{"id":704849,"date":"2026-01-25T21:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T21:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/704849\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T21:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T21:55:14","slug":"packers-dc-hire-has-intriguing-implications-for-jets-dc-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/704849\/","title":{"rendered":"Packers&#8217; DC hire has intriguing implications for Jets&#8217; DC search"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As of Championship Sunday, the New York Jets are still searching for their defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n<p>The Jets have officially interviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/jetsxfactor.com\/2026\/01\/16\/new-york-jets-official-round-1-dc-interviews\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">eight candidates<\/a>. Among those, the most appealing option is arguably Jim Leonhard, an ascending young coach who <a href=\"https:\/\/jetsxfactor.com\/2026\/01\/18\/new-york-jets-film-jim-leonhard-smart-broncos-pass-coverage\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">has done excellent work<\/a> as the Wisconsin Badgers\u2019 DC and the Denver Broncos\u2019 defensive pass game coordinator.<\/p>\n<p>The Dallas Cowboys\u2019 recent hire of Christian Parker, who did not interview with New York, <a href=\"https:\/\/jetsxfactor.com\/2026\/01\/22\/cowboys-dc-hire-fantastic-news-jets\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">was good news for the Jets<\/a>, slightly increasing their odds of landing Leonhard or another preferred candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Now, another DC vacancy has been filled without Leonhard going off the board. According to multiple reports, the Green Bay Packers have hired former Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon as their next defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Packers are hiring Jonathan Gannon as defensive coordinator, per source.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TomPelissero\/status\/2015437077186216194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">January 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Why this is promising news for the Jets<\/p>\n<p>The Packers\u2019 decision to bypass Leonhard increases the odds that he lands in New York.<\/p>\n<p>The former Jets safety is a hot commodity around the league, also interviewing for Dallas\u2019 and Green Bay\u2019s DC jobs before they made their hires.<\/p>\n<p>However, if the Jets want to keep their chances of hiring Leonhard alive, they must wait.<\/p>\n<p>Teams are not permitted to officially hire or conduct in-person interviews with coaches whose teams are still alive in the postseason, a rule that applied to Leonhard.<\/p>\n<p>Denver remains active in the playoffs, with the Broncos set to face the New England Patriots in Sunday\u2019s AFC championship game, effectively placing Leonhard on hold until Denver\u2019s season comes to an end.<\/p>\n<p>With Green Bay\u2019s and Dallas\u2019 jobs both off the table, though, Leonhard\u2019s odds of becoming the Jets\u2019 next DC have increased significantly.<\/p>\n<p>The Jets still must contend with many other DC openings around the NFL. The Chargers, Commanders, Titans, and 49ers have current openings, while multiple other teams with head coaching vacancies will likely make changes.<\/p>\n<p>For now, given that the Jets did not interview Parker or Gannon, those hires are positive news for Aaron Glenn as he zeroes in on his candidates of choice, with Leonhard at the forefront.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As of Championship Sunday, the New York Jets are still searching for their defensive coordinator. The Jets have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[257,7,3228,345,226,90259,1917,255,2321,2097,6,4403,3231,3234],"class_list":{"0":"post-704849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-dallas-cowboys","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-free-content","11":"tag-green-bay-packers","12":"tag-jets","13":"tag-jim-leonhard","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-jets","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkjets","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-ny-jets-coaches","20":"tag-ny-jets-news","21":"tag-standard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115957971360500037","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704849","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=704849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}