Frank Reich’s remarkable NFL journey began with a memorable play—his first pass in a game packed with action featuring sacks by Mark Gastineau and Joe Klecko, along with Wesley Walker’s impressive 96-yard touchdown catch from Ken O’Brien.
While Reich’s experience spans four decades, don’t anticipate a Jets offense rooted in strategies from 1985. With his recent role in 2023 as the Panthers’ head coach marking the last time he called plays, it’s clear that his approach is anything but outdated.
“He’s someone who constantly evolves,” remarked right guard Joe Tippmann. “His perspective isn’t confined to footage from the 2000s. He’s up-to-date, conducting analyses on recent trends and where he believes the league will head. Each meeting with him gets me eager about the potential directions our offense might take.”
In the initial days of training camp, Reich’s innovative spirit has been evident, showcasing unconventional methods to engage key playmakers within the offense.
Reich was brought on board to revitalize a struggling Jets offense, which landed in the NFL’s bottom four in scoring for three of the last four seasons. Fresh off a brief tenure as Stanford’s interim head coach — a role facilitated by a favor to Stanford’s football GM, Andrew Luck — Reich reconnected with former teammate Glenn to spearhead this transformation.
“We’ve always just talked football and just hearing what his philosophy is, I would think, ‘I feel the same way,’ ” Glenn said. “It’s been good. I’m glad he’s here.”
The Jets expressed interest in CB Terrion Arnold, who was cut by the Lions in June after he was arrested and charged with felony armed robbery and kidnapping. Glenn was the Lions defensive coordinator when Arnold was a 2024 first-round pick.
Glenn compared it to when the Jets brought in free agent quarterback Russell Wilson to visit and offered him a contract as a backup quarterback — before Wilson retired.
“We’re always looking at guys that we feel like could help us,” Glenn said. “We do our due diligence and that doesn’t mean that we’re going to bring everybody in. The thing is, we’re just going to turn over every stone to make sure, ‘Is this a guy that can help us with everything that’s going on?’ Which we don’t know.”
A fire alarm sounded in the Jets building during DT Jowon Briggs’ press conference.
Only moments earlier, Briggs talked about having a “fire underneath your belly.”
“Not being complacent,” said Briggs, who was traded from the Browns to the Jets last August. “Continuing to work so you can prove that you have a spot with the club you are at. That’s really big for me.”
The Jets are off Friday — after just two practices — and again Sunday before getting into pads Monday for the first time.
Why the unusual schedule?
Glenn said he maximizes practice reps at 24 in the first week of camp, followed by a decrease and recovery. Then an increase to a max of 32 in the second week followed by a decrease and recovery. And then up to a max of 40 in the third week followed by … you guessed it … a decrease and recovery.
“What I’m trying to do is get our guys to be ready to play 65-75 plays a game,” said Glenn, who showed it to the players in bar graph form, “and that’s my job.”