New Jets HC Aaron Glenn doesn’t want to talk playoffs or Super Bowl, focused on establishing team culture

It wasn’t long ago that the New York Jets had just added Aaron Rodgers, with sights set on the playoffs with many, including the future Hall of Fame quarterback even calling for a Super Bowl appearance. But a lot can change in two years.

Rodgers’ first year in New York ended before it even began, going down with a season-ending Achilles injury four offensive plays into the season. The 41-year-old was healthy for his second season with the Jets, but the team struggled even still, finishing with a 5-12 record and firing head coach Robert Saleh in the middle of the losing season.

The Jets are starting anew in many aspects heading into 2025, including quarterback and head coach. The Jets announced they were moving on from Rodgers this offseason and shortly after brought in former No. 11 overall pick Justin Fields.

The team also had a vacancy to fill at head coach and landed a highly sought after candidate, former Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.

With phase one of the offseason program this week, the Jets will begin to establish their new identity, approach and goals under new leadership. Glenn is not looking too far into the future, but rather wants to start by establishing a culture his team can buy into. He’s not here to talk playoffs or Super Bowls, at least not yet. 

“To me, it’s a process, and I’ve talked to our staff about this,” Glenn said, via the New York Post. “I’m not here to talk about the playoffs. I’m not here to talk about the Super Bowl when the players first get in. To me, it’s the process of actually making it that point. The two things I want to make sure we do first and foremost is establish the culture that we’ve been talking about and try to create a building environment.”

Glenn believes the culture of the team is about the people brought in, top to bottom. He is focusing on getting the “right people in the building,” saying it’s then when “the culture’s going to change.”

“That’s something I learned a long time ago,” Glenn added. “Me sitting up there giving a rah-rah speech that has nothing to do with culture. Culture is about the people that we bring in the building. I’m not just talking about players. I’m talking about coaches, too. I’m talking about support staff, too. We’re trying to do a really good job of bringing the right people in the building and as we do that the culture will eventually change.”

Glenn will address the veterans for the first time as their head coach and will give them some insight on how he plans to attack his first season as a head coach.

“Understand what phase one [of the offseason program] is really about,” Glenn said. “We’re trying to get bigger, faster, stronger, more explosive. That’s the only thing I want the players worrying about at that point. We have a lot of time for scheme. We have a lot of time to talk about Super Bowls and playoffs, but right now building a culture and building an environment in that building is the most important thing right now to me.”

The nine-week offseason program is voluntary and has three phases. Phase one is two weeks, involving only meetings along with strength and conditioning.