Wednesday Whispers – Are their hazards in hiring Duker?

The Jets have hired Miami Dolphins secondary coach Brian Duker as their new defensive coordinator.

What is my opinion on him as a coach? I don’t have one. Unlike many people, I’m not going to judge somebody harshly just because I never heard of them.

He could be a very good hire. He could be very bad hire. I have no idea. I’ve never seen the man work.

And neither have most of the critics.

But there are few things to consider.

First off, since he worked with Aaron Glenn in Detroit for three years, and Glenn intends on calling the defense this year, this hire might make sense. Duker knows Glenn’s system intimately, and can help him prepare game plans, and then help him on the headset on game day with the play-calling.

So in that regard, the hire makes sense.

Secondly, one thing none of us know is what kind of budget Glenn was given for this hire by Hymie and Ira, Woody’s right and left-hand men, who are heavily involved with the team’s finances.

Remember we were hearing stuff about the Jets being interested in veteran defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, and now they pivoted to Glenn calling the plays, with a DC in title only, who is young, probably was out of work in Miami with them making a coaching change, and likely came cheap.

Once again, I don’t know if Glenn had financial constraints, but with the enormous power Ira and Hymie have, and the team playing in half-empty stadiums this past year, you never know.

Let’s not forget, that after the 2024 season, another campaign with half-empty stadiums, the Jets offered buyouts to 170 of their 250 employees. While the spin on this was if was for cultural reasons, there had to be a financial element to it. According to a league source, the NFL office had suggested to teams that perhaps some of them had bloated staffs and should try to cut back a little.

And let’s not forget the Jets raised their ticket prices again this year.

So it’s entirely possible that Duker’s hire could be in part connected to a belt tightening effort.

Maybe Glenn was told, you can spend big bucks on one coordinator, but not both. So maybe bigger bucks will be used to hire an offensive coordinator. We shall see.

Look, I’m not a Glenn apologist like others on the beat, but some things that go on behind the scenes with these teams we are not aware of. In fact, a lot of things.

So it’s possible that Glenn was given a limited coaching budget to work with, and that is part of what is at play here.

I think one of the biggest problems with the Jets right now is the structure of their football operation.

They need a President or VP of Football Operations very badly, like Atlanta has with Matt Ryan.

Glenn has too much on his plate right now.

I think he would be best suited just focusing on coaching the football team, being a leader of men, not the football czar like Sean Payton in Denver, a coach who runs everything, as Bill Belichick used to in New England.

I don’t think he’s ready for the amount of power he has.

He has too much going on, he is juggling too many balls, and no football boss above him to help him navigate all the Jets have going on right now. Darren Mougey is not his boss. In fact, it seems like Mougey, even though he has the GM title, really has no power over Glenn.

To wait three weeks to fire all those assistants is far from ideal.

Look, Payton just lost in the AFC Championship game, and boom, right after Denver’s season ended, he fired three assistant coaches, including a coach who has been with him for many years, OC Joe Lombardi (Vince’s grandson).

And the Broncos issued a press release announcing the firings, and thanking the men for their service.

The Jets have fired eight assistant coaches, and no press release or public acknowledgment that they made the moves. We are relying on the work of Houston reporter Aaron Wilson, who announced seven of the firings last week (not including Tanner Engstrand, which happened this week).

If Glenn needs help in the organization, to help him fix the mess that was the 2025-26 season, who above him in the organization is there to help him, with high-level football acumen? The two men above him – one is a financial genius (Ira) and the other other is a brilliant lawyer (Hymie).

The structure is bad.

But with all this being said, I’m not going to sit here and criticize the Duker hire.

I don’t rip coaching hires based on not knowing a lot of about the candidate and the person being a relative no-name. That is reckless and childish.

January 28, 2026

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