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This quote says it all about the impact Frank Reich could have on the Jets’ offense and as a sounding board for second-year head coach Aaron Glenn.
This is from legendary Buffalo Bills QB Jim Kelly on how helpful Frank’s wisdom/advice was to him. Reich was his long-time backup QB.
“I welcomed his input. not just when we were playing games but in practice and meetings more than anything,” Kelly told the Jets website. “The two cents that Frank gave was more than two cents. It was like a 20-dollar bill. He gave me everything that I would need.”
And that is what he should be able to do for the Jets offense and Glenn.
Now, the impact on the Jets offense is the main thing here. He can help Glenn a little, Reich’s main focus will be fixing the Jets broken offense.
The man is an offensive savant, and saint of a human being. It’s hard to argue with Glenn’s decision to hire him.
“I know what he meant to our (QB) room and our team,” Kelly said, “I just wish he was a Buffalo Bill and not a New York Jet. I have a lot of friends that live down in that area that are Jets fans and I like to mess with ’em. But God bless ’em, I know that he’s going to add so much to that team and to that quarterbacks room.”
And as far as the QB room, Glenn needs to make Reich the head of the “sub-committee” that spearheads their search for a new QB.
I don’t mean this to be disrespectful, but Glenn, who has spend most of his life on the defensive side of the ball, perhaps didn’t do the best job making QB decisions in his first year as Jets head coach/football czar (he has enormous power in that building).
Not to belabor the point, but the signing of Justin Fields, and giving him $30 million guaranteed in a two-year, $40 million deal, was not a great move. Why would you give a guy with a 14-30 lifetime record at the time, that kind of money, and then anoint him the starter in March. There is no issue with bringing him in to kick the tires, but you give him, let’s say, a two-year deal for $9 million, and make him compete for the job. So there were two issues with this move – the contract and the anointing.
Also going with super-raw rookie Brady Cook, who went undrafted because of his accuracy issues, as the #3, wasn’t ideal either. You can say, “What is the big deal – it’s just the #3 spot.” Well, he ended up starting the last month of the season. If you wanted to sign Cook as a UDFA out of Missouri and see if you can fix him, that is fine, make him the #4 and keep him on the practice squad all year – redshirt him, if you will.
So, not only is Reich the perfect guy to fix the Jets offense, but also to spearhead the selections of who should be in the QB room – veterans, rookies, whatever.
I’m not going overboard with the praise for Reich. After his body of work as a player, but even more importantly as a assistant coach and head coach, he is universally respected in the football world.
“He’s earned that respect, he’s definitely earned it over the course of the years he’s been a coach,” Kelly said.
February 20, 2026
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