New head coach of the New York Jets, Aaron Glenn, reportedly has plans to beef up his new defense in the offseason.
Last week, Glenn left the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator position he had held since 2021 to oversee a rebuilding Jets team that is expected to part ways with star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Glenn was a key coach in the Lions’ rebuild.
Detroit made the NFC Championship Game in 2023 and made it to the divisional round before the shorthanded team was defeated 45-31 by the Washington Commanders at Ford Field.
The New York Jets want a Detroit Lions linebacker
Per Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda, Glenn wants to bring a veteran member of the Lions’ defense to New York. Derrick Barnes is set to enter free agency, and the linebacker is expected to receive a bid from the Jets. The new regime could move on from All-Pro linebacker C.J. Mosley.
“As Aaron Glenn has been officially introduced as head coach of the New York Jets, many here in Frisco are predicting he will bring several of his former defensive players from the Detroit Lions to join him in New York once free agency begins; or at the very least he will pound the table to get them in a Jets uniform,” Pauline wrote from the East-West Shrine Bowl.
“One player I’m told Glenn will target in free agency is linebacker Derrick Barnes, the Lions’ fourth-round pick out of Purdue in 2021 who will be on the free-agent market after completing his rookie contract. Barnes started 13 games in 2023, but he played in just three last season after tearing an ACL and PCL when he was cut block. Veteran linebacker C.J. Mosley will be 33 years old next season and carries a large cap number.”
Derrick Barnes would be a strong replacement for C.J. Mosley
Barnes was a fourth-round draft pick by the Lions in 2021. The former Purdue standout has appeared in 51 games and started 26. He’s recorded 205 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, four sacks, one forced fumble and four passes defensed.
At 25, the six-foot, 240-pound linebacker would be an intriguing option for New York to replace an aging Mosley. That is if the Jets can pry the Covington, Kentucky native away from Detroit and their new defensive coordinator.
