Harrison Phillips rips 'cancerous' Jets amid criticisms of Aaron Glenn, Woody Johnson

Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips only joined the New York Jets via a trade involving the Minnesota Vikings in August, so he was an outsider amid the first 14 years of what is once again the longest active postseason drought among the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and MLS.

During a Super Bowl week chat with Roundtable Sports, Phillips addressed all that went wrong for first-year head coach Aaron Glenn as the 2025 Jets finished the season with a woeful 3-14 record.

Jets were a "cancerous, truculent group" when Aaron Glenn was hired

"I think AG inherited a very cancerous, truculent group -- whole, top to bottom," Phillips admitted, per ESPN's Rich Cimini. 

The Jets were 0-7 in October when team owner Woody Johnson publicly backed Glenn. Nevertheless, Phillips suggested that some in the locker room got distracted by rumors regarding their futures and by whispers related to Glenn's job security. 

"My coach is going to get fired, my teammate's going to get fired, I'm going to be a free agent, I might get fired, I have to play for me, I have to make sure my tape is hot regardless of what the system is asking me to do, what the scheme is telling me to do," Phillips said about such mindsets. "Then, young players come in and see, 'Oh, that's my vet, that's how they're acting, so that's the way I'm going to act, too.' It's a long chain of things, and it can't be fixed like that."

This well-known saying is also "cancerous" for Jets

Predictably, the "same old Jets" mantra hovered over the club throughout the losing streaks it endured under Glenn this season. 

"It always felt like it was the 'same old Jets.' That’s the phrase, I think someone said that," Phillips told Brian Costello of the New York Post. "I think the narrative of if you get into the mindset that it’s the same old Jets, that’s a cancerous thought, a very cancerous idea to be a part of. That’s a cancerous thought to have."

The events of the offseason likely won't silence "same old Jets" takes. Specifically, a recent report claimed that Johnson essentially blocked Glenn from hiring Glenn's preferred defensive coordinator. That report also said that general manager Darren Mougey has warned others that "this is not the place you want to work, and Woody Johnson is not the boss you want to have." 

While speaking with Costello, Phillips shared what he said to teammates during the Jets' latest losing campaign. 

"I talked to the team about playing the long game and having the ability to be unstoppable and having the agency to say that I’m the problem,"  Phillips said. "Those are the processes that should come into place when you get into those truculent situations. It shouldn’t be, 'This is the same old Jets, let’s go back to what we’ve been doing.'" 

There's little evidence that shows Glenn will be the coach who erases "same old Jets" from the active vocabularies of fans and media members. Nevertheless, he will remain in his role through at least the start of the 2026 season.