Dark Horse Candidate Emerging in Jets Coaching Search?

The New York Jets have hired the 33rd Team to help them choose the next GM and that should help with the Jets coaching search. This is a lot for the most snake bitten franchise in all of US professional sports. In the weeks since it was clear to the fanbase that Jeff Ulbrich isn’t the solution, I’ve heard a lot of names: I’ve heard the younger exciting names with zero head coaching experience like Ben Johnson, I’ve heard the older names with lengthy resumes like Pete Carroll, and it feels like I’ve heard every name in-between (Mike Vrabel, Aaron Glenn, Matt Nagy to name a few). I’ve heard the push that for some reason this coach has to be offensive-minded and they have to do this, or that, etc. but I think only two things matter: culture and consistency.

Since seemingly the beginning of time, the New York Jets have struggled mightily with consistency which has dramatically impacted the team’s ability to sustain success. Switching systems, coaches, and GMs every 2-3 has never been in the recipe book for success so we’re hoping the next coach can somehow break the cycle. Robert Saleh was supposed to be that guy and he almost did. For those of you who only live in the moment, Saleh was the consensus top pick as a head coach candidate back in 2021, much like how Ben Johnson is revered right now.  A coordinator for one of the best teams in the league who all the players and coaches consistently adore and praise during his time with them. Both of those rang true for Saleh and now Johnson. It was a huge coup to win him over and we looked to be on the path to building “San Francisco 49ers East” in Florham Park, which was more than okay with me.

The problem is that Saleh never had the full reins – he was forced to fire his Offensive Coordinator when the QB he was forced to draft turned out to be one of the biggest busts of all time. Owner Woody Johnson meddled in personnel decisions, coaching game plans, and so much more during Saleh’s 3+ years with the Jets. How can a coach establish a culture in a land where he is not the ruler of the domain? Of course, it’s quite common for front-office executives to ‘have more power’ than the coach but when it comes to football and the X’s and O’s the coach is the supreme ruler. Please take to time to find me a Super Bowl Champion team that wasn’t set up like this – I’ll wait.

This new coach needs to have full autonomy over his players to be able to develop a true culture that resonates with the players on the field and impacts the decisions of the suits and ties off the field. The way I see it, the easiest way to inspire Woody to finally sit in the backseat and let the professionals do their job is to hire someone who at the very least has had the job before. This is why when I am looking at the pool of head coaches I turn my attention solely toward people who have been Head Coaches before. Preferably at the NFL level, but NCAA can work too most likely. Of course, the bigger the name value, the more likely Woody would most likely relinquish power. We’ve seen how flexible he could bend backward to make Aaron Rodgers a New York Jet and then add as many former teammates to the team as he could so I’m sure he’d be willing to make quite a few concessions for a big-name coach that would bring in similar publicity.

Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick, John Gruden, Deion Sanders are all names that come up in the Jets coaching search. Those are probably the four biggest names you could possibly add but I’m not super high on any of them. Apart from Sanders, they are all extremely old compared to the average NFL player. I believe not only have their views of the game been left in the past, but they’ve dramatically(!) lost the ability to deeply connect with their Gen Z players. Deion doesn’t fall in that bucket whatsoever but obviously he has zero experience as the Head Coach of an NFL team. Resume-wise, give me Mike Vrabel, Brian Flores, or even Todd Monken from the Ravens.

It turns out though that the Bang Bang Niner Gang isn’t too happy with Kyle Shanahan’s work over there this year. Some of their fanbase and their media blame Kyle for the Niners consistently falling short of the sport’s grandest prize. There has been growing pressure to fire Kyle to keep the Super Bowl window intact and who knows – at 5-7 right now maybe it only takes a couple of more losses to seal that fate. As the team that was Vegas’s pick to win the NFC this year and compete in the Super Bowl for the third time in 4 years, the Niners’s sky-high expectations haven’t come close to being realized.

Perhaps the Front Office respects Shanahan too much to fire him outright, but perhaps a trade could be arranged? Look at the most recent team to trade for a coach, the Denver Broncos. They hold the second longest playoff drought in the NFL but they are poised to finally end this drought in just the second year of the Sean Payton Era. Payton is doing this with a lot of the guys who played for Nathaniel Hackett’s atrocity in 2022 and a rookie QB under center. Not just any rookie QB, he was the 5th(!) QB taken in the 2024 NFL Draft and still considered a reach by some experts at that pick. Payton has a track record, was given the autonomy I mentioned earlier, and has been able to establish a culture that has Denver on the comeback.

Could you imagine what an even greater offensive mind in Kyle Shanahan could do for the New York Jets? Kyle has orchestrated the offense for 3 Super Bowl participants over the last 10 year and other branches of his tree such as Sean McVay and Zac Taylor have either reached the same height (Super Bowl appearance) or surpassed him (Super Bowl win) in that same window of time. The Shanahan coaching tree continues to have branches secure new jobs every year and while that might’ve diluted the league a bit we’ve seen as recently as last year that no one quite calls the offense like Kyle can when his players are healthy. Even so, in injury, he’s had to adapt to losing his top two QBs in one season and then still reaching the NFC championship game with their QB3. Had their QB3 not gotten hurt in that game, perhaps they would’ve won (probably not) but they had no chance when Christian McCaffrey was playing quarterback and running back.

If Shanahan is available for trade, the Jets need to send the house. This is the guy who can be the greatest Jets coach of all-time and can not only end the playoff drought but finally end the Super Bowl drought as well. For those who look at those Super Bowl appearances and call him a choker and someone who can’t win the big one, look no further than Andy Reid.  Reid had a lot of success in Philly but he lost his lone Super Bowl appearance and they questioned if he could ever win the big one. Perhaps recency bias has separated you so far from the reality of 2012 that you don’t remember major media Bleacher Report calling for his firing and the fans of Philadelphia rejoiced when it happened. Fast forward 12 years and he has 3 rings and the universal respect of his peers as the absolute best in all of football. You can credit Mahomes all you want but Reid had zero losing seasons before Mahomes started in 2018 and only missed the playoffs once 2013-2017.

Perhaps a similar change of scenery is all Kyle needs to complete his second act like Reid did. Don’t look at Mahomes and say “well where is the Mahomes for the Jets?” Reid drafted Mahomes 5 years into the job. Look at the 2013 Chiefs and say “Wow, he took a team that won 7 games in 2011 and 2 games in 2012 and won 11 games in 2013?” This is the turnaround we are looking for. We should be done with the lengthy drawn-out rebuilds. Depending on your age, you probably feel like the Jets have been rebuilding the last 15-55 years. No more rebuild, get a top 5 NFL coach on planet Earth in the building and have him mold your team into winners. End the playoff drought immediately. And when he sees his Mahomes, he’ll make his move in the draft and we will be celebrating the day that Kyle Shanahan became a Jet for decades to come.

The post Dark Horse Candidate Emerging in Jets Coaching Search? appeared first on JetNation.com – New York Jets Blog & Forum. You can discuss this with other NY Jets fans on the Jet Nation message board. Or visit of on Facebook.