Now the Jets are ready to begin a new era under new head coach Aaron Glenn. New York hired the former Lions defensive coordinator on Wednesday along with GM Lance Newmark, who also has a history in Detroit.
Glenn is a former Jets player who is known as a master motivator. In that way, he is very similar to Lions head coach Dan Campbell.
Glenn has plenty of pieces to work with on defense in New York. It will be interesting to see who he adds to his offensive coaching staff to lead the charge on that side of the ball.
The Jets hold the seventh overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and roughly $20 million in cap space to work with before making any moves. New York may not turn into a contender overnight, but they have they have bones that could ultimately become a winning roster.
The Jets should explore all options for improving this roster. Installing Glenn’s culture in New York is another big priority. New York could kill two birds with one stone if they make the right trade.
Below we will explore one important trade that the Jets need to make now that they’ve locked up Aaron Glenn as their next head coach.
Let’s start with the trade terms before diving into the rationale for each team.
Jets receive:
- QB Kirk Cousins
Falcons receive:
- 2025 5th round pick
- Conditional 2026 6th round pick
To put it bluntly, there is no way that Aaron Glenn wants to keep Aaron Rodgers and his cronies around for the first season of his head coaching career.
Rodgers regularly pulled the strings in New York. He was responsible for pushing for some of their worst moves over the past two seasons. Glenn cannot have a player like this messing with the culture he wants to build in New York.
As a result, the Jets need to dump Rodgers, Adams, Lazard, and other Rodgers-aligned players ASAP. Aside from being a necessary move, cutting all three of these players can create over $50 million in cap space in 2025. This would give the Jets plenty of room to take on an existing contract, or add pieces during free agency.
Once that is done, they need to find a different quarterback they can roll with in 2025.
That’s where Kirk Cousins comes in.
Kirk Cousins may be the best quarterback option for the Jets in 2025
Cousins signed a massive contract to head to the Falcons during free agency last year. Now it seems that the Falcons are done with Cousins and ready to roll with Michael Penix Jr. in 2025 and beyond.
Atlanta is expected to release Cousins before March 17th when he is due a $10 million bonus. If the Falcons were to trade Cousins instead of cut him, they would create $2.5 million of cap space in 2025. What’s more, trading Cousins before June 1st would get an additional $25 million of dead cap off their books for the 2026 season.
If Cousins were traded to the Jets, he would become a veteran leader who could help build a new culture in New York’s locker room. He is also a capable starter, even at the age of 36. The Jets do not have a realistic path to acquiring a better quarterback this offseason. This makes it even easier to stomach Cousins’ contract.
If the Jets took on Cousins’ contract as it exists right now, they could have $44 million in cap space to work with in 2025. They would also have $101 million in 2026 even with Cousins still on the books.
The draft picks involved in this trade also work out well for both teams.
New York has eight picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, including two fifth- and sixth-round picks but no seventh-round pick. Sending a fifth-round pick is no big deal, especially in return for a starting quarterback. As for the 2026 pick, both teams could get creative when coming up with conditions.
Atlanta only has four draft picks in 2025. Adding a fifth-round pick and gaining some cap space is a big win for the Falcons too.
It will be fascinating to see if the Jets actually do pursue Kirk Cousins during the offseason. The first step would be cutting Aaron Rodgers, which could happen any day now.