Coordinators Speak

Edition #1094: The Jets coordinators met with the media before rookie camp and here is what they had to say.

Good Morning ☕

The Jets are heading into the 2026 season with significant change in the coordinator room.

Steve Wilks is now Special Assistant to Athletics with the Appalachian State Mountaineers football program and Tanner Engstrand is the Passing game coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.

Brian Duker arrived to spearhead the defense, although we all know that Aaron Glenn is going to be running the show on that side of the ball.

Frank Reich arrived to run the offense, Glenn doing a 180 and hiring experience over youthful potential. Chris Banjo returns to lead special teams, but if that unit puts up another strong showing, he’ll be getting some HC hype come 2027.

We’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out, but for the first time this off-season we heard from all three coordinators and I’ve picked out the best bits.

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Brian Duker - Defensive Coordinator 🗞️

A lot of Brian’s press conference was dedicated to praising AG and their dynamic and shared vision for the defense.

He was of course asked about how it’s going to work with AG calling the plays, and what his role would be. To me the answer was extremely vague to a point where I’m not 100% confident that he knows what his role will be.

“Absolutely. First and foremost, my role here is to help AG, right, and help put him in great positions that he does a great job calling the game. But outside of that, from the defensive coordinator role, there's certainly some details, coordination of the little things that need to be taken care of that sometimes just based on the plate of responsibilities that the head coach has that it helps if someone can handle some of those. So, some of the finer details and just some of the little things that I can help stay organized. Again, anywhere I can help him be better, that's what I'm trying to do.”

He did name drop a few players who have impressed him early and he led with Demario Davis. I said this at the point of signing and I’ll say it again, Davis brings a lot more to the franchise than what he produces on the field. He sets a standard and he commands a respect. He’s basically a more productive CJ Mosley at this point in their careers. Duker did also mention Kingsley Enagbare and Joseph Ossai, and spoke about Ponds and Bailey in general terms about what they bring to the team, pass-rush productivity and first-step explosion from Bailey, ability to create turnovers by Ponds.

One thing he was asked about was the versatility the Jets have across their defense to line people up in different spots and move people around for the formation and that sounded very intentional by the personnel department:

“It’s certainly beneficial for the defense. It allows us to present multiple looks to the offense. It helps you in the event of injury to be able to adjust and get your best guys out there. In today’s football, where it’s getting less and less position based, it’s very important to have guys with versatility.”

He was asked specifically about whether he likes to run a 3-4 or a 4-3 and he simply replied he wants the best players on the field, so he won’t tie himself to one scheme over the other, Jets will be versatile.

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Frank Reich - Offensive Coordinator 🗞️

Immediately what I want to say about Frank is that he commands the room really well, you can see that he was a former head coach. His answers are detailed and his experience shines through straight away. That’s obviously something that AG wanted in his offensive coordinator, and it shows.