Victor Green played in the Jets' defensive backfield for eight seasons with Aaron Glenn.
At the top of a chat with team reporter Eric Allen after Glenn was named the 22nd coach of the Green & White, Green, a strong safety, offered three words to describe his former teammate: "He's a dog."
Green played 11 seasons in the NFL and his 9 most productive came when he played for the Jets. In his fourth season, the hard-hitting Green led the NFL with 165 total tackles (123 solo, also No. 1 in the league). He finished his career with a year in New England (2002) and one in New Orleans (2003).
He said his time on the field with Glenn left him with indelible memories and a certainty that the tenacious cornerback was destined to wear the headset of a head coach in the NFL.
"He has the tenacity," Green said. "You know, he played at 5-9, but you wouldn't have thought that. He played like he was 6-2. That's the type of mentality he has. You tell him he can't do something. He's gonna prove you wrong.
"And I think that over the last few years, him being getting turned down for head-coaching opportunities. And could have written his own ticket because he put himself in the position to do that. And I think he's going to surprise a lot of people about how he goes about his business. You got to think about it. He's been there with [Bill] Parcells and, you know, Peyton, Sean Payton [in New Orleans] and Dan [Campbell in Detroit] and the other guys. He's learned from the best. They've been mentoring this guy and grooming him for the last four years for this opportunity. So I think he's going to take a little bit from everybody he's learned from and go put it into his own little mold. And he's gonna coach that way."
It was Parcells who initially set Glenn on a trajectory to become an NFL head coach when he urged his former player to start out as a scout. Glenn embraced that advice and worked in the Jets' front office as a pro personnel scout in 2012 and college area scout in 2013. He progressed from there landing where Green said Glenn had always wanted to be.
"Hey, man, it's a perfect storm, right?" Green said. "The New York Jets was his job. That was his dream job because he could have interviewed with the Saints, or with any other team, and just kind of see what the opportunities out there were. But it's the job he wanted. And they wanted him back in '94 [when Glenn was drafted in the first round], now he wants them. And I think it's a perfect marriage. He knows what he's walking into and he's not afraid.
"I talked to Parcells, we keep up, and when AG was a defensive back coach, he told me he's going to be a head coach. He said, 'AG is special.' And he knew that back then, before anybody even really knew who he was coming on the scene as a defensive back coach. He knew what AG was at that time. So I know what type of player he is. I know what type of person is."
Glenn spent the past four seasons in the Motor City serving as Detroit's defensive coordinator and helped the Lions become one of the top defensive units in the league. Detroit went 15-2 and earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC postseason as Glenn needed to cobble together 11 healthy bodies because five starters, including edge Aidan Hutchinson, DT Alim McNeil and CB Carlton Davis III, plus multiple key backups landed on injured reserve. The Lions finished No. 1 on third down (32.43%), No. 5 against the run (98.4 yds/g), T5 in INTs (16) and T10 in takeaways (24).
Green believes that along with his ability as a defensive mastermind, Glenn's candid approach in challenging his players is his superpower, something that comes from being part of the "pedigree from the Parcells tree."
"He always had that fire that he wasn't going back down from anybody," Green said. "And that's what these players are going to find out real soon."
He added: "You got to get the right players and the right mentality on that football field. Because when I watched the defense this year, when I watched the whole team this year, I didn't see fire on every play. And you gotta have that certain type of discipline, because if you don't, once you get hit in the mouth, you're like, 'oh snap,' the fight has been brought to you. So, what are you going to do? Some people can't get up, but AG, ain't gonna let that happen from Day 1."
