{"id":809783,"date":"2026-03-13T10:38:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/809783\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T10:38:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:38:42","slug":"demario-davis-david-onyemata-and-minkah-fitzpatrick-having-reunions-of-sorts-with-jets-aaron-glenn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/809783\/","title":{"rendered":"Demario Davis, David Onyemata and Minkah Fitzpatrick having reunions of sorts with Jets, Aaron Glenn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Demario Davis<\/a> rejoined a familiar face in a familiar place for the next stop in his long, impressive NFL<\/a> journey.<\/p>\n

After eight years with the New Orleans Saints<\/a>, the 37-year-old linebacker signed with the New York Jets<\/a> for a third stint with the team that drafted him. And this time, he’s back with coach Aaron Glenn.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce my agents let me know that the Jets were an option, it was a no-brainer,\u201d Davis said Thursday during a video call with reporters. <\/p>\n

Davis was a third-round pick by New York in 2012 out of Arkansas State and Glenn a personnel scout during the linebacker’s first two NFL seasons. The two just missed each other when Davis played in Cleveland in 2016 and Glenn left the Browns<\/a> to join New Orleans’ staff as an assistant. But they were back together again in 2018 when Davis left the Jets for a second time to play with the Saints.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a big reason I ended up in New Orleans,\u201d Davis recalled. \u201cAnd now here, I didn\u2019t even need to have a conversation with him to be all on board. And to get here and see what it is that he\u2019s building and the culture and just to feel the energy in the building, just a ton of excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis, who signed a two-year contract worth $22 million, with $15 million guaranteed, will be counted on to help provide leadership for a team looking to bounce back from a 3-14 season and trying to snap the NFL’s longest active playoff drought at 15 seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s preaching all the right messages and it sounds like there\u2019s a locker room of guys who are bought into what he’s coaching and we\u2019re just being brought in to help reinforce that,\u201d Davis said. “If anything, use our voice to turn up the volume, because at the end of the day, ships go into daylight because you hold on and hold steady through the storm. And that\u2019s all we need to do. He has the vision, he has the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd all we’ve got to do is hold this thing steady and we\u2019re going to come out the other side and I think it\u2019s going to shock the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

Davis isn’t the only Jets newcomer on defense having a reunion of sorts in free agency.<\/p>\n

Defensive tackle David Onyemata<\/a> signed a one-year, $10.5 million deal that includes $9.7 million guaranteed after spending the last three seasons in Atlanta. He played his first seven seasons with the Saints, including five with Glenn as an assistant coach and three with Davis as a teammate.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Onyemata also called it \u201ca no-brainer\u201d to join the Jets and play for Glenn. A video clip made the rounds on social media after New York beat Atlanta last November with Onyemata finding Glenn on the field and thanking him for helping \u201cchange my life\u201d with words of wisdom when they’d chat before meetings with the Saints.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being on the same team and just communicating with him,\u201d Onyemata said, \u201cthat bond kind of got stronger over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Onyemata also looks forward to playing again with Davis as teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a great relationship over the years,\u201d Onyemata said. \u201cJust communication, being on the same page, and just getting the opportunity to do that again and be out there on the field with him again will be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glenn acknowledged he’s changing things up and will call the defense this season, but he hired Brian Duker as his coordinator to oversee the operation. Duker comes from Miami, where he was the secondary coach and pass game coordinator for two years. Among the players he worked with regularly was safety Minkah Fitzpatrick<\/a>, who was acquired by the Jets for a seventh-round pick earlier this week \u2014 and then signed him to a three-year, $40 million contract extension \u2014 to anchor their secondary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have all the necessary parts to be a really, really great defense under the guidance of AG, Duker and those guys,\u201d Fitzpatrick said. “So there\u2019s a lot to look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three-time All-Pro is a native of Old Bridge, New Jersey, and after playing in Miami and Pittsburgh his first eight seasons, this is a bit of a homecoming for the 29-year-old Fitzpatrick. <\/p>\n

\u201cI still have a lot of friends and family back here,” he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been to the Jets’ facility multiple times when I was younger when I competed in the Nike High School camps and whatnot. So it\u2019s a lot of flashbacks being back in this building.\u201d <\/p>\n

He also will play his home games at MetLife Stadium, the site of the 2014 NJSIAA non-public group 4 championship in which Fitzpatrick and St. Peter\u2019s Prep beat Paramus Catholic 34-18. <\/p>\n

“So it\u2019s a full-circle moment, for sure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It’s not quite what quarterback Geno Smith<\/a> is experiencing after being acquired from Las Vegas in a trade 13 years after the Jets drafted him in the second round. But reunions create a sense of comfort on and off the field. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very surreal seeing familiar faces,\u201d a smiling Davis said. \u201cMan, it really feels like coming back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NFL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Demario Davis rejoined a familiar face in a familiar place for the next stop in his long, impressive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[11413,6838,7,1507,7583,122,896,55,255,2572,2571,6,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-809783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-david-onyemata","9":"tag-demario-davis","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-geno-smith","12":"tag-minkah-fitzpatrick","13":"tag-national-football-league","14":"tag-new-orleans","15":"tag-new-orleans-saints","16":"tag-new-york-jets","17":"tag-neworleans","18":"tag-neworleanssaints","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-saints"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116221438794618268","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809783","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=809783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}