Nathaniel Hackett landing with Cardinals fuels Jets' revenge-filled 2026 schedule

Just another familiar face the Jets will see in 2026.

Charlie Baduini

Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero confirmed that the Arizona Cardinals would indeed be hiring former New York Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett as their OC under new head coach Mike LeFleur.

The Cardinals will now somehow have two former Jets coordinators spearheading their offense, in a twist that no one could've seen coming after the Aaron Rodgers era came to an end in early 2025.

Regardless, the news just adds another angle to the Jets' 2026 schedule, which features one too many games against familiar faces who have crossed paths with New York in recent memory.

Jets 2026 schedule littered with familiar faces and foes

Now, the Jets' 2026 schedule is not set in stone in terms of dates and times. But they do know who their opponents will be.

To start with the obvious, the Jets will travel to Arizona to face the Cardinals at some point, facing off against two former offensive coordinators in LeFleur and Hackett. Who knows, maybe it will be a revenge game on two fronts if the Jets end up acquiring either Cardinals quarterbacks Kyler Murray or Jacoby Brissett this offseason.

Another juicy revenge game will be a date with former head coach Robert Saleh and the Tennessee Titans in Nashville, with the former Jets head coach getting his first chance at redemption in his new role running the show with another former New York coach, Brian Daboll, as his offensive coordinator.

Ironically enough, Saleh's first win as Jets head coach came against the Titans in Week 4 of the 2021 season in a 27-24 overtime victory. We'll see if he has the same fortunes in Tennessee.

Finally, the Jets will travel to Michigan to take on Glenn's former team, the Detroit Lions, at some point in 2026. It will be Glenn's first time facing Dan Campbell as opposing head coaches.

You could also classify each AFC East divisional matchup with the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, and Miami Dolphins as revenge games, considering the Jets went 0-6 in divisional play this past season.

Now, this is just a prediction on my end, but something tells me the Jets will be facing off against the Titans in Nashville Week 1 of the 2026 season. In recent Jets history, the NFL schedule makers have taken every opportunity to make Gang Green face an old foe in their first game of the season.

In 2025, before Aaron Rodgers even officially signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the stage was set for a Jets-Steelers matchup to kick off each team's season.

To start the 2021 season, the schedule makers pit Sam Darnold's Carolina Panthers against the Jets just months after New York dumped Darnold in favor of No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson. Carolina and Darnold got the last laugh in a 19-14 victory.

We'll have to wait and see until May for the official schedule to come out.

Charlie Baduini

Charlie Baduini covers the New York Jets as a site expert for The Jet Press and FanSided. He is a sports journalist based in Northern New Jersey with a wide variety of sports reporting experience in print and broadcast journalism. Baduini’s byline can also be seen on Heavy and The Sporting News, where he covers several teams across the NFL and NBA. His work has been featured in Heavy, Athlon Sports, The Sporting News, Yahoo Sports, MSN, and Yardbarker. He also serves as a seasonal intern for ESPN, working as a production assistant for the Heisman Trophy Ceremony every year since 2022. Baduini has been a Jets fan for as long as he can remember, with his family's fandom dating back to the 1960s when his grandfather, Louis, became a season ticket holder. His family has since held on to the tickets to this day. He is an avid fan of the New York Knicks and New York Mets.