Jets have second interview with Arthur Smith, Titans offensive coordinator and son of FedEx founder

The Jets appear to be zeroing in on finalists for their next head coach. After doing a second, in-person interview with Robert Saleh on Wednesday, the team announced Thursday that it hosted Arthur Smith in New Jersey for a second interview.

Saleh (49ers defensive coordinator) and Smith (Titans offensive coordinator) have both built ‘garbage into gold’ reputations with their teams, using scheme to get the most out of unexceptional talent.

Saleh’s Niners defense finished sixth in DVOA this season despite a brutal run of injuries, getting just five games combined out of Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas and Dee Ford.

Smith, a longtime Titans assistant who took over as offensive coordinator in 2019, has used a play action-heavy scheme to resurrect quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who appeared left for dead after three years with Adam Gase in Miami.

Tannehill, Derrick Henry and receiver A.J. Brown have become stars in Smith’s scheme. Henry led the NFL in rushing yards each of the last two years, while Tannehill, improbably, has been one of the best QBs in the league by nearly any metric since leaving Gase.

That success with Tannehill has made Smith a scorching-hot candidate on the market, and the Jets might not be able to pin him down. The other six teams with an opening (Chargers, Eagles, Falcons, Lions, Texans, Jaguars) all requested interviews with Smith, and he’s making the rounds. At least two other teams — the Falcons and Lions — took Smith to a second round, and he’s scheduled to interview with the Eagles this week, according to multiple reports.

Seven other candidates are known to have done a first and virtual interview with the Jets. They are longtime Bengals coach Marvin Lewis (currently the Arizona State co-defensive coordinator), Matt Eberflus (Colts DC), Joe Brady (Panthers OC), Brian Daboll (Bills OC), Brandon Staley (Rams DC), ex-Jet Aaron Glenn (Saints secondary coach) and Eric Bieniemy (Chiefs OC).

Recently fired Eagles coach Doug Pederson is not known to have interviewed for any of the openings, although he was only fired on Monday. One opening is apparently off the board: The Jaguars are reportedly hiring Urban Meyer.

Smith’s magic ran out on Sunday in a 20-13 wild card loss to the Ravens, who bottled up Henry and the Titans’ attack. Tennessee had owned Baltimore for the better part of a year, beating them in an overtime thriller this fall and blowing them out in the divisional round last year.

Under Smith and head coach Mike Vrabel, the Titans have been one of the biggest surprises in the NFL. They went 9-7 last year, beating the Patriots in the wild card round in what was, in retrospect, the death of the Belichick-Brady dynasty. They proved 2019 1/4 u2032s run to the AFC championship game wasn’t a fluke, going 11-5 this year and winning the franchise’s first division title in over a decade.

Smith, 38, has made his bones legitimately in the NFL, climbing his way up the ranks over a decade with the Titans. But his NFL career started after just a year as a graduate assistant at North Carolina. In 2007, he was hired by the franchise now known as the Washington Football Team. His father, Frederick Smith, is the CEO and founder of FedEx and minority owner of The Team since 2003. The elder Smith, long a silent partner of Dan Snyder, has made headlines over the last year in a series of power struggles with Washington’s majority owner.

Frederick Smith, via FedEx, was a force in getting Snyder to give up on the team’s old racist name and logo. Along with the other minority owners of the team, Smith has been trying to pressure Snyder to sell the team.