Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is a Super Bowl champion.
That seemed like an unlikely destination for Darnold when he was traded by the Jets three years after being selected with the third overall pick and it didn’t feel any likelier when he bounced from the Panthers to the 49ers before the end of his sixth season. Darnold got back on track with the Vikings last year and rose even higher in leading the Seahawks to the top of the NFC during the regular season.
Darnold wasn’t able to replicate his big day from the NFC Championship in Super Bowl LX, but he avoided mistakes during the 29-13 win over the Patriots and touched on his unusual career path while speaking to Melissa Stark of NBC after the game.
“It’s unbelievable,” Darnold said. “Everything that’s happened in my career, but to do it with this team — I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m so proud of our guys. I can’t say enough great things about our defense and special teams.”
Darnold said in the days leading up to the Super Bowl that he wasn’t interested in personal vindication, but his history was on his mind on Sunday and his persistence showed when Stark asked what message others can draw from his story.
“As long as you believe in yourself, anything is possible,” Darnold said.
Darnold may have cribbed that line from Kevin Garnett, but his story does a spectacular job of making that point.
The Jets are hiring Seth Ryan as their passing game coordinator, Rich Cimini of ESPN reports.
Ryan, 31, is the third generation in the Ryan family to coach for the Jets. His father, Rex, was the Jets’ head coach from 2009-14, and his grandfather, Buddy, was the Jets’ defensive line coach from 1968-75, which included the Super Bowl III championship team.
Seth Ryan follows Aaron Glenn from Detroit.
Ryan was with the Lions for five seasons. He was the assistant wide receivers coach for four seasons before becoming the assistant tight ends coach under Tyler Roehl in 2025.
The Lions passed over Ryan when Roehl left the team, instead promoting assistant offensive line coach Steve Oliver to tight ends coach.
The Jets are continuing the overhaul of Aaron Glenn’s staff by adding a new tight ends coach.
Omar Ruiz of NFL Media reports that they are hiring Alfredo Roberts to fill that position. Jeff Blasko had that job last season, but is expected to join the Browns’ coaching staff for the 2026 season.
Roberts played tight end for the Chiefs and Cowboys from 1988-1993 and has been coaching in the NFL since 2023. He spent the last five seasons on the Steelers’ staff and has also been a position coach for the Chargers, Colts, Buccaneers, Browns, and Jaguars.
Roberts is the second former Steelers assistant to join the Jets in recent days. They have also hired defensive line coach Karl Dunbar.
Darron Lee, a first-round pick of the Jets in 2016, has been charged with murdering his girlfriend.
Via Fox 17 in Nashville, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office took Lee into custody on Thursday, after deputies were dispatched to a residence at which first responders were performing CPR on a female. Per the HCSO, she died as a result of her injuries.
The HCSO Criminal Investigative Services Detectives made a preliminary finding that the victim’s death was resulted from a homicide. Lee was identified as a suspect.
Lee has been charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. Via TMZ.com, Lee is being held without bond.
The former Ohio State linebacker was the 20th overall pick in the 2016 draft. He spent three years with the Jets, one with the Chiefs, and one with the Bills. Lee appeared in 58 career regular-season games, with 38 starts, and he was a member of the Super Bowl LIV championship team in Kansas City.
Aaron Glenn’s first season as the Jets’ head coach did not go well and one member of the team thinks that has a lot to do with the situation he inherited rather than the job he did once he was hired.
Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips joined the Jets in an August trade and said that what he observed drove home the belief that “culture matters” when trying to be a successful football team. The 3-14 Jets were decidedly unsuccessful and Phillips believes that there was little Glenn could do to immediately change the direction of the franchise.
“Doing it with people that you care about, it helps correlate to winning games,” Phillips said in an interview with Roundtable Sports. “If I had a connected football team, I’d take that over a talented football team that wasn’t connected. I think AG inherited a very cancerous, truculent group. Top to bottom.”
Phillips added that it isn’t “individual people’s fault” and that he found himself beginning to waver while being dropped into an organization that has grown so accustomed to losing. He added more context to his feelings while speaking to Brian Costello of the New York Post.
“It always felt like it was the ‘same old Jets.’ That’s the phrase, I think someone said that,” Phillips said. “I think the narrative of if you get into the mindset that it’s the same old Jets, that’s a cancerous thought, a very cancerous idea to be a part of. That’s a cancerous thought to have.”
Phillips did offer some rays of hope for 2026. He said Glenn’s consistency in the face of losing was “super cool to see” and he thinks the offseason changes to the coaching staff has brought in people who can help the head coach change the direction of a franchise that’s been moving the long way for far too long.
