Year two of the Aaron Glenn era arrives with the Jets trying to answer a simple question: was 2025 a rebuild’s rock bottom, or a preview of more of the same? A retooled coaching staff, a returning starting quarterback, and one of the more aggressive offseasons in the league give our team plenty to dig into.
2025 Season Recap
The Jets finished 3-14 in 2025, last in the AFC East, and missed the playoffs for a 15th straight season. It started about as poorly as a season can start: Glenn’s debut year opened with an 0-7 run, the worst beginning for a new head coach in franchise history. Justin Fields was benched for Tyrod Taylor during the year, and the front office moved on from two defensive cornerstones at the trade deadline, sending Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis and Quinnen Williams to Dallas. Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks was let go in-season as well.
It wasn’t a season without individual bright spots. Breece Hall became the first Jets running back since 2015 to top 1,000 rushing yards, and there was a genuinely strange statistical footnote to the whole year: New York became the first team since interception tracking began in 1933 to go an entire season without recording a single one, part of a defense that forced the fewest opponent takeaways in modern NFL history.
Offseason Moves
The Jets kept Glenn for year two despite the record, and the offseason reads like a staff and roster reset built around him. Offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand was let go after one season in which the offense ranked 29th in the league in both yards and points, and the Jets brought in Frank Reich to replace him — a coordinator with six years of NFL head-coaching experience between Indianapolis and Carolina, most recently serving as Stanford’s interim head coach. On defense, the Jets promoted from within Glenn’s network, hiring Brian Duker, previously the Dolphins’ secondary coach, as defensive coordinator; the two worked together on Detroit’s staff earlier in Glenn’s career.
The most significant roster move was at quarterback: New York traded for Geno Smith, sending Las Vegas a 2026 sixth-round pick in exchange for Smith and a seventh-rounder, reuniting Smith with the franchise that originally drafted him. On defense, the Jets acquired safety Minkah Fitzpatrick from Miami for a 2026 seventh-round pick and signed him to a three-year, $40 million extension, while also adding edge rusher Joseph Ossai (three years, $36 million) and re-signing linebacker Demario Davis (two years, $22 million). New York also traded for defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat from Tennessee, sending Jermaine Johnson the other way.
In the draft, the Jets held three first-round picks — only the third time in franchise history they’ve had three or more — and used them on Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey at No. 2 overall, Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq at No. 16, and, after trading back into the first round, Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. at No. 30.
2026 Season Outlook
New York opens the season on the road against Tennessee and Glenn’s predecessor, Robert Saleh, now the Titans’ head coach. The schedule leans favorable early, with the first four MetLife Stadium dates against comparatively lighter competition, before the difficulty ramps up down the stretch against opponents like Kansas City, the Chargers, Detroit, Chicago, Green Bay, and Minnesota. The Jets’ bye falls in Week 13. The bigger-picture stakes are real: New York is chasing its first playoff berth in 16 years, its first AFC East title in 23 years — a division the Patriots currently hold after ending Buffalo’s five-year run atop the East in 2025 — and trying to snap a streak of 10 straight losing seasons.
Our Team’s Projection
We’re projecting the Jets at 7-10 for 2026. That’s real improvement on paper — a healthier, more experienced quarterback in Smith, a defense retooled around Fitzpatrick and Duker, and a favorable early schedule that gives a new-look roster a chance to find its footing before the November and December gauntlet arrives.
New York’s win total opened at 5.5, with the over currently priced around -120 and the under around +100 at DraftKings. Our 7-10 projection leans toward the over — if you want the full breakdown of how season win-total betting actually works, our team covered it in the Bet Smarter series. The case for it: Smith gives this offense a level of week-to-week stability it didn’t have in 2025, the defensive additions should meaningfully improve a unit that finished near the bottom of the league in takeaways, and the schedule’s soft opening stretch offers a real chance to bank wins before things tighten up. The case against it: this is still a first-time offensive coordinator pairing with a new defensive coordinator learning the roster in real time, last year’s record reflects real underlying problems that don’t disappear in one offseason, and the closing stretch against Kansas City, Green Bay, Detroit, and the Chargers could erase whatever cushion the Jets build early.