Not everyone believes that the next Jets head coach needs to be some sort of offensive-minded guru.
Charley Casserly, a former GM with the Redskins and Texans and consultant who helped the Jets hire Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan, says there are more important factors into searching for a head coach.
"The single most important thing you have to do is find a leader, a leader of men, OK?" Casserly said in a Q&A with Daryl Slater of NJ.com. "A guy who can communicate, a guy who can evaluate -- evaluate coaches, evaluate players. A guy who manage -- manage the players and manage the coaches. Those are the critical factors."
The next Jets head coach will be inheriting a 21-year-old quarterback in Sam Darnold, who showed promise his rookie season. His development and progress will be crucial in the Jets' success under the next head coach, but Casserly believes that person can be elsewhere on the staff.
"What's important is to have a good offensive coordinator and good quarterback coach and developer," he said. "Now, could it be the head coach, calling the plays? Absolutely. ... You make a mistake when you react: 'Well, we've got to get an offensive-minded guy.' Well, what happens if he can't hire a defensive staff? What happens if he isn't a leader? Then it's not going to work. The single most important thing a coach does in that interview is present his staff to you -- the names and his concepts of how he's going to do it."
Of all the coaching candidates the Jets plan to interview, and there are a lot, former Packers coach Mike McCarthy would seem to fit the bill as someone who checks all boxes, but Casserly would not comment on if he, or anyone, is the "safe" pick.
"I think what you have this year, there's no clear-cut No. 1 guy," he said. "So what they're doing is they're casting a wide net. That's what they should do, talking to a lot of different people. I think they're doing the right thing. I think it's a wide-open search for all the teams this year."
While the Jets have used Casserly in the past to help conduct a head coaching search, CEO Christopher Johnson said that he and GM Mike Maccagnan will be handling it this time, with Johnson having the final word.
Casserly added it was rare for teams to use consultants despite the Jets tabbing him, and fellow consultant Ron Wolf, to hire Bowles and Maccagnan.
Casserly spoke highly of the job Maccagnan has done, lauding the trade he made to land Darnold with the No. 3 pick, but he steered clear when asked why he thought Bowles would win consistently with the Jets.
"Yeah, I'd rather not comment on that," he said.
But Casserly still has faith that Bowles will get another crack as a head coach and be successful elsewhere.
"I think he should get another head job," he said. "I'm kind of disappointed Arizona hasn't reached out to him, because I thought he would've been the head coach in Arizona -- if he had stayed there [as defensive coordinator instead of going to the Jets] -- when Bruce Arians retired. So I'm disappointed they haven't called."