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The best-case scenario for the Jets would be acquiring mercurial cornerback Jarvis Brownlee, who went from the starting lineup in Tennessee to being traded for a sixth-round pick.
Here it is. Drum roll, please.
Aaron Glenn gets through to him better than Brian Callahan.
Glenn has walked a mile in his shoes, and Callahan has not. Glenn will give him more tough love than Callahan.
“Jarvis Brownlee had a really good Senior Bowl,” said draft guru Lance Zeirlein of NFL.com after the Titans picked him last year. “He plays with tremendous confidence, tremendous attitude. He’s an aggressive press corner. He likes to stay right up under your chin on your release, so he’s going to be very physical with his press release. Love the mentality as a press corner.”
Zeirlein feels one issue is that he’s so aggressive that he bites on double-moves so he can get beat, sometimes.
However, Glenn obviously loves aggressive press corners. That is why he picked Florida State’s Azareye’h Thomas in the third round this year, who he considered the best press corner in the draft. That doesn’t mean he was the best corner in the draft, but the best press corner at the line.
Ironically, Brownlee and Thomas were teammates briefly at Florida State, and Thomas’ arrival, along with some other recruits, might have been what led Brownlee to transfer to Louisville. Brownlee was recruited to FSU by coach Willie Taggart, who was replaced by Mike Norvell a couple of years later, so Norvell was recruiting his own guys, like Thomas.
And like Norvell didn’t recruit Brownlee, new Titans GM Mike Borgonzi did not draft Brownlee, Ran Carthen did, so just like Norvell, Borgonzi had no equity in the player, so he moved on, perhaps feeling he was a bad fit for his program, like the Jets’ new regime with WR Malachi Corley. Glenn/Mougey had no equity in Corley.
It will be interesting to see if Glenn will be able to connect with this player better than Callahan, and take his game to the next level . . .
With all the Jets’ moves this week, adding Brownlee and two linebackers, it’s surprising they didn’t add a defensive end.
Jermaine Johnson remains out with an ankle injury, and they are painfully thin at the position. Perhaps that is one of the reasons they had just one sack against a Tampa Bay line with three starters out, and two other starters playing out of position. Yes, the Bucs had five holding calls on the first series, but that died down after that, with just two O-Line holding calls the rest of the game. With Johnson out, the Jets’ other starting edge rusher, Will McDonald, had no defensive stats in the game – no tackles, no sacks, no QB hits, and so forth. Yes, he had a spectacular blocked field goal that he took, but no defensive stats. Even McDonald admitted after the game that he could have done more on defense.
“I could have [done] a little more in the game,” said McDonald.
It looks like the new coach has the same fierce loyalty to Michael Clemons as the old staff did, and Braiden McGregor and Tyler Baron come across as defensive ends that perhaps are better suited for the practice squad at this point.
The Jets’ situation at end is a problem going into Miami, and could lead to a big day for Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and company.
Yes, the Dolphins have some line issues, but not as bad as the Bucs, and Baker Mayfield threw for 233 yards last week. Even though Miami is 0-3, its offense has come to life in the last two games, close games against New England and Buffalo.
So it is somewhat surprising, with their flurry of moves this week, no moves were made to add an end . . .
“I made the statement that these guys are not the same old Jets,” Glenn said on Thursday “These guys are a bunch of guys that want to win, they’re starting to understand exactly how to win, we just have to do a better job of getting over that hump and winning these games, and I know as we continue to progress during the season, those guys will do a good job of that.”
Glenn’s positivity is admirable, and his players do love and respect him, and while positivity is awesome, and we need more of it in the world these days, it can only get you so far as a football team.
This team has some personnel issues (just like all teams), some of which can’t be fixed until the off-season, and Glenn’s power of positive thinking approach isn’t going to make some of these guys better.
Some guys he will make better, but others have plateaued. They are who they are.
And the most important thing for Glenn moving forward, especially next off-season, is to not let confirmation bias or personal feelings towards certain players as human beings cloud his judgment in making personnel decisions.
I’m not accusing him of that. It’s too early to do that. Just saying there might be some earmarks of that happening in some cases, and he has try with all his might to avoid that.
One of the things that made Bill Belichick so good during his golden years in New England was no sentimentality or heartstrings when it came to personnel moves. Heck, he traded future Hall-of-Famer Richard Seymour.
September 26, 2025
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