The Jets are set up in 2026 to start building a team in the vision of Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey. They have four picks in the first two rounds of the draft, and they’ll have over $100 million in cap space after some obvious cuts. They may even put themselves in a position to draft a franchise QB depending on how they finish the season. It’s honestly an enviable place to be in comparison to some of the other horrible teams in the league.
But all of that only matters if the Jets have the coaching
staff in place to develop the talent that they acquire. Developing the young talent they draft, getting the most out of their stars currently here, and identifying and improving free agent talent. If they can’t do that then no matter what they do, it won’t matter.
With that in mind, I want to look at how Tanner Engstrand has done in these areas. With a new quarterback on the way and a wealth of young talent likely to come on the offensive side, it’s important to grade Engstrand fairly. Is he the guy the team needs to develop these guys in the future?
It’s especially noteworthy because Glenn may not be tied to him. He watched Dan Campbell fire Anthony Lynn after one year and hire Ben Johnson. Engstrand also wasn’t Glenn’s first choice for the job, only turning to him when Nick Caley chose the Texans over New York. So if Glenn deems Engstrand a failure, it’s very possible he follows his mentor’s lead and makes a quick move before he takes the ship down with him.
Developing Young Talent
Engstrand has only had one season, but there’s plenty to look at here since the Jets used three of their first four picks on offense and all of those guys have had a ton of snaps.
We can start with the biggest success, Armand Membou. The young RT has developed into one of the best in the NFL in his rookie season. He grades out as a top 10 RT in the league in nearly every way per PFF. He’s an elite pass blocker and his run blocking is coming along. He has struggled the last two weeks, but given he’s a rookie, ups and downs are inevitable. It’s safe to call Membou a clear win. Though I’m not sure how much Engstrand has to do with OL development and play considering they’re not scheme specific.
Then there’s Mason Taylor. The extremely young TE has come in and taken the starting job immediately, but despite the Jets complete lack of pass catching options, Taylor hasn’t been a factor. He’s currently on pace for just 482 receiving yards this season and has just one touchdown reception. Taylor is currently 5th among rookie TEs in receiving yards and he has the second fewest yards per route run of any TE in the NFL with at least 30 targets this season. A lot of that has to do with how he’s used. Despite being a receiving TE, Taylor has taken 47.8% of his reps from the inline position, 13th most among all 36 TEs in the NFL with at least 30 targets, and he has the 8th lowest routes run rate. Only 3 TEs have been used inline more and ran fewer routes, but have more receiving yards: David Njoku, AJ Barner, and Tucker Kraft. Why is Engstrand so interested in using his young receiving TE as an extra OL, with the 7th highest pass block rate of all TEs with at least 30 targets? That’s the question, isn’t it? Why is Engstrand putting his young TE in a position to fail? This is a big red mark on the offensive coordinator’s resume.
Lastly, let’s talk about Arian Smith. The Jets were super excited to draft him in the fourth round. They were comparing him to the likes of Jameson Williams and proudly proclaimed how they had a plan to get the most out of the speedster. How has that worked out? No WR with at least 10 targets has a worse yards per route run than Arian Smith’s 0.22. In fact, even if you add in TEs and RBs, only Blake Corum’s 0.16 is worse than Smith. Safe to say that whatever plan the Jets thought they had for Smith has gone bust. Whether or not you liked the Smith pick at the time, this is either a failure in development or a failure in talent evaluation. Neither looks good for Engstrand.
Offseason Acquisitions
The Jets made just two major veteran acquisitions on the offensive side of the ball this offseason. One was the quarterback, Justin Fields and the other was at WR with Josh Reynolds.
Let’s start with Josh Reynolds, who has been hurt for most of the season. It’s hard to truly evaluate how Engstrand has done with Reynolds with the injuries, but when he was on the field it wasn’t good. Reynolds played in five games as the number two WR in the offense, and he never had even 30 yards receiving in a single game. Of WRs with at least 20 targets this season, Reynolds has the 4th lowest yards per route run. And you may be picking up on a theme at this point.
Yep, the Jets passing offense has been awful. That starts with the QB, Justin Fields. He was Glenn and Engstrand’s hand-picked QB. They thought he was going to be the next Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield. A cast off young QB with upside that they would unlock. But then, Fields turned in the worst season of his career. He used his legs less than ever, he was horrible as a passer, and the offense couldn’t find any kind of groove. While Fields deserves much of the blame, Engstrand can’t get off scot-free. He refused to draw up designed runs for his QB, he didn’t design easy throws to get the ball out quickly, and he encouraged his QB to hold onto the ball as was made public in a press conference where Fields said time to throw isn’t a real stat. The Steelers got something out of Fields, Matt Nagy had him getting MVP votes at one point. He’s not a complete failure of a player. Even if he’s not good, he’s not as bad as Engstrand made him look. For all the talk about the Jets scheming their offense to their QBs strengths, it sure looks like they did the exact opposite.
Utilizing the talent already here
It’s hard to screw up already proven talent. They’re clearly great players and they just need to get the ball to them. That’s the case with Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson. Two players that the entire world knows are stars, top-10 players at their positions. And yet….
Engstrand has had difficulties with his running back. It’s true that this is likely to be Breece Hall’s first 1,000 yard rushing season. Engstrand deserves praise for that. The team is going to be top-10 in rushing yards this season in the NFL a year after they finished dead last. That’s not nothing. But this is unequivocally the worst season Breece Hall has had as a receiver in the NFL. For some reason, Engstrand doesn’t seem to like using his dynamic running back in the passing game. Against the Miami Dolphins Breece Hall was targeted just one time and had zero receptions. Over the last eight games, Breece has averaged just tw0 targets per game!!!! That’s unbelievable for a running back that’s known to be one of the most dynamic pass catchers out of the back field in the NFL. What’s even worse, this is clearly how Engstrand wants this to operate, as he was throwing the ball Hall’s way to start the season. Over the first five games, Breece was averaging nearly 5 targets a game. Breece is on pace for just 49 targets on the season right now. He had 76 last season when people raged about Nathaniel Hackett not using him enough, and 95 the season before. If Engstrand doesn’t know how to utilize his star running back can he be trusted to utilize anyone?
That brings us to Garrett Wilson. It’s hard to look at his season as anything other than a failure, though that’s mostly due to injury. Wilson didn’t have a 100 yard receiving game this season, but he was also the focus of the opponent’s defense on every single play. Engstrand force fed him the ball, and Wilson was delivering when healthy. Nothing else to really say about this.
Conclusion
Engstrand hasn’t developed the young players as hoped, he hasn’t found ways to utilize the players he hand-picked to bring in as free agents, and he isn’t utilizing the talent already here. It’s clear that Engstrand is in over his head. Quarterback problems or not, Engstrand hasn’t found ways to create offense on a consistent basis and hasn’t identified the talent to help the team do that.
Glenn should not hesitate to replace Engstrand this offseason, as he simply hasn’t given anyone the belief that he should be entrusted with developing a young QB. And if the Jets next quarterback isn’t a franchise QB that could spell the end of Glenn’s tenure as Head Coach.
