The New York Jets enter Sunday’s matchup with the Cleveland Browns facing another defining moment for coach Aaron Glenn, whose team has dropped 17 of his first 21 games and now meets a 3-1 opponent riding a three-game surge.
Key takeaways
- Glenn is 4-17 as Jets coach, with three straight losses and defeats in eight of the last nine games.
- New York has not beaten a winning team under Glenn, going 0-8 in those matchups.
- The Browns can improve to 4-1, which would give first-year coach Todd Monken four wins in five games.
- The Jets own three first-round selections in the upcoming draft, while Cleveland holds two as both clubs could pursue a quarterback.
- Rookie edge rusher David Bailey has two sacks and three quarterback hits across 90 pass-rush chances.
Glenn seeks a breakthrough against Cleveland
Sunday carries considerable weight for Glenn as he tries to change the direction of a franchise that entered his tenure with a 14-year postseason absence and nine consecutive losing seasons. Cleveland’s 3-1 start has added to the pressure, especially with the Browns recording their first three-game winning streak since 2023.
A Browns victory would leave Monken with the same number of wins in five games that Glenn would have after 22. Glenn beat Cleveland last season, when rookie Dillon Gabriel started at quarterback following Joe Flacco’s departure after Week 1 and Deshaun Watson’s season-ending injury. Watson is back this year and leading the Browns’ offense.
Three of Glenn’s four victories have come against backup quarterbacks. The Jets coach is also one of 16 coaches since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to win four or fewer games through 21 contests with the same franchise.
Hall of Fame defensive back Ronnie Lott, Glenn’s teammate during Glenn’s 1994 rookie season, said rebuilding a culture requires players and coaches to confront difficult stretches rather than become comfortable with losing. Lott recalled Glenn as a young cornerback driven to excel and said he hopes the former Detroit assistant can eventually get the Jets moving in the right direction.
Lott, a four-time Super Bowl winner with the San Francisco 49ers, said Glenn has experienced successful environments and understands what a team looks like once the pieces begin to work together. Still, he noted that changing expectations after years of losing is among the hardest tasks for any coach.
Draft stakes and Bailey’s early production
The Jets and Browns could be linked again after Sunday when the offseason quarterback market begins to take shape. New York has three first-round picks and Cleveland has two, giving both organizations significant capital to move around the draft board if they target a passer.
Speculation around the Browns has included Texas quarterback Arch Manning because Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam has close ties to the Manning family. Eli Manning, Arch’s uncle, said this week that he would personally welcome a Jets landing spot, largely because he lives nearby and could spend more time with his nephew during the season.
For New York, Bailey remains an intriguing young pass-rusher despite modest production on the stat sheet. He has logged two sacks and three quarterback hits in 90 pass-rushing snaps, but neither sack produced much lost yardage.
Bailey’s two sacks have combined for minus-2 yards. One came when he forced Cam Ward out of bounds during a scramble. The other was recorded after Jordan Love kept the ball rather than completing a designed wide receiver screen that Bailey had disrupted. Bailey has acknowledged that his first NFL sack did not arrive in the way he envisioned growing up, but the Jets will need more pressure from their rookie edge defender against Cleveland.
