Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey, head coach and general manager of the Jets respectively, are less than two months into their tenure with the franchise. Both were hired by team owner Robert “Woody” Johnson in January. While Glenn and Mougey are operating with urgency to transform the Jets into a playoff contender, the pair’s immediate job security is sturdy.
Conversely, Brian Daboll, the Giants’ head coach, and Joe Schoen, their general manager, are on borrowed time. After three seasons under their leadership, during which the team has an 18-32-1 record with one wild card appearance following the unremarkable mark of 9-7-1 in the 2022 campaign, Daboll and Schoen were retained by team co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch to course correct what has been an unsuccessful mission.
The Jets haven’t made the playoffs in the past 14 seasons and the Giants have made the playoffs just once over the last eight. The teams began this week, the opening of the NFL’s 2025 free-agency period, with some of the same objectives, the most pressing securing viable starting quarterbacks. The Jets were swift in addressing that need. On Monday, they agreed to a two-year, $40 million deal with 26-year-old quarterback Justin Fields.
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It is uncertain if he will be the Jets’ long-term QB, but Glenn and Mougey are hoping Fields will develop into just that. The Chicago Bears’ 2021 first round pick (No. 11 overall) has shown flashes of potential in four pro seasons, three with the Bears and last season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Meanwhile, the Giants, which currently hold the third overall pick in next month’s NFL Draft, have a massive hole at quarterback. Livingston, New Jersey native Tommy DeVito, who has carved out a role as a backup in two seasons with the Giants, is the only QB they have under contract as of yesterday morning. The two names most associated with the Giants as likely options are veterans Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers.
Both would be temporary stopgaps and one season placeholders. Wilson, who started 11 games for the Steelers last season is 36. Rodgers is 41. After rupturing his left Achilles tendon in the Jets’ season opening game in 2023, he came back last season to play and start in all 17 of the Jets’ games last season. The Jets’ imperative is to ultimately draft or trade for a much younger quarterback who can man the spot for ideally a decade or so.
But will Mara and Tisch entrust Daboll and Schoen, who are essentially in survival mode, to make such a consequential decision with their top 3 draft pick? It can either put the franchise on a path of becoming a playoff contender or stagnate them for another several years in an NFC East division being dominated by NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles and the ascendant Washington Commanders, which made it to the NFC Championship Game in January powered by sensational young QB Jayden Daniels.