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Welcome into a special installment of the Official Jets Podcast. I'm Erica all and we recently made a trip down to South Florida for the twenty twenty five NFL Annual League Meeting. Hope you've had a chance to enjoy our conversations with both head coach Aaron Glenn and GM Darren Moujie. What we're gonna do today is dive into their backgrounds
a little bit. With three head coaches Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell, and Bear's head coach Ben Johnson, there are a lot of connections here. Bowls of former Jets head coach, which himself was a position coach of Glenn's with the Jets in two thousand and the Cowboys in two thousand and five, two thousand
and six. O'Connell, a Jets quarterback in two thousand and nine twenty ten, was part of a quarterback room at San Diego State that included Mougie and ink Strand and Ben Johnson, the Lions' former offensive coordinator, was just in Detroit with not Elie Glenn, but ang Strand and new Jets old line coach Steve Heyden. So we visited with each of them and we figured we'd share those as part.
Of a special podcast TV.
So great you been, to Eric, I've been great. I got no complaints.
What was your reaction when you had heard the Jets had hired everyone?
I was so happy for him. I was so proud of him. He's done a great job the past couple of years coaching the Lions, and you could see it in their play and I think he was a big part of the reason why they were successful.
All right, So let's go all the way back to two thousand, because you don't a g for damn near three decades. When he's in your room with the New York Jets, and you're the secondary coach. What were those interactions?
Like?
Very intelligent. It was my first NFL job actually, when I came to the Jets in two thousand and it was him and Ray Mickens and Marcus Coleman and Victor Green and Chris Hayes and all those guys. So it was very professional. He's very smart. He understood that. But as a coach, I knew I just had to coach ball and I had to overlook all that. But he was such a smart player and instinctive player, and he studied profusely, and I think that's the reason why he's a head coach today.
You're such an authentic guy.
How intense was he and also can you talk about ag maybe as a player, even being a straight shooter, or your communications with him.
As a player.
He was so intense that if he gave up a five hitching practice, he'd be pissed off. Everything he did was trying to stop the ball or pick the ball off or stop the play. From his footwork to his angles, to his tackling, to the way he dressed on the road. He was so professional. He was so intent on winning, and he was such a detailed guy. And I think that really carried over to everything he's doing today.
Did you see that in him that, hey, maybe down the line, this guy is going to be a coach or was it so early at that point we're talking about twenty five years ago.
I think it was early. I knew how smart he was. It was just a matter if he wanted to coach. You know, he was so good at so many things and so detailed that so many things. I think Aaron's one of those guys that'll be successful no matter what he did.
So the second time around, you're in Dallas coaching the DBS. So he comes to the Cowboys in two thousand and five. What was that transition like for you guys?
He was a little older than Yeah, so he played nickel for me. He was my nickel corner, which is just like a starter as well, because he was so smart. We had Henry and Newman on the outside and he went in on the inside. He did a hell of a job for us. And he was the same guy that he was back in two thousand when he was playing star corner for the Jets.
So he was a little bit towards the end of his career at that point, Yeah, did you use him in terms of being like a mentor for your room? As far as you know, he could be a second teacher out here.
It was naturally a mentor the way he prepared. Everybody saw how he prepared. So Henry and Newman picked up a ton of tips from this guy because what he did and how he watched film taught those guys a lot because they didn't know how to watch tape that well.
Okay, what was your reaction when you heard that he was getting in a college scouty twenty twelve, twenty thirteen with the Jets.
We talked about it and he wanted to try it out and scout, and then he wanted to get on the coaching side. So we had kept in touch over the years, very good friends, and you know, he wanted to see what it was like and he got a taste of it and everything else.
Then he got into coaching.
How much do you think that background the scouting for a couple of years will help him as he embarks on this role with the Jets as being the head coach.
I think it'll help him a great deal. I started out as a scout as well, so it helped me a great deal because as a coach, when you're looking at players now, you really don't know how to look at offensive linemen or defensive linemen, especially coming in being
a dB coach. You can do that with the wide else and the DBS to your eyes are closed, but it teaches you a different perspective of what to look for when you're looking for offensive linemen, so you have more input in the draft and when you're looking at players on the road and not just relying on the scouts because you were a scout yourself.
Can you speak to the influence that Bill Parcells had on glind because he was one of your big time teachers as well.
Bill has a huge impact on everybody, bhil Is. He does such a great job of teaching. It may be hard teaching at the time or what you think. I think it's hard teaching, but it's really life lessons and they apply to coaching, and Bill made sure he does a good job of that. And believe me, anytime we mess up or he thinks we need something, you're gonna
get a text. Till this day, you're gonna get a text or a phone call from him, and he's gonna just drop a hint of wisdom and he's gonna let you know and you can carry on and move on from there. But I think Bill was a big influence on him.
As you saw Aaron rise throughout the coaching ranks. What were communications like over the years.
We talked a lot more when he was with the Saints than we did the lines. He knew where I was when he needed me, and he's a very smart guy. You he doesn't need much talking to to figure it out. That's what I told him, and make the decisions on his own. And he can figure all that stuff out because he's a very bright coach. He needs to talk, he nowhere to find me. But when we played against each other a lot in the Saints, we would talk defense a lot more.
Yeah, you've had a lot of success there with the Buccaneers. Can you talk about some of your battles with ag over the years.
Oh, they were tough. Now he had that second Theary in New Orleans. They were tough to throw on. We had our battles and they was styning its quite a few times, and we was styning them some of the time. But we always talked after the games, and you know, it was always mutual respect from that standpoint, and that hasn't changed.
As a coach, he's stressing teaching and development that from his staff.
That's what you have to be.
You got to be first a teacher in that second, you got to be able to develop. Have you seen that from him throughout his career so far?
He's been great at it. He's been great at it. He can teach in such a unique way because he's played it, so he understands it. He can teach, and then he knows how to develop. He treats everybody individually different and that's what you need to move on as a coach.
How much you think his experience in Detroit will help him with the Jets in terms of he got in a situation with Dan Campbell where they got a built and now he's taken over a year one with the Jets.
I mean it will help him a great deal. They started from the ground up when he went there with the Detroit and he watched him go from a bad team to a great team and he was a part of that development, so he saw how it worked throughout that structure. So I think that'll that don't help him a great deal, does it?
Resonate with you your defensive background when he's asked, hey, listen, what's it gonna be like you were a defensive coach? And he said, I just happened to coach on the defensive side of the ball.
I am a coach. That's what I am. That's what we all are.
But you know, they give us labels in this league, so you stop trying to defend it and you go with it. But he's gonna be a great football coach.
You're gonna be rooting for him.
As always rooting for him.
Thanks TV.
Yep, all right, So that was Todd Bowles, who coached AG as a player at both the New York Jets and with the Dallas Cowboys. But now we're gonna move on to Kevin O'Connell. I'm connell play quarterback at San Diego State. He in fact shared a quarterback room in two thousand and four with both Jets GM Darren Mugie and offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand.
Let's get to KOs.
Kevin great senior here at the NFL league meetings.
What are your memories with going back.
To your time with the Yeah, it was, you know, it was such a unique time in my career because I had left New England and the next team that you go to is the rival, the New York Jets, and so different, you know, the way, you know, the way Rex ran things and from what I had been coming from in New England. But what it really was was it allowed me to form some really unique relationships Mark Sanchez, Nick Mangold, Jericho Cottrie, Dustin Keller. We had
some Thomas Jones, Ladanian, Tomlinson during my time there. I mean, I just look back on some of these, some of these names that I still keep in touch with in many ways to this very day, and guys that impacted my football journey in.
Such a positive way that I owe.
I owe those guys so much for for allowing me to be comfortable sitting sitting right where I sit now as a head coach in the National Football League, which I'm sure many of them are still scratching their heads about.
Hey, speaking of connections, let's go back to San Diego State two thousand and four.
That quarterback room included.
Kevin O'Connell, Yeah, Tanner Engstra and also Darren Mugie.
Yep, unbelievable.
And you know Darren and I you know legitimately have been, you know, competing in many ways since you know, he came into Sante State a year after me, Tanner was a junior college transfer. And I think it's I think it's kind of appropriate, right the like how our coaching journeys and and and Darren in the front office world, kind of how our journeys have went right, you know, you I would have loved to be recruited by Pack twelve schools and big schools, and I'm sure, you know,
I'm sure Darren would have as well. And Tanner was a guy that went to junior the junior college route and eventually walked on at San Diego State and earned everything he's ever gotten. So what does he do as a coach? What do I do as a coach? What does Darren do as a front office guy? We go in and we just go to work, you know, go to work, put our heads down and learn and and do things with integrity, do things treating people.
The right way.
And what comes out of it is like I look at Darren, Moujie and Tanner instrands as guys that are success stories, but nowhere near the finish line of where their success ultimately will become because I think Darren's been ready to be a GM now for a while. I've been telling anybody that would listen about that and Tanner, I mean being around Ben, being around Ben Johnson and that great offensive staff Dan Campbell as the head coach. Tanner's been primed working in the same staff as AG
for three four years now. I think it's set up for Tanner to have success. I think it's set up for Darren to you know, really run that show with AG and shoot a lot of guys I have so much respect for and being a former jet I, you know, and the fact that they're in the AFC, I can be rooting for those guys more oftentimes and not.
Could you ever dream back in that situation that when you guys are maybe going over some plays or watching some tape, that you guys go.
And have this future success. No, No, I think we were all.
You know, that was a long time ago. Now, I mean I'm not the oldest guy in the world, but you know, two thousand and four, we're talking twenty one years ago and a lifetime ago, it seems. But what I can tell you is I can remember vividly thinking that these guys are great people, great communicators, very smart, and they both those guys were very talented as players.
But what's transcended all that or those other traits that have allowed them to really thrive in this second career, if you want to call it that, And you know, in the most competitive landscape in the world, these guys are now one of thirty two offensive coordinators and general managers, which is pretty spectacular considering that I also have become a head coach.
So the impact now, So.
Speaking of Mouge, you just said that you've been telling people that he's been ready to be.
A gem for a while. Yeah, why did you say that?
For one, I just we've had some great conversations in years past about you know, whether it's the draft process more oftentimes than not combine participants. Hey, you know, here's how I saw him on tape. And normally it's after the draft, you know, where we're not sharing secrets before. But hey, I really like this guy. I really like
this guy. Well, why well, when I was watching his tape, I saw, you know, him run this route or he had this play in the red zone, and you start to realize this guy knows ball and he knows, he knows how to see it, he knows how to scout it. He's got a great scouting background combined with working side by side with some great people and John Elway and Matt Russell and George Payton and all these guys that really have primed him to now command and lead his
own scouting department and his own personnel department. So I've been you know, if any coaches asked or any organizations asked over the last couple of years, anybody any guys that I know out there that seem ready. Darren Mujib was always one of the first names that I would say.
You're an outstanding play caller. What's this going to be like for Tanner in year one of being a coordinate.
Yeah, he's got a you know, there's gonna be some challenges, you know, no question going to a new place, and so much of their success in Detroit that he was heavily involved with, where with a lot of the same players in the same system, kind of growing there with Ben over the course of some years, he's gonna have
to build a system. He's gonna have to figure out what the New York Jets want to be as an offense, running the football, throwing the football situationally, and then build foundational coaching points that they can hold those players too, and and build around year in and year out, because you want it to be something that sustains. And you know, that's the biggest thing about offensive football in the NFL
is the challenges that come every single week. They can be different, they can morph and changed throughout a season, and you've got to find ways of being able to adapt to that without changing who you are and not having an identity at all. And that's hard to do sometimes as an early, you know, early in your coordinator journey, because you're trying to establish yourself. You're trying to make sure the stat sheet looks right, you're trying to make
sure all that matters. And what he's got to remember is all that matters is winning and the role that he'll play as the offensive coordinator and helping get that done.
Speaking of identity, let's get out of here with this one, Aaron Glenn. Yeah, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask about your battles with him. No, man, what do you think he's going to be like here at his next step? Head coaches here so.
Much so much respect for him.
Another guy talk about being primed and ready. He's been you know, he's been a guy that could have been, you know, a head coach years years ago.
What he did in Detroit.
The way those guys played their grit, their play style, their toughness. I got guys that love football to all play together is one unit. AG's got every quality that that Jets fans would want in a head coach, and he does it in a way that is so hymn. It's so authentic, it's so real. You can't help but gravitate towards that. I think the world of them. I've competed against him, I've coached with them on some staffs before. So happy for Ag. And he's a great person. He's
a great man. He's made it the right made it the right stuff to lead an organization. And I think Jets fans are gonna love him.
Kayo. See, thanks so much, buddy, You got it man. Thank you, guys, great seeing you.
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Good stuff there from Kevin O'Connell. Let's stay in a division though, And now we're gonna talk to Ben Johnson. Johnson formally the Lions offensive coordinator. That's where Aaron Glenn is coming from. But not only just Aaron Glenn, but Tanner Engstrand served as a passing game coordinator for bed Jets in Detroit, and Steve Hyden was a tight ends coach for Ben Johnson. He's coming over with AG. He's gonna be the offensive line coach for the Jets. We had a chance to talk to Ben about AG, Tanner
and Steve Hyden. What's this been like being here at your first league meetings and not only yourself, but you see Dan Campbell there at the NFC coach's breakfast, Aaron Glenn as well.
It's been pretty cool. Both those guys I love, I absolutely love. I've had the last four years with both of them, and I respect the heck out of both of them as well. So those two guys are studs. They're both mentors to me. That's how I view it. Their brothers to me, and so it's been pretty cool over the last call it call it three days here to see.
All of them. So what was that experience like for you in Detroit? Were you and Aaron.
Competing against each other, but also obviously you're collaborating as well because you guys want the best for them.
Yeah.
Yeah, We always felt like his scheme evolved over the years.
Over the last four years.
It started one way and then ended up going a different direction each and every year, and so we always felt like we were sharpening each other. He gave us all kinds of issues there in training camp that we had to be aware of, but we were trying to get our plays in and yet we knew that they were to necessarily ideal for Ag and what he was doing, and so there was a lot of back and forth. And I knew early on last year that we had a different unit and they when they were healthy, they
were one of the best in the NFL. And and towards the end of the year there you saw the attrition due to injuries kind of caught up with us a little bit. But I thought AG did a heck of a job all year long. Why do you think
he's ready for this opportunity right now? He's so unique in terms of a communicator, all right, He's got such a wealth of experience because obviously high level player when he played, has the coaching aspect down pat but also the scouting aspect of it down as well, because it's very it's very rare that you see the trifecta like that come together. He does all three at a high level.
He communicates the standard. The players will love him, and yet they'll know that they're getting pushed and challenged every step of the way as well. And so it's been fun to see the staff that he put together. I think he's done a great job. I knew Steve Wolks was going to be one of the guys there on defense that he trusted. And then obviously I know Tanner really well and I think the world of Tanner.
Yeah.
So Tanner it poised to be an offensive coordinator for the first time in the National Football League. He was your passing game coordinator. Can you talk about the last few years with him and his development?
Man, He's he was an integral part of what we were doing there. I got to know him. It was before Dan even took the job there in Detroit. I think I think Tanner came on as a quality control there the last year of Patricia and he had a similar trajectory as I did. We just kind of climbed the ladder the same way, starting low and then tight end position and a passing game coordinator role. And so he and I have have a shared experience, a shared bond.
That way.
I leaned heavily into him the last two seasons. We had Johnny Morton who's now in Detroit as a coordinator the first year that I was calling it, and Tanner was the tight ends coach, and we ended up moving him to passing game coordinator, effectively taking over for Johnny mo And and he is completely ready for this next challenge. He's called plays in his past, and so I think each and every game when I was calling it, he was doing the same thing in his own head.
Yeah.
So what's it like taking on those responsibilities for the first time as far as like in a game that you're gonna be the guy weekend, week out.
Yeah, No, I think he's very similar to ag. He's an excellent communicator. He'll do a great job in front of the room with the players. I think where he where Tanner's really going to excel is he's been able to to really thrive in these game management spots. So he understands the situation.
In the game.
Uh, what do we need yardage wise to get into fueld position? Uh, whether it's a field goal or an attempt to score a touchdown. And so he's he's very advanced in that area and so quick thinker. And like I said, he was huge, huge impact on our process over the last couple of years.
How about Steve Hyden as well, he was here, he was your tight ends coach.
Yeah, he's taking so happy for it.
I saw him at I think it was a Texas pro dage just just last week, and uh, I know he's doing really, really well. He was excited about the opportunity he he coached those tight ends at a high level. Sam Laporta really took off under his tutelage, and and I knew he always wanted to get back in the old line room and it worked out really well there in New.
York for you.
Yeah, evolution of the offense there in Detroit. How much can those guys take that with as they start they embark on this journey with the Jets.
Because one thing that Aaron continues to stress is.
That, hey, listen, we're gonna have players, and now we're going to match our scheme to our personnel.
Yeah, absolutely, And that was always our philosophy there in Detroit, and so you probably don't know exactly what it's going to look like until you hit the grass here this springtime, and even then, whatever you see the springtime is going to morph and evolve in training camp and going into the season as well. So I think Tanner understands there's a progression in terms of how it needs to be installed.
The foundation is going to be put in place here this spring and be able to go whatever direction is necessary. Particularly with a different style of quarterback in New York now than what we had in Detroit. That's gonna be fun for me to watch from afar how he's able to tackle that, because that's a similar challenge to what I have in Chicago as well.
With it's a different style of.
Quarterbacks, so a lot of different ways that offense that we had in Detroit can evolve.
Thanks so much for stupping really
Thank you, Yeah, appreciate it.