Jets: Aaron Glenn is Complicating Trade Deadline Decisions

Sitting at 2-6 before getting ready to travel to play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, the New York Jets are closer to being sellers for Tuesday's trade deadline than they are buyers.

The Jets were in a similar situation last season, and they opted to trade Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts and Quinnen Williams to the Dallas Cowboys for picks that will be substantial in 2027. Currently, New York would have three picks in the first 10 selections for April's draft. 

Will the Jets try to add even more draft capital for 2027, which would only improve their chances of landing a quarterback for the future while adding more young talent to a fresh core?

One such player New York could part with would be 2023 first-round pick Will McDonald IV. He had a monster second season for the Jets when he recorded 10.5 sacks, but has had less use in head coach Aaron Glenn's system.

Tony Pauline is reporting that Glenn's future with the Jets is a piece of the puzzle general manager Darren Mougey must consider when deciding to sell at the trade deadline. New York wants to keep exciting young talents like McDonald on the roster who would be appealing head coaching candidates if the team fires Glenn. 

The only way the Jets would trade McDonald is if they received more in return than most in the league think he's worth, as the extra draft capital would be appealing for the coaching candidate.

Pauline also noted that the Jets are aware that Glenn is not using McDonald properly, which only adds to the speculation that New York could be ready to move on before the 2027 season. Pauline thinks Glenn has a 1% chance of coaching the team next season.

But the main point here is that the Jets aren't necessarily looking at the trade deadline as a way to improve the roster or build up for the future. New York wants to keep some of its young core on the roster for more than just winning games for culture reasons. The Jets want to have players that a new coach would find appealing.

With that being said, don't expect the Jets to make any major moves before the trade deadline on Tuesday. For Glenn, it's up to him to make things work with the young guys he has on the roster, or he could soon be out.