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If you think player agents are notorious for leaking, coaching agents will give them a run for their money.
One narrative being pushed last week by NFL insiders was that Los Angeles Rams tight end coach Nick Caley was the Jets top choice for offensive coordinator, but he had no interest working for them.
SNY’s Connor Hughes, the top Jets insider, who’s flat-out dominating the beat, announced last week: “Sources: The Jets made a run at adding Nick Caley as offensive coordinator — their top option. He let it be known he did not have interest in the job. The expectation is that Tanner Engstrand will be named OC, per sources.”
You have to wonder how much longer SNY will be able to keep Hughes before an ESPN or CBS comes along and steals him.
Never seen a constant volume of scoops like this in all my years covering the team. He’s a machine.
Hughes was not the only one who had a Caley-Jets scoop:
NFL reporter Aaron Wilson of KPRC in Houston tweeted on January 24: “Leading candidate for #Jets offensive coordinator job is #Rams tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Nick Caley, per multiple league sources.”
Wilson will now be covering Caley, because he took the OC job in Houston.
But Hughes’ report that Caley wanted nothing to do with the Jets spread like wildfire all over the internet and made the Jets look bad.
And people like to do that because until they turn things around, the Jets are low-hanging fruit.
But why was it necessary for the leaker of that narrative, perhaps an agent, to tell people Caley wanted nothing to do with the Jets?
Why couldn’t it just be, that he chose to go to a different team, which happens all the time with coaching candidates – they chose one team over another?
And if Caley did indeed turn the Jets down, why is that the end of the world?
The guy has never called plays before on any level, including at colleges where he coached, the likes of John Carroll, Eastern Illinois, Akron and Florida Atlantic.
Since 2017, when he entered the NFL as an assistant with New England, he’s been a tight end coach, first with the Patriots and then with the Rams.
So if he’s never called plays before, why are people putting him in Canton as a play-caller? Well, he was in Canton as a child. That is where he grew up.
But seriously, why is the guy being put on a pedestal right now, like he’s Don Coryell?
Look, he might turn out to be good for Houston, but who knows at this point, if he’s a better candidate than the guy the Jets hired – Detriot Lions assistant Tanner Engstrand, who called offensive plays in the past, albeit at the University of San Diego and in the XFL.
And how can we confirm that Caley was Aaron Glenn’s top choice? Did Glenn ever say that?
Why would Glenn pick Caley over Engstram, who he worked with in Detroit? He never worked with Caley.
So how do you know this narrative isn’t just agent-driven?
But even if the narrative is true, why did his source, probably an agent, have to go out of his way to make the Jets look bad by essentially saying the coach had no interest in the Jets?
That is a little sleazy.
Why not just say he chose another team?
Why?
It’s open season on making the Jets look bad.
Look, I will criticize the Jets for matters that I deem legitimate, but this isn’t one of them.
Caley isn’t interested in coaching for the Jets.
Who gives a rat’s ass.
February 4, 2025
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