Although Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand survived head coach Aaron Glenn’s mass dismissal of a large swath of his first coaching staff – which includes the midseason firing of defensive coordinator Steve Wilks – a change in Engstrand’s roles and responsibilities was anticipated. Connor Hughes of SNY.tv confirms that Glenn will indeed strip Engstrand of his offensive play-calling duties and will likely hire a new play-caller. 
One name that has been connected to the job (per Hughes) is Frank Reich, 64, who presently serves as a senior advisor for the Stanford football program (he was the school’s interim head coach in 2025). At the professional level, Reich most recently worked as the Panthers’ head coach.
His stint in Carolina was a forgettable one. He was hired in January 2023, but he did not make it through one season. With the Panthers having limped to a 1-10 record, and with then-rookie quarterback Bryce Young having struggled to quickly adapt to the NFL, Reich received his walking papers in November 2023.
That was the second consecutive year in which Reich suffered a midseason firing. He became the Colts’ head coach in 2018, and his first campaign on the job went fairly well. With Andrew Luck under center, Indianapolis posted a 10-6 mark and won its wildcard-round matchup with the Texans before falling to the Chiefs in the divisional round. Of course, Luck surprisingly announced his retirement shortly before the 2019 campaign got underway, and that set off a quarterback carousel from which the Colts are still trying to extricate themselves (although they hope Daniel Jones may be able to stop the spinning).
Reich and 39-year-old Philip Rivers did lead the Colts back to the playoffs in 2020, though the team was ousted by the Bills in that season’s wildcard round. Perhaps the biggest blemish of Reich’s Indianapolis tenure came in 2021, when his club was eliminated from playoff contention on the last day of the regular season by virtue of a stunning loss to the 2-14 Jaguars. After a 3-5-1 start to the 2022 slate, Reich was fired.
Following his Carolina dismissal the following year, Reich said he was unlikely to coach in the NFL again. It remains to be seen if he is even interested in the Jets’ opportunity, but it sounds as if Glenn is at least interested in exploring the possibility.
In Engstrand’s first season at the offensive controls, New York finished 29th in yards and points. Reich, who served as the Chargers’ OC from 2014-15 and the Eagles’ OC in 2016-17, would at least bring more experience to the job. His NFL coaching tenure dates back to 2008. Internal play-calling options will be considered by Glenn as he fills the offensive coordinator position, but Reich could emerge as an outside contender for the gig.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Even frank reich is smart enough to not go near a dumpster fire
He would be the gasoline to that dumpster fire.
He should be the OC in Philadelphia
No.
Why the opposition? It went pretty well the last time around.
Regardless, it seems to me that Reich is pretty burnt out on coaching. I don’t blame him-he took some very bad jobs in successive order.
He was terrible with the panthers. The offensive game has evolved and has passed him by. Why not Gruden then? Kotite? Mornhinweg?
I would like to see Mornhinweg come back, but I would like to see him go to the Ravens. Lamar Jackson needs to stop being a running quarterback. He doesn’t see it yet, but he’s at the point in his career where running is going to get him hurt. He needs to turn into more of a pocket passer, and Mornhinweg is the one that converted Michael Vick when came back, and made him a Pro Bowl passer. Baltimore is the perfect job for him, it could make him a head coach candidate again.
I don’t think that anything with the Panthers should really count much, honestly. That was prime meddling Tepper with an awful yes man GM in Scott Fitterer. Tepper didn’t even let Reich pick his own staff. Multiple staff members went straight to Tepper to circumvent Reich on coaching decisions-including the GM, Fitterer, who went to Tepper (along with an offensive staff member!) to make a coaching decision at quarterback. The Athletic wrote a story on it, and while it’s not 100% verified, there is just a ton of stuff that is outrageous. It’s hardly fair to judge Reich based on that.
In any case, I lean more towards thinking that Reich is closer to finished than he is to a return. He did the Stanford thing primarily as a favor to Luck.
Kotite was the worst. Sirianni regardless of his wins, has Kotite moments. Scary.
Yes, I believe he’d be a good fit, an adult in the room and much like Fangio but for the offense.
If the Eagles get another young guy, he’ll be gone in a year if the Eagles do well. Plus Hurts needs a dad age guy to coach him up. No more friends, insiders, peers or hand picked people to coach him.
He’s a tremendous talent that needs consistency.
Oh lord.
I think Buffalo should interview him for the HC gig. He just needs the right staff.
Big games about to start. Picking NE and Seattle.
If the Rams win it all … McVay will retire.
If anyone wants to comment on the games, lets use this or another recent thread? Nobody cares about the Jets anyway … haha
And yet, here you are…
It damn sure wasnt for the Jets
Yeah sure it wasn’t
Stick to baseball
Dude this isn’t Facebook. No need to comment here in real time on the game in progress (it’s a rumor site).
He should teach a course. How to suck and still get jobs, dude should be at position coach by now but still getting oc look.
will he bring in Chip Kelly and the Steelers newest HC as various speakers for the class?
Good passes from Stidham for the lead.
Not like there is a big drop off between Nix and him. I really don’t think Nix is very good. Defense is up there with Texans so if they perform near them Stidham just wouldn’t need to be terrible like Stroud last week.
NE couldnt take advantage of the 4th down conversion.
Broncos should have went for the fg earlier. They had to know thr weather would be like this. Gameplay should have been win the 1st half by being up 2 scores. Stidham needed to not be stupid and then let weather handle 2nd half.
Arrogant Sean Payton strikes again.
Yeah, I’m not completely sold on Nix either, but he has two major advantages that are undeniable and would help Denver immensely in this scenario, and those are his mobility and starting reps.
Stidham had a few runs where Nix’s speed would have resulted in a conversion, and his timing with the receivers on a couple of early misses (like to Sutton) would have helped. The snow really would have made Nix’s legs a huge asset with the air taken out of the ball in the second half. Stidham looked great when running Payton’s scripted plays, but regressed quickly when he started using that confidence to take shots. Still, they had a chance at the end of not for a bad decision to force that ball into bad weather that made it hang.
Sean made a huge mistake not taking the points early. Even at the time, I was against it. Backup QB in a defensive game? Points are at a premium, no matter what the modern day aggressive proclivities may influence a coach to do. I get it, he was feeling the confidence and didn’t know if they’d drive down there again, but the points felt like a much better choice at the time and turned out to be later.
Good call by the refs on the fumble by Stidham.
I mean you might as well hire Phillip Rivers over Frank Reich
Nice snow weather game now. The offenses refuse to throw the ball much.
I’m looking forward to the update where the Jets announce they are considering Glenn Foley for the OC gig 🙂
Need to check in with Browning Nagle first.
That’s a name I haven’t heard in forever, lol. Absurd 30 years later to think that there was an actual debate between him and Favre.
Denver had their chances. NE undefeated on the road this year.
Seahawks running hard with Walker. Rams lucky they arent down 14-3.
Good defensive game. Rams have a chance to add to their lead with 1:33 in the half.
Seahawks are losing their composure. Stupid penalty on Woolen. The Rams have all the momentum right now.
Woolen is known for stupid penalties, that’s why they were shopping him for anything they could get at the trade deadline.
It was fun to see Emmanwori not having any of it afterward, though.
Seahawks were lucky to win it. The officiating was horrible. This game deserved better.
No one cares bro this aint your group chat
Desperate times…
Sounds like Frank Reich will again be an interim head coach before next season is over.