5 Issues to Know About Jets DC Brian Duker

Five issues to find out about Brian Duker, the brand new defensive coordinator of the Jets and head coach Aaron Glenn:

Some Key Connections
Duker has AG and AFC East connections over the previous 11 seasons. His first NFL teaching gig was as a Cleveland defensive intern in 2015, the place Glenn had simply begun his teaching profession because the Browns’ assistant DBs coach. Both coached that one yr on former Jets DC Mike Pettine’s Browns employees.

Duker was a defensive assistant, then safeties coach, then DBs coach for Detroit underneath Glenn, then the Lions’ defensive coordinator, from 2021-23. The previous two seasons he was the defensive go sport coordinator/secondary coach for the Jets’ AFC East rivals, the Dolphins.

You get a touch of Duker’s enthusiasm for a way he described his hiring by the Lions in ’21: “This role for me is a ton a fun, the most fun I’ve ever had coaching football.” Think of the enjoyable he’ll be experiencing within the months forward because the Jets’ DC.

Some Numbers Speak Volumes
Something that Glenn definitely remembered from Duker’s final season in Detroit was that because the DBs coach, he discovered methods to make the ball come to his backs. The Lions have been one in every of solely 4 NFL groups in 2023 to have at the very least three defenders with at the very least 3 interceptions. Two of these three for the Lions have been safeties, Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, and the third was CB Jerry Jacobs.

(Among the opposite three groups to achieve that statistical achievement in ’23 was the Jets with Jordan Whitehead, Tony Adams and Ashtyn Davis every notching 3-plus picks.)

Rankings from South Florida
Miami had points on each side of the ball this previous season that led to the Dolphins relieving HC Mike McDaniel of his command. But the ‘Fins had a top-10 defensive season in ’23 that speaks extra to Duker’s abilities as go sport coordinator. His go protection completed the season No. 9 within the NFL, contributing to Miami coming in at No. 4 in whole yards allowed and No. 10 in scoring protection.

The Importance of Continuing Education
Duker has at all times been about training, a key ingredient in turning into a profitable DC in addition to having success in any stroll of life. He did not play at Towson in Maryland however was a four-year pupil assistant and off the sphere was a twin main in economics and sports activities administration in gaining his bachelor’s diploma there. Then he moved to Bryant University in Rhode Island, the place his first teaching job was as a graduate assistant/protection and from the place he additionally earned his MBA with a normal enterprise focus.

“I don’t really use either of those right now,” he instructed Tim Twentyman of his levels within the DetroitLions.com senior author’s June 2022 episode of the net present Twentyman in the Huddle, “But they’re fun to have.”

More on His AG Connection
“AG was awesome, even in my short time where we just overlapped for one year in Cleveland,” Duker instructed Twentyman of his working relationship with Glenn. “I have a ton of respect for him, obviously the kind of person he is, the kind of football coach he is. I knew he’d be successful as a defensive coordinator. As soon as he and I talked, I was very excited about the opportunity to come here and work under him.”

Similar sentiments shall be stated once more by Duker when Glenn and the Jets introduce him because the Green & White’s new defensive coordinator.