14 years, 5 head coaches! That’s the number of years the NY Jets haven’t qualified for the playoffs. When Rex Ryan took over in 2009, he took them to back-to-back playoffs. Since then, everything has dried up. The city that never sleeps only recognizes success. And the owner, Woody Johnson, needs someone who can have a camaraderie with Aaron Rodgers and lead them into the postseason.

After firing Jeff Ulbrich, their search has been in wide directions. Lions’ OC Ben Johnson, DC, Aaron Glenn, and the former Dolphins HC and Vikings DC Brian Flores are a few of the candidates. But NY Reporter Connor J Hughes made some startling revelations on December 15 episode of the WFAN. After claiming that Ben Johnson wasn’t interested in the Jets, Hughes cleared the Jets’ stance and said, “The Jets had a couple of concerns how Ben Johnson was going to handle the New York market because of how his personality is, the way he is kind of wired.”

Was he pointing to Ben Johnson’s aggression and the drive to go behind the results? That may lead to problems with the media and fanbase. Not to forget, Aaron Rodgers is still the Jets quarterback. And the new head coach needs to go well with him else the situation could be like that of Robert Saleh. The QB and the HC had differences leading to the coach being fired after a 2-3 game in the starting games.

However, Hughes claimed that Brian Flores would have been a good fit and added, “He’s bringing the culture. He’s bringing the discipline that this Jets team could use quite a bit of.” While he took the Vikings to a great 14-3 win-loss record this season, he didn’t enjoy the same success as the Dolphins head coach, finishing without a playoff appearance in 3 seasons.

The Jets are interviewing different people for the job. Two of them are the previous HCs. They need to finish it fast so that they can start planning their offseason.

10 coaches Aaron Rodgers’ team has interviewed

While Ben Johnson wouldn’t be at the franchise, ten men have been interviewed. Those are Darren Rizzi, Steve Spagnuolo, Mike Locksley, Mike Vrabel, Ron Rivera, Rex Ryan, Matt Nagy, Jeff Ulbrich, Aaron Glenn, and Jeff Hafley.

Out of these, Mike Locksley has never coached any NFL team. But he has 3 decades experience of working with different college teams. Vrabel and Rivera have a vast coaching knowledge in the league and are good choices. Nagy and Spagnuolo are kind of similar, as they became a head coach, but returned to coordinator jobs after failing in their stints.

Aaron Rodgers has worked with Ulbrich, and Woody Johnson trusts Rex Ryan to handle the competitive NY market. Even the fanbase believes Ryan could do the job. A young 45-year-old Hafley could also help the locker room become more attacking and focused on their approach. But nothing concrete has been decided yet.

Everyone is concerned about the quarterback’s fate, too. He acknowledged that this year could be his last in the NFL. But there is no news so far. Stay tuned, as we will keep bringing new updates for you.