a 5-12 record. After firing Robert Saleh five games into the season, they opted for Jeff Ulbrich. Things did not improve, and for the ninth year running, the Jets had a losing record.
Glenn is very familiar with the Jets organization. He spent half of his 14-year NFL career with New York, making the Pro Bowl in 1997 and 1998 during his time there. The 52-year-old went on to play for the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars, and New Orleans Saints during his playing career.
Since then, he has had various defensive roles, first with the Cleveland Browns, then with the Saints, and, most recently, with the Lions. In his four-year stint in Detroit, he went 41-30-1 as the team was the number one seed in the NFC this season. They recently lost to the Washington Commanders in the Divisional Round.
Patriots announce offensive and defensive coordinators
The New England Patriots, still trying to find their way post-Brady and Belichick, announced their new offensive and defensive coordinators.
Josh McDaniels is back for a third stint in New England, as he returns to be the offensive coordinator once more. The 48-year-old has been with the Patriots organization for 16 years already in various roles. Most of that time was as the offensive coordinator and/or quarterbacks coach.
Since leaving New England in 2021, he was the Las Vegas Raiders' coach for a season and a half, going 9-16 before getting fired midway through the 2023 season. The only other team he has worked for in the NFL was for the Denver Broncos. In 28 games in the Mile High City, Daniels went 11-17, before getting the axe during the 2010 season.
He has also been with the Patriots in all six seasons where they won the Super Bowl. Their last success came in 2019 when they beat the Los Angeles Rams.
Daniels is not the only coaching announcement New England made on Wednesday. Terrell Williams was also announced as the franchise's new defensive coordinator. It is the first time that Williams will have such a role in the NFL.
Williams has been with the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders, Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans, and the Lions after years in the college game. The majority of his time in the league has been as a defensive line coach, with six of those years being in Tennessee, where he worked under the Patriots' new head coach Mike Vrabel.
In the 2024 season, he worked with Detroit, making them one of the best defences in the league. They gave up the fifth-fewest points in the regular season, despite having to deal with a plethora of injuries.
Golden set to return to Cincinnati
Al Golden, who took the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to the College Football National Championship, is set to head back to Cincinnati to join the Bengals, this time as a defensive coordinator.
Golden is no stranger to the NFL. After playing one season with New England in 1992, he immediately moved on to coaching. After more than two decades at the college level, he then joined the Lions. After a season as the tight ends coach, he then had another one as linebackers coach. A move to Cincinnati followed, where he was also the linebackers coach.
Golden returned to college football in 2022, joining Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish became one of the best teams in the country defensively, ranked the fifth best defence by yards allowed. They would go on to lose to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the National Championship game.
That clearly was enough to convince the Bengals to bring Golden back to the NFL, where he will have an upgraded role in comparison to his last stint. Cincinnati just missed out on the playoffs, winning their last five regular-season games after a 4-8 start.
Other announcements
Among other announcements, John Spytek leaves the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to head to Las Vegas, where he will be the Raiders' general manager. It will be his fifth full-time role in the NFL, after two successful years in Tampa as the assistant GM. The Bucs won the NFC South in both seasons during Spytek's time there.
Speaking of the NFC South team, their offensive coordinator Liam Coen says he is staying instead of taking up the now-vacant Jacksonville Jaguars head coach role. The head coach role is not the only position the Jags are trying to occupy, as they let go of Trent Baalke following a disappointing year.