Nathaniel Hackett might land another OC job in most ironic Jets-adjacent spot

Some coaches, no matter how incompetent they may be, just keep finding their way back onto NFL staffs. It is a skill in its own right. Opportunity after opportunity appears, doors keep opening, and somehow the resume never seems to matter as much as the connections. At a certain point, it almost becomes admirable.

Few coaches embody that identity better than former New York Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who may once again be lining himself up for another offensive coordinator job in a way that feels both absurd and painfully on brand.

CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz reported Monday night that Hackett is "among the early possibilities" for the Arizona Cardinals' offensive coordinator job. The idea of Hackett drawing OC interest from an NFL team in 2026 is absurd enough on its own, but the specific landing spot would make the situation almost too ironic to believe.

The Cardinals just hired another former Jets offensive coordinator, Mike LaFleur, as their head coach on Sunday. Hackett was infamously the coach the Jets brought in to replace LaFleur when he was unceremoniously fired following the 2022 season.

Now, LaFleur might be looking to hire the very coach who was at least partially responsible for his ousting in Florham Park three years ago. Somehow, someway, it always comes back to the Jets.

Nathaniel Hackett might join fellow ex-Jets coach Mike LaFleur as the Cardinals' OC

Hackett hasn't been able to find much work since leaving the Jets after the 2024 season. The longtime NFL assistant spent 2025 as a defensive analyst for the Green Bay Packers, serving under Matt LaFleur. That might explain the connection to Mike LaFleur and the Cardinals.

There is one potential problem, however. Hackett recently accepted a job as the new quarterbacks coach of the Miami Dolphins less than a week ago. It would be a remarkably quick turnaround for him to reverse course and accept a new offer just days later.

But if there is an NFL team willing to offer Hackett another chance as a coordinator, he would be hard-pressed to turn it down, especially given how far his stock has fallen in recent years.

One would think LaFleur and the Cardinals could do better than turning to the man who spent much of the 2024 season effectively functioning like a younger sibling holding a controller that wasn't even plugged in while running the Jets offense.

It may not be an appealing opening, but surely there is a more attractive option out there than Hackett, no? The bar, after all, is practically underground.

Things around the NFL just always seem to have a funny way of circling back to the Jets, no matter how much time passes or how many regime changes come and go.

And if Nathaniel Hackett somehow ends up landing another offensive coordinator job under Mike LaFleur of all people, it would be the latest and perhaps most on-brand example of the strange, unavoidable gravitational pull of this silly football team.