For Jets head coach Aaron Glenn "moving in silence" was one of his goals his first few months on the job and through free agency. But on Monday at the NFL League Meetings in West Palm Beach, FL, he shed that cone of silence when he spoke and raved about the two guys -- cornerbacks Sauce Gardner and Brandon Stephens -- he expects to be the Green & White's pillars on defense come September.
"I'm looking forward to coaching him [Gardner] and Brandon because they're two big, physical men that can run," Glenn said. "So, I think that gives us an advantage when it comes to our corners."
And of course Glenn knows from when he speaks having played CB in the NFL 15 years, 8 with the Green & White after being selected No. 12 overall in the 1994 NFL Draft. But while the HC had all the skill, speed and tenacity to succeed, what he didn't have at 5-9 was size comparable to Gardner (6-3) and Stephens (6-1).
Asked if a young Sauce compared to a young Aaron Glenn, Glenn said: "Oh my God. I'm not 6-3!"
Stephens, 27, who signed in free agency after four seasons with the Ravens, started 37 of 39 games the last two seasons, including 4 playoff games. He totaled 144 tackles, 2 interceptions and 21 pass defenses. His signing was the first player on defense added to the Jets roster in the new regime headed by GM Darren Mougey and Glenn.
"He's a big, physical corner that can run, and he gives us a chance to have two big guys on the edge with him and Sauce to be disruptive and press coverage," Glenn said. "The one thing he has to work on is creating turnovers. We will work on that. We have two big guys on the edges and that creates a lot of issues for an offense, so we want to utilize that as much as possible."
Still on Stephens, he added: "He has everything in his body to be a damn good corner, to be an elite corner, because of his size, because of the physical, the physicality and because he can run."
Like Stephens, Gardner has had a limited number of interceptions (3) in his NFL career.
"When you play with your back to the quarterback for the majority of time, it's hard to get all those interceptions that you want, but if you look at it, he's denied the ball quite a bit, him [Gardner] and Brandon," Glenn said. "So when you play man coverage as much as those guys have, you're going to have a good amount of PBUs [passes broken up] and interceptions are not going to be there. But that's one thing that I want to work on with both of those guys is making sure that they can get their head around and locate the ball better."
When it comes to Gardner, who burst on the scene in 2022 after being selected No. 4 overall in that year's NFL Draft and earned Pro Bowl and Associated Press first-team honors, there was a perception that he had a down 2024 season. To Glenn, however, perception is not necessarily reality.
Glenn acknowledged that Gardner, entering his fourth season in the NFL, did not play up to the standard he established his first two seasons. But. ...
"Listen, I wish this league was a league where you could just be on top every play every year," Glenn said. "And listen, I say that respectfully of the players in this league. I know on a first-hand basis as I go through my career, there were some years that I didn't play as well."
For the past three seasons, Gardner and D.J. Reed gave the Jets a strong and consistent twosome at corner. Reed, however, left in free agency and signed with Detroit, where Glenn served admirably as the defensive coordinator.
Speaking specifically about Gardner, Glenn said: "But numbers wise, it seemed like it was good, because I think it's numbers as far as I'm not talking about interceptions, talking about his ability to deny in coverage, but I thought those are pretty good, and that's just part of this league.
"This is a grown man's league, and every year you're not going to be at the top of your game. Every year. The thing is, you thrive, and you bust your ass to try to do that. The thing is that he has it in him. And you guys [the media], you just said it two years straight, he was a damn good player. So, it's not like that's gone. It's just he didn't have the year that you guys want him to have. So he's going to have that again, because of who he is as a player. So, I'm not worried about what happened last year with him. I know the conversation that we've had and who he is as a man, and I know for a fact that he's going to get back to where he's going, where he needs to be."
