New York Jets Owner Woody Johnson Changing For The Better

Sports New York Jets Owner Woody Johnson Changing For The Better Woody Johnson admits he's made mistakes. In a story for The Athletic, New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn revealed his final conversation with Johnson before taking the Jets job. 'When we sat down, he flat-out told me: Listen, I made mistakes,' Glenn said. 'I made these mistakes and I'm going to try to make it right. We walked out feeling really good — with a complete understanding.' That understanding meant that all of the Jets in charge – head coach Glenn, GM Darren Mougey, President Hymie Elhai and Johnson – were a unified front. Glenn outlined what that means. Sitting at a long table in the Jets facility, he positioned his hand at the end of the table. 'You can't go from here,' he said, then reached his arm all the way out to the opposite end, 'to here. You can not skip all these spots (in the middle) to get it going.' The Athletic indicated there have been what it described as 'seismic changes' since Glenn's hiring. Although Johnson declined to be interviewed, those surrounding him at all levels indicate Johnson's focus is to build something sustainable, both for the franchise and his children, who will eventually take over. Toward that end, Johnson has changed, the sources for the story insist. The firing of former head coach Robert Saleh was a turning point. Johnson axed him with the Jets at 2-3, a move many saw as reckless and abrupt. Saleh gets his chance for revenge on Sept. 13, when the Jets open against the Tennessee Titans, the team Saleh now heads. The Athletic reveals that Johnson wasn't fond of Saleh. 'The feeling was mutual,' the article states. Johnson's return from his stint as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom was the triggering point. Saleh and then-GM Joe Douglas believed they would report to Christopher Johnson (Woody's brother) when they took the jobs. Upon Johnson's return, the brash and confrontational Woody Johnson didn't mesh with Saleh, or value his opinion. Douglas, too, 'was a shell of himself,' the article contends. Both were dismissed, much to their own relief. The article contends that Johnson wanted to reset things. 'He wanted to run a very thorough, transparent process and just be open-minded,' said Mike Tannenbaum, who led the search for Saleh's replacement. 'When people make mistakes, it's because candidate X comes in, and you're like, 'Oh my god, what an interview, I'm falling in love with this guy,'' Tannenbaum says. 'When you check references or you look at experience or you look at other things you identified as important, and they fall short, you have to adhere to: take emotion out, take recency bias out and let's keep going.' Johnson stuck to that. He hired Glenn, a former Jets player who built a reputation as one of the league's better defensive coordinators, and updated facilities, something welcomed by the players. The Jets' analytics staff has also grown significantly. All the Jets players interviewed for this story applauded Johnson for investing in the team. Now they just have to win. Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved This story was originally published September 8, 2026 at 11:48 AM.