At least one Detroit coordinator should be out of the division in 2025
On Tuesday, Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic reported that the New York Jets have only planned a pair of second interviews for their head coaching or general manager openings: Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and Washington Commanders assistant general manager Lance Newmark.
Now that the Lions were eliminated in the divisional round last weekend, Glenn is able to sign as head coach whenever he finds an acceptable offer. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has also reported that Glenn is the favorite for the Jets job, and “the goal is to keep him from leaving the building” when he visits the team today.
This impacts the Green Bay Packers on a few levels. First, it will mean that the Lions—who won the NFC North in 2024—will have to replace both coordinators this offseason. It also means that at least one of them is leaving the division after Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson reportedly accepted the head coaching position with the Chicago Bears on Monday.
Secondly, this means that Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan will likely not be the Jets’ next general manager. Sullivan was the only candidate to schedule interviews with all three of the teams with general manager openings this offseason: the Jets, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Tennessee Titans. He was not a finalist for the Titans job, which interviewed several candidates twice before landing on Mike Borgonzi — the former assistant general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs. Mind you, Tennessee’s general manager search was run by former Packers staffer Chad Brinker, who will now be Borgonzi’s president of football operations.
This leaves just the Raiders’ gig as the lone 2025 general manager opportunity left for Sullivan. At the moment, Las Vegas has also yet to name a head coach for their franchise after swinging and missing on Johnson.
If Glenn does take the Jets head coaching opportunity, there’s a good chance that former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy resurfaces with the New Orleans Saints. McCarthy has been tied to the Saints opening — as he was with the Bears — and coached New Orleans for five seasons as an offensive coordinator. He and Glenn, a former Saints player and defensive backs coach under Sean Payton, have been viewed as the most likely candidates to land that job.