If you took a straw poll from NFL fans and analysts on who is the best defensive coordinator in the league right now, a wide range of answers would be given.

Vic Fangio, Brian Flores, Jeff Hafley, Jim Schwartz, and Jesse Minter are among the more popular names mentioned.

As the New York Jets have begun their search for a new defensive play-caller, though, those illustrious names aren’t coming to Florham Park anytime soon. Yet, in many ways, that’s more than fine.

Big names at this moment don’t necessarily correlate to future success, and there’s no reason to believe Aaron Glenn is currently barking up the wrong tree. New York’s announcement of its recent defensive coordinator interviews highlights that very notion.

The Jets’ DC list shared experience

Here’s the full list of candidates the Jets have gone through a first round of interviews for regarding their defensive coordinator role:

Matt Araujo (Dolphins DB coach)

Ephraim Banda (Browns safeties coach)

Demarcus Covington (Packers DL)

Chris Harris (interim Jets DC)

Daronte Jones (Vikings DB coach)

Jim Leonhard (Broncos pass game coordinator)

Wink Martindale (Michigan DC)

Jim O’Neil (Lions defensive assistant)

When it comes to almost every name outside of Martindale, there’s a common denominator between all of the candidates. Can you tell what it is?

All of them were assistants at one point or another with one of the top play-calling coordinators in the league.

Banda worked with Schwartz in Cleveland, and Covington has ties to Bill Belichick and recently worked with Jeff Hafley. Jones has been an assistant under Flores. Leonhard has worked with Vance Joseph in Denver.

O’Neil has a personal relationship with Glenn, along with Harris. Finally, Araujo worked with Vic Fangio when the latter was in Miami.

It has become clear: The Jets aren’t going to be able to entice a top play-caller like Flores for the top job. They don’t have the talent or the infrastructure to do that sort of thing.

Instead, while accepting that fact and moving away from those top minds, they are willing to target assistants who worked under them for their own potential influence.

It’s a gutsy play for Glenn’s Jets, and there’s no guarantee that it will work in any capacity at this point. There’s a reason the candidates are assistants, after all.

To be fair, however, if even one of their names shows a bevy of talent similar to that of their mentor, it’ll be a no-brainer for the organization — not just in 2026 but beyond.

If the New York Jets can’t get the top names, then poaching their top assistants makes the most sense.