It has only been a little more than a year that Darren Mougey has been general manager of the Jets. Yet over that limited span he has proven himself to be a keen evaluator of talent, an adept trader, aggressive in free agency while also crafting deals that make financial sense, at least in the short term.

Since the start of the League Year earlier this month, Mougey, who will turn 41 years old in less than 2 weeks, has gone about rebuilding the Jets’ roster ahead of the 2026 NFL season. And second-year HC Aaron Glenn made several personnel changes on his staff prior to the NFL’s league year.

“First of all, there’s a lot of new coaches on the staff, [OC] Frank Reich, obviously, coming in,” NFL.com analyst Brian Baldinger told senior reporter Eric Allen on a recent edition of The Official Jets Podcast. “Brian Duker coming in as defensive coordinator, a lot of new coaches.”

In total, Glenn will be working with more than a dozen new coaches.

With Glenn planning to call the plays on defense, much as he did as the DC with the Detroit Lions, the defense took priority among Mougey’s early moves.

“They rebuilt this roster,” Baldinger said. “It needed to be rebuilt. I think that they got some good value with some real veteran players. Guys have been around a long time, obviously, [LB] Demario Davis back to the Jets for the third time, but they got a lot of guys, not just that are veterans, but guys who have been largely healthy and in leadership roles wherever they’ve been.”

In addition to Davis, a 17-year veteran, that group includes New Jersey native Minkah Fitzpatrick, a safety acquired in a trade with AFC East rival Miami. Mougey then sent edge Jermaine Johnson to Tennessee for the young and promising DT T’Vondre Sweat. In rapid-fire fashion in the first wave of free agency, the Jets brought aboard edge Joseph Ossai, edge Kingsley Enagbare and DT David Onyemata (the latter two on team-friendly one-year deals).

In addition to Fitzpatrick, the defensive backfield was fortified with the signing in free agency of CB Nahshon Wright and S Dane Belton (each also on one-year deals).

And all those moves have come before the NFL Draft in about a month when the Jets have nine total picks, four among the top 44 selections (two each in the first two rounds).