Aaron Glenn sits atop the 2026 NFL hot seat, and the case against him is mostly a case against the roster he was handed.
On the latest PFN Hot List, Jacob Infante ranked the five head coaches with the most to prove this season and put the Jets’ second-year coach at No. 1, then spent most of the segment explaining why New York has stacked the deck against him.
Aaron Glenn Tops the 2026 NFL Hot Seat Because the Jets Aren’t Trying Yet
The 2025 baseline is brutal. New York finished 3-14, tied with Las Vegas for the worst record in football. The defense generated just 4 takeaways, fewest by any team since at least 1940, and the Jets became the first team since interceptions became a recorded stat in 1933 to go an entire season without one.
Then the front office traded Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams in November, converting two defensive cornerstones into draft capital.
“If anything shows their dedication to rebuilding, it was the trades of Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams at the trade deadline this year,” Infante said.
Glenn takes back defensive play-calling in 2026 and gets Geno Smith, acquired from the Raiders in March after a season with 19 touchdowns and a league-high 17 interceptions. That is a floor raise, not a playoff plan. Which is what makes Infante’s read on the situation the sharpest thing anyone has said about the Jets this offseason.
“It’s really starting to feel like this Jets team, they’re not gonna put all their chips on the table into forming a playoff contender until after Aaron Glenn’s tenure as head coach,” Infante said. “I personally think he’s not getting a fair deal, but the NFL is a business.”
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He’s right on both counts, and the second one is why Glenn is in trouble. Retaining a coach after historic futility looks like patience. It also lines the next guy up with three first-round picks in 2027, New York’s own plus Indianapolis’ and Dallas’, none of it spent yet.
Todd Bowles, Zac Taylor and the NFL Purgatory Problem
The rest of the list shares a theme, and it isn’t losing. It’s plateauing.
Todd Bowles came in at No. 2 after a 35-33 run in Tampa Bay with three division titles and a 1-3 playoff record. The Buccaneers started 6-2, went 2-7 out of the Week 9 bye and lost the NFC South on a three-way tiebreaker to Carolina. Bowles has never been bad. He also has never been dangerous.
“I could see a possibility where the Buccaneers finish in last place in the NFC South, and if that happens, it’s hard to argue to keep [Bowles] at that point,” Infante said.
Shane Steichen is 25-26 across three seasons in Indianapolis, none of them ending in January. The Colts were 8-2 before Daniel Jones tore his Achilles in Week 14, then dropped their final seven. Infante’s line on that stretch applies to half this list: “You can’t just sit in NFL purgatory forever.” Indianapolis paid Jones and Alec Pierce, lost starters on both sides and shipped its 2026 first-round pick to the Jets in the Gardner deal.
Zac Taylor’s 6-11 season made it three straight without a playoff berth in Joe Burrow’s prime, and Cincinnati responded by trading the No. 10 pick for Dexter Lawrence and adding Boye Mafe, Jonathan Allen and Bryan Cook. Dan Quinn rounds out the group at No. 5, two years removed from an NFC Championship Game and coming off a 5-12 collapse in which Washington finished last in the NFL in total defense, his own specialty.
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Four of these five coaches have a built-in excuse waiting, whether it’s injuries, quarterback attrition or a roster in transition. Glenn has the best excuse of anyone and the least protection from it. A six-win season gets the Jets neither a playoff push nor a premium pick, and the front office will have every reason to reset again. None of those reasons will be about coaching.
