Jan. 19, 2026, 6:24 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
The New York Jets<\/a> have identified eight candidates to fill their defensive coordinator vacancy<\/a>. The options range from experienced choices like Wink Martindale to Daronte Jones and Ephraim Banda.<\/p>\n The only name on the list that would truly excite the entire Jets fanbase is current Denver Broncos<\/a> assistant head coach and defensive passing game coordinator Jim Leonhard<\/a>.<\/p>\n Leonhard played safety for the Jets from 2009 to 2011, establishing himself as a fan favorite during the enjoyable Rex Ryan years. There’s also a notable connection between Leonhard and Jets head coach Aaron Glenn, who is making the decision.<\/p>\n Leonhard played for the Browns<\/a> when Glenn was an assistant coach in Cleveland. Glenn was specifically an assistant defensive backs coach. He would have spent a ton of time coaching Leonhard.<\/p>\n Leonhard is currently coaching the Broncos in the NFL playoffs. Denver is preparing to host the New England Patriots in this coming weekend’s AFC Championship Game. It goes without saying the Jets would be unable to hire Leonhard until he’s eliminated from the playoffs. Will Glenn be patient?<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n Leonhard has also been tied to the New York Giants<\/a>‘ defensive coordinator vacancy under John Harbaugh, according to reports<\/a>. On paper, that job appears to be significantly more appetizing, with actual defensive talent to build around. It would be super impressive if Glenn could convince Leonhard to come coach the Jets’ defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 19, 2026, 6:24 p.m. ET The New York Jets have identified eight candidates to fill their defensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[95878,7,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,97197,97198,95882,95957,95886,100739,95896,95891,96747,95888,95895,95906,95884,95883,99851,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-690443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jets","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-jets","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkjets","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sstssportsnfljets","17":"tag-sstsnjets","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagcleveland-browns","20":"tag-tagdenver-broncos","21":"tag-tagjim-leonhard","22":"tag-tagnational-sports","23":"tag-tagnew-york-giants","24":"tag-tagnew-york-jets","25":"tag-tagnfl","26":"tag-tagnfl-hub","27":"tag-tagoverall-positive","28":"tag-tagsports-coaching-training","29":"tag-tagsports-news","30":"tag-tagwink-martindale","31":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115925774897052660","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}