Aaron Glenn knows how this business works.
He knows — from his 15 years as a player, from his decade-plus in coaching — how fleeting any window of opportunity in the NFL can be for someone who was a draft pick and especially for someone who wasn’t selected.
So Glenn understands what Brady Cook is staring down Sunday, when the undrafted rookie from Missouri will quarterback the Jets in his first career start.
Sometimes, there’s only one shot. Sometimes, it’s the perfect storm of injuries creating an avenue to the field that wouldn’t otherwise exist, which happened for Cook when Tyrod Taylor (groin) and Justin Fields (knee) didn’t practice for a third consecutive day Friday and were ruled out for the Jaguars game.
“When you have that one shot, man, you have to shine in that shot because you never know if you’re going to get it again,” Glenn said before practice Friday.
And after Cook took first-team reps all week in a setting far more controlled than the chaos of entering mid-game like he did last weekend, Glenn believes the Jets’ 10th different starting quarterback since the beginning of the 2022 season is positioned to capitalize.
Jets quarterback Brady Cook (4) speaks to the media after practice in Florham Park, NJ. Bill Kostroun/New York Post
Cook said that he and Glenn haven’t spoken about the notion of players sometimes only getting one chance. Glenn, though, said the 24-year-old understands it.
So in front of his fiancée, his parents and any other Jets fans scattered around EverBank Stadium, Cook will be officially tasked with orchestrating his first NFL chance — a 60-minute sample, against an AFC South-leading Jacksonville team — to provide enough tangible evidence to make his cameo as signal-caller last longer than one game.
“I think that could be the case in a given situation,” Cook told The Post of getting one chance, “but it’s not really how I’m thinking about it. Like I said, I’m really just focused on my preparation, and if this is my one shot, so be it.”
The duration of his moment mostly depends on the injury statuses of Taylor and Fields. Taylor left Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins after just six plays.
Fields — who opened the season as the starter, struggled and eventually got benched — was inactive with his knee injury and with his Gang Green career already in jeopardy despite another year on his deal.
If Cook struggles mightily, maybe it’s enough for Glenn to turn back to Taylor if the journeyman recovers or even Adrian Martinez, who will serve as Cook’s backup.
But if Cook finds a way to improve on his 14-for-30 debut, when he passed for 163 yards and threw a pair of interceptions, then the rest of the regular season could become his runway to make a first impression.
Jets quarterback Brady Cook (4) practices in Florham Park, NJ. Bill Kostroun/New York Post
A full week of reps with the starters helped, Cook said Friday.
It built his level of comfort with the offensive line, the receivers, the running backs — everyone he needed to adjust with on the fly initially. Center Josh Myers said Cook can clearly handle it.
Right tackle Armand Membou, who spent three seasons blocking for Cook at Missouri, described Cook as “one of the grittiest people I’ve ever met,” as demonstrated by an October 2024 Tigers matchup with Auburn when Cook went to the hospital mid-game for an MRI exam on his ankle and still returned to lead Missouri to a victory. Cook somehow returning from the hospital didn’t shock him at all, Membou told The Post.
“It doesn’t feel at all like the moment’s too big for him,” Myers said of Cook.
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The odds are certainly stacked against Cook carving out a long-term role with the Jets, given Gang Green’s plethora of draft picks that have positioned them to take a swing at a franchise signal-caller this offseason.
They’re certainly stacked against him carving out a long-term role in the NFL, too, as an undrafted player.
But sometimes, all it takes is one chance — and the others that follow — to change that. Cook, for one afternoon, will get to author his. That much, at least, has become official.
“Man, I have all the confidence in the world,” Glenn said of Cook, “and that’s something I’ve stated from the very beginning. He’ll be a good player in this league, and he’ll have his opportunity again this week.”