Analyzing Whether Aaron Glenn Deserves Criticism for Jets' Early Preseason Decisions

Coaching in the NFL is hard. It's even harder when a head coach is splitting play-calling duties with the expected decision-making calls that are expected.

For the Jets, Friday's 24-16 loss to the Buccaneers in their preseason opener didn't exactly alarm fans. Preseason outcomes are meaningless, and the games are more about seeing what young players can do in a game setting than anything else.

But for Jets head coach Aaron Glenn, after a dismal first season at the helm in 2025, every decision he makes will be heavily scrutinized. Even in preseason games. And two calls made during Friday's contest have fans in an uproar.

For better or worse.

Jets preseason: Aaron Glenn is under fire for two decisions vs. Buccaneers

Let's start from the very beginning.

Due to an injury to starting quarterback Geno Smith, the Jets turned to fourth-round rookie Cade Klubnik to run the starting offense. Klubnik answered the call well, completing five of seven passes for 56 yards while leading two scoring drives.

It was the kind of debut that had Jets fans excited... for about a quarter. Inexplicably, the Jets opted to sit Klubnik along with the starters instead of giving him more reps with the second team. Instead, New York allowed Bailey Zappe to play the better part of the second and third quarters before being replaced by Brady Cook.

Bailey Zappe gets sacked. — Jets fans wanted to see more of Cade Klubnik and less of Bailey Zappe during the preseason-opening loss. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Most Jets fans were confused by the decision.

Zappe, having started nine games in his NFL career, has plenty of tape for people to know what kind of player he is. Klubnik, being a Day 3 rookie, needs all the reps he can get. Glenn's answer for why he didn't allow Klubnik to play more drew even further alarm.

"I just felt that he had enough plays at that point and I really wanted to make sure that I had a good shot at seeing all three of the quarterbacks," Glenn said after the game. "I can’t tell you the rep number right now, but I wanted to make sure it was somewhat even across the board. But again, I’m happy with how he operated."

The fact that Glenn didn't know the number of reps Klubnik took, or that he wanted to equal the reps from veterans to a rookie, isn't quite a good look. It does, however, show the delicate balance Glenn needs to learn as both a defensive play-caller and head coach.

Criticism doesn't end there...

Glenn also drew criticism for not using his timeouts earlier in the first half of the contest. New York was driving for a go-ahead score, but the team didn't start using its timeouts until there were under 30 seconds on the clock.

This criticism, though, is different than the backup quarterback situation.

At the time, the Jets offense had struggled to move the ball, and Zappe had already thrown two interceptions. Had Glenn called timeouts earlier, they could have given Tampa Bay an extra possession before the half had the offense made an additional mistake. If anything, Glenn was correct in waiting to hold the timeouts used during the first half, knowing the personnel on the field.

Verdict

Criticism for Glenn goes both ways.

While there's certainly reason to wonder what the plan is for the Jets' quarterback room and the development of younger players, the in-game timeout usage and other situational calls won't be fair to judge until the games actually matter.

Until they do, everything is simply a waste of time to worry about.

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