Aaron Glenn includes NFL rarity into Jets’ first padded-practice that lives up to hype

The first day in pads is always a training camp milestone, and almost always one that gets more hype than it’s worth. 

Aaron Glenn’s first training camp with the Jets, however, appears to be an exception to the rule. 

That is because the Jets did not just strap on pads for the first time Monday. There were one-on-one drills where players took each other to the ground, practicing tackling and then pass rushing.

It was the first such instance at Jets camp since the halcyon days of Rex Ryan, and a rarity amid an NFL landscape where nobody wants to run more risk of training camp injuries than necessary. 

Glenn has talked about instilling a physical identity in his team. This would be how. 

“I think injuries are a part of this game. There’s no way to hide from it,” Glenn said. “Usually when you do try to hide from it, that’s when they pop up. 

“But the principles of the game will never change. This game’s about running, blocking and tackling. And if you don’t practice that, me as a head coach, how am I giving my guys the chance to win? The only way to get better at something is to rep it. I’m not saying we’re gonna tackle every practice, but the thing is, we’re gonna put ourselves in a position to do it or we’re gonna do it. 

“And the guys understand that, they knew that coming in. The thing I liked about it, they bought into that and they understand it too. They understand I’m trying to do everything to help them win games. So it’s part of it. I’ve been a part of injuries. You can’t run from them.” 

Glenn has yet to coach a game and is still very much in the honeymoon phase, so the jury is out on whether the added practice physicality will pay off long term. If the Jets suffer a glut of injuries in the run-up to the season, or during it, the conversation may ricochet back around on the head coach. 

For the time being, though, players are absolutely behind the new approach. 

“Oh yeah,” second-year running back Braelon Allen said, asked if he enjoyed the one-on-one drills, adding he hadn’t done something like that since high school scrimmages. “I think you definitely gotta tackle and I gotta feel getting tackled. I liked it. I enjoyed it. I gotta make more people miss than I did today, so that’ll be the goal going forward. It was fun for sure.” 

“We fired up,” third-year wide receiver/returner Xavier Gipson said. “Especially when the pads came on.” 

The Jets, on both sides of the ball, want to instill this in their marrow. That desire does not make them unique, but the lengths to which Glenn is willing to go to achieve it are. Perhaps that can be what makes the difference. 

“Between me and the staff, we think constantly on how can we end up getting our guys better? How can we make sure we go above board on not letting our players think we’re afraid of injury? But also letting them know: We have to do this,” Glenn said. “Like, we have to. Cause there’s no way I can put you out on that field without prepping for these things that I know is gonna happen in the game. 

“You’re gonna be in a position where you have to elude somebody in space. You’re gonna be in a position where you have to tackle somebody in space. The only way to get better at that is to do it. 

“I understand everything this league is doing on the [player] protection side of it, I understand the afternoon walk-throughs that we have, they’re very valuable for us. We take as much as we can when we go out on the grass. That’s what we plan on doing every time we get a chance.”