The New York Jets completed video interviews with five candidates for their offensive coordinator vacancy, including former NFL head coach and current Stanford adviser Frank Reich.
The team announced Wednesday night it also had remote meetings with Darrell Bevell, Ronald Curry, Greg Roman and Lunda Wells.
The Jets are looking for an offensive coordinator after Tanner Engstrand and the team agreed to part ways Tuesday, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press. Coach Aaron Glenn and Engstrand had been discussing Engstrand’s role before the sides agreed to move on, the person told the AP on condition of anonymity because the team didn’t announce the move.
Glenn is turning his focus to finding a leader for his offence after hiring former Miami Dolphins assistant Brian Duker on Wednesday to be New York’s defensive coordinator. Duker replaces Steve Wilks, who was fired with three games remaining in the Jets’ 3-14 season.
The new offensive coordinator will inherit a unit that finished last in the NFL in yards passing and 29th in both total yards per game and points per game. After Justin Fields was benched after starting just nine games, the Jets are also likely to add a veteran quarterback in free agency and perhaps target a potential future starter in the NFL draft.
The 64-year-old Reich was 4-8 as Stanford’s interim coach last season and is currently in a senior adviser role for the Cardinal, who hired Tavita Pritchard as their coach in November. Reich, a 14-year NFL quarterback who was with the Jets during the 1996 season, has an extensive coaching history.
He went 40-33-1 with two playoff appearances in four and a half seasons as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts before being fired in 2022. Reich went 1-10 in a brief stint as Carolina’s coach in 2023. He previously had stops as the offensive coordinator for the Chargers and Eagles, helping Philadelphia win the Super Bowl during the 2017 season.
Bevell was the Dolphins’ quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator the last four seasons. He was Jacksonville’s offensive coordinator in 2021 and was the Jaguars’ interim coach for the final four games that season.
Bevell oversaw Detroit’s offence for two seasons and also served as the Lions’ interim coach for five games during the 2020 season. He was previously the offensive coordinator for Minnesota and Seattle, where he was part of the Seahawks’ Super Bowl winner in the 2013 season.
Curry, a former NFL wide receiver, was Buffalo’s quarterbacks coach the past two seasons. He has familiarity with Glenn, with whom he was on the same staff for five years as an assistant in New Orleans. Curry was an offensive assistant for the Saints in 2016, was promoted to wide receivers coach in 2018 and quarterbacks coach in 2021 before working as New Orleans’ quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator for two seasons.
Roman is a longtime NFL assistant who has had stints as an offensive coordinator with four teams, including the Los Angeles Chargers the past two seasons. He has also been in charge of the offences of Baltimore (2019-22), Buffalo (2015-16) and San Francisco (2011-14). Among Roman’s other stops, he was Houston’s quarterbacks coach during the 2004 season, when Glenn was a cornerback for the Texans. Roman was the AP Assistant Coach of the Year in 2019 under John Harbaugh in Baltimore.
Wells has been Dallas’ tight ends coach the last six seasons after serving in various roles over eight years with the Giants, including as the tight ends coach (2018-19), assistant offensive line coach (2013-17) and offensive quality control coach (2012).