Jets latest free agent moves shows team believes in Aaron Glenn's defensive coaching

While the biggest move the New York Jets made on the first day of legal tampering was agreeing to terms with new starting quarterback Justin Fields on a two-year contract worth $40 million, Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey spent the rest of the day trying to shore up the defense.

One day after signing linebacker Jamien Sherwood to a three-year contract, the Jets agreed to terms with former Jacksonville Jaguars safety Andre Cisco on a one-year contract worth up to $10 million. Cisco profiles as someone who can start at safety immediately for the Jets.

The Jets pulled off this signing just a few hours after inking former Baltimore Ravens cornerback Brandon Stephens to a three-year contract worth as much as $36 million. The common thread between both of these signings is that both of them had terrible 2024 seasons after promising 2023 campaigns.

These two signings prove that the Jets are going all-in on Glenn's ability to coach defensive backs, as they handed out almost $50 million in contracts to two players with great physical talent, but are in need of a change of scenery. Time will tell if their faith was misplaced.

Jets signing Andre Cisco to one-year deal shows faith in Aaron Glenn

Cisco's first three years in Jacksonville were fairly excellent, so much so that he was positioned to earn a big multi-year contract. However, like many Jaguars in 2024, Cisco regressed to the point where he needed to sign a one-year prove-it deal to get his status back to where it was.

While Glenn may have earned more renown for his leadership skills than his defensive schematic mind, he did help oversee a defensive turnaround in Detroit that took this team from one of the worst in the NFL to one of the best. A former DB himself, Glenn's defense turned around, in part, due to the secondary.

With All-Pro Sauce Gardner and a now healthy Michael Carter II in the slot, New York has the personnel needed to put together a solid unit with Jeff Ulbrich-lebel bad coaching dragging them down. However, poor seasons from Stephens or Cisco could limit this group's ceiling.

The Jets are banking on Glenn being such a masterful teacher of defensive back play that both Cisco and Stephens will be able to put their bad seasons from yesteryear in the past and move forward as key cogs in the Jets' new-look machine.