Aaron Glenn vows to fix a major Jets weakness during training camp

OTAs and mandatory minicamp have come and gone for the New York Jets. For Aaron Glenn, it marks the end of his first offseason at the helm in Florham Park. The wait for training camp now begins as players will report on July 22nd.

Since taking over in January, Glenn has pressed all the right buttons, which has led to a positive first impression on the fanbase and, more importantly, the players. The first-time head coach and his staff still have a lot of work to do when training camp begins, including improving one key area on defense.

Last week, Glenn spoke to reporters after the Jets' final minicamp practice, emphasizing the importance of practicing tackling during training camp.

"It's a tackling sport, so in this game you've got to block and you've got to tackle, and the only way to get good at that craft is to do it."

Aaron Glenn

This may sound obvious and simple, but improving their tackling could be one of the biggest keys to the Jets having success in 2025.

Aaron Glenn plans on fixing NY Jets' tackling woes during training camp

A lot went wrong for the Jets in 2024, which ultimately ended in a five-win season. One of the biggest disappointments for New York last season was the regression on defense. A once elite unit took a massive step back, which was headlined by their glaring tackling issues.

The Jets finished 2024 with a team tackling grade of 42.5, which ranked tied for 24th in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus. New York was also the only team in the league to miss 20 tackles in a game twice last season.

In total, the Jets missed an alarming 162 tackles as a team. These tackling problems got so bad that disgruntled interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich had to show the team a tackling presentation after their 31-6 blowout loss to the Cardinals. Needless to say, it didn't work.

Aaron Glenn and the rest of the defensive coaching staff have their work cut out for them when training camp rolls around. For Glenn, he will be coming from a Lions team that did tackle well last year.

Despite dealing with a plethora of injuries, the Lions finished with the third-best team tackling grade in the NFL at 70.4. Detroit also missed 33 fewer tackles than the Jets.

Last year exposed the Jets in many areas, including their physicality. Both the eye test and numbers back up that New York was a soft team in 2024.

Since taking over, Glenn's culture is giving off the complete opposite of what has taken place inside the walls of One Jets Drive over the past few seasons.

Expect a high-intensity training camp, and most importantly, a nastier Jets team that improves their tackling at all levels of the defense when the season begins.

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