Jets’ messy DC search ends with a hire that could actually work

The New York Jets have officially hired a new defensive coordinator. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported Wednesday morning that the Jets had agreed to a deal with Miami Dolphins defensive pass game coordinator/secondary coach Brian Duker to join Aaron Glenn's staff.

The process to get to this point has been a mess, to say the least. The Jets seemed to zero in on veteran assistant Wink Martindale early in the process, with all signs indicating that the two sides would reach an agreement this past weekend.

But for whatever reason, those plans fell through, and Glenn proceeded to change his entire coaching philosophy in response. Glenn decided late in the process that he actually preferred to call defensive plays for the Jets this season, which meant going back to the drawing board in their DC search.

The Jets restarted Phase 1 of the process, bringing in Duker for a virtual interview on Tuesday. Less than 24 hours later, the Jets have named him their new defensive coordinator.

Why the Brian Duker hire could make sense for the Jets

Candidly, I've been very critical of the Jets throughout this entire mess of a coaching search that extended to the offensive coordinator position following the firing of Tanner Engstrand on Tuesday. There have been no punches pulled here.

That said, the Duker hire is actually a perfectly fine end result to what has been a messy process. Duker is about as qualified a candidate as the Jets were likely going to find for a role that would not include play-calling.

He spent the last two seasons as a high-level defensive assistant and position coach in Miami, overseeing a position group that honestly overachieved relative to the level of talent the Dolphins had.

The team's cornerback play was better than anticipated this past season, as Duker and company managed to get quality play out of middling veterans like Rasul Douglas and Jack Jones, who weren't even on the roster entering the summer.

Duker has a decade of experience as a defensive assistant at the NFL level, where his role has progressively gotten larger. The biggest downside is that he hasn't called defensive plays, but he won't be asked to do that with Glenn.

He's a quality candidate for the role the Jets have envisioned.

It also benefits the organization to have as many data points as possible when evaluating Glenn as a head coach, and having him call defensive plays adds another tangible layer to that evaluation.

If the ship that is this Jets regime is going to sink, you might as well have the captain leading it. The Jets' defense will either succeed or fail because of Glenn in 2026, and that should be seen as a good thing for the organization.

The Jets were never going to land a candidate like Jim Leonhard or even Daronte Jones — we're grading on a curve here. Duker is about as good as they were going to get, given the circumstances and role they were hoping to fill.

This should be seen as a more welcome alternative to other candidates, such as Chris Harris, Jim O'Neil, or even Martindale himself. It's better to have Glenn calling plays with a reasonably qualified young defensive coordinator than whatever low-ceiling, low-floor approach Martindale provides at this stage.

The process was messy, but the end result should be seen as a relative success. Brian Duker is the new Jets defensive coordinator.