The Jets must fire defensive coordinator Steve Wilks after the season ends, and they should look to the Lions to see how to handle the replacement.
The New York Jets defense has been awful in 2025, and much of it is schematic, rather than talent. That means the veteran defensive coordinator must go.
In 2021, the Lions were 25th in scoring. The offense looked terrible, and veteran offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn was canned. The reason they fired Lynn was that the offense far underperformed the talent.
In 2002, the Lions promoted tight ends coach Ben Johnson to offensive coordinator. It was his first time calling plays, and the Lions also had the current Jets head coach, Aaron Glenn, in his second season calling plays for their defense.
In 2026, Tanner Engstrand will be in his second season as a play-caller. The tendency for fans and the media would be to look toward veteran defensive play-callers to replace Wilks, and some would look outside the organization. However, the Jets should absolutely look inward for their next defensive coordinator.
In 2021, not only was Johnson the tight ends coach for the Lions, but he also assumed pass game coordinator duties during that season, following Lynn's relief from play-calling duties.
The Jets have someone on their defensive staff who currently has similar roles to Johnson before he took the reins of the offense for the Lions. Former NFL safety, and current Jets defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator Chris Harris should be the one to replace Wilks.
Harris interviewed for the position that ultimately went to Wilks before landing on Wilks’ staff. Harris has shown he’s a good developer of talent with the improvement of Brandon Stephens as the season has progressed, and rookie Malachi Moore has shown signs of being a diamond-in-the-rough type player, after having been a day 3 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Other than one coach being on offense and the other on defense, the only major difference in the roads to coordinator would be the number of years as an assistant coach in the NFL. Harris will be completing his 13th season as an NFL coach, and Johnson had completed only 10. That said, Johnson did spend his first three years as a football assistant coach at Boston College.
In the end, there needs to be a change at the top of the defensive staff for Glenn, and he should look inward, rather than outside the building.