The New York Jets will be looking for a new head coach in 2025 after the Robert Saleh regime failed to produce a winning season, let alone a playoff berth in four seasons.
Jets Wire will be breaking down each candidate that receives an interview detailing their experience as well as the highs and lows of their coaching career. In the end, we’ll determine if the candidate is worth a show or if the Jets should pass for someone better.
For the next trip on the coaching carousel, we take a look a potential dark horse and fan favorite, Vikings Quarterbacks Coach and former Jets Quarterback, Josh McCown.
Not Much to Go On
While McCown played 18 seasons in the NFL for 10 different teams, he’s only been a coach for two years. He was hired as Quarterbacks coach for the Carolina Panthers under Frank Reich in 2023 and was tasked with developing their number one overall pick, quarterback Bryce Young.
The 2023 season was an unmitigated disaster for Carolina. Young struggled badly in his rookie year and at times, looked like he didn’t belong anywhere near a football field. The Panthers were 1-10 when not only did they fire Reich, they also fired McCown.
McCown got a second chance in 2024 as he was hired by Kevin O’Connell as quarterbacks coach of the Vikings. Minnesota took a major risk by letting Kurt Cousins leave to go to the Atlanta Falcons and signing Sam Darnold to be their starter. McCown and Darnold have a very close friendship and if anyone could help resurrect Sam’s career, it was his close friend McCown.
The risk by the Vikings paid off as Darnold put up the best numbers of his career. With McCown’s help, Darnold threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns to lead Minnesota to a 14-3 regular season record. While the Vikings were eliminated in the Wild Card Round by the Los Angeles Rams, Darnold will be looking at a huge payday this offseason as a free agent and McCown deserves plenty of credit for making that happen.
Would Jets Wire Hire Him?
The Verdict: No.
Jets fans are pushing for McCown to be the team’s next head coach, but it’s difficult to understand why. His coaching experience is limited to two seasons with two different teams as a Quarterbacks coach. The first year in Carolina was so bad, he didn’t even make it through the entire 2023 season. McCown was much better in Minnesota, but wasn’t the primary reason for Sam Darnold’s success either.
This is nothing personal towards McCown, but the Jets need a head coach with experience. McCown has never called plays as an offensive coordinator, which is troublesome. He’ll be under a lot of pressure from the media and the fan base in his first year to turn the Jets into a winner. The honeymoon will be over quickly for McCown if the Jets have another bad start to the season.
From a PR standpoint, it wouldn’t be a good look for an organization that has been a laughingstock for so long to hire a head coach with little to no experience while plenty of more qualified candidates like Aaron Glenn and Brian Flores were available.
McCown has a bright future ahead of him as a coach, but he’s just not ready to be a head coach in the NFL right now, especially for a team that has the longest current postseason drought in all of professional sports.
