We’re halfway through the season, and things still haven’t turned around for the New York Jets. They’re sitting at 1–7, buried at the bottom of the AFC East, and the outlook only gets tougher after dealing away two of their biggest defensive stars. Which naturally raises the question: what does all this mean for head coach Aaron Glenn?

The short answer: he’s not going anywhere. Despite the chaos of the past few weeks, including the trades of Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, the organization remains committed to Glenn and to building alongside new GM Darren Mougey. According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, both men are aligned on the long-term vision.

“There are no plans for a one-and-done result. Glenn was in lock-step with Mougey on each move, with the idea that they would continue to build the roster based on their joint vision going forward,” Rapoport wrote.

“Glenn won’t be judged during the 2025 season by what the team’s record is, sources say, keeping in mind that he lost two of his best players and must lead a locker room that watched Gardner and Williams leave. With quarterback issues and a young team in transition that got even younger this week, there are many factors at play,” the insider added.

It’s hard to argue with that. Glenn is working with a defense stripped of its top talent, a receiving corps that doesn’t extend beyond Garrett Wilson, and a quarterback in Justin Fields who still hasn’t found his footing. There just aren’t many levers left to pull.

By all accounts, Glenn wasn’t blindsided by the trades. He was in the room with Mougey, part of every discussion, and fully supportive of the moves. That says a lot about where this organization’s priorities are.

This isn’t about salvaging what’s left of 2025. It’s about resetting the foundation and, for once, sticking with a plan.

If there’s a silver lining for Jets fans, it’s that they might finally be playing the long game.

Jets’ outlook for the future

Losing Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams will make Aaron Glenn’s job a lot tougher on Sundays, but in the bigger picture, those moves might have set him up with a better team down the road.

For starters, the Jets got real salary-cap relief from moving Gardner. Just five months after signing him to a four-year, $120.4 million extension, they sent him to Indianapolis.

The contract structure made that possible. Gardner’s signing bonus ($13.75 million) now sits as dead money on New York’s books. But most of the guaranteed money in the deal came through future option bonuses, which the Colts will now take on. The bigger win for the Jets, though, wasn’t financial. It was what came back in return.

After the trades of Gardner and Williams, the Jets are suddenly sitting on a mountain of draft capital. They now hold three additional first-round picks and one extra second-round pick over the next two drafts. That makes it eight total selections in the first two rounds of 2026 and 2027. That’s unheard of in today’s NFL.

At this point, the smartest move for New York might be to stop worrying about salvaging this season and instead pour every ounce of energy into planning for those drafts. They’re not going anywhere in 2025, but the right combination of picks could flip the trajectory of the franchise faster than anything else could.

They have to get their picks right. No team has this kind of draft capital, and if the Jets swing and miss, the Gardner and Williams trades will essentially be a waste. It might be one of the most tragic hits or misses in New York’s painfully long history of tragedy.