The Jets are still without a defensive coordinator, but Herman Edwards will definitely be around for at least the next four years.
Edwards, who had two years at about $1.3 million per year remaining on his contract after this past season, yesterday received a two-year extension from Jets’ owner Woody Johnson. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the new contract is likely paying him between $2 million and $2.5 million per year.
Giants’ newly-hired head coach Tom Coughlin, after all, was signed for nearly $3 million per year for four years.
“I’ve said before that I wanted to be here for a long time and that this is the only team I really wanted to coach for, and I really mean that,” Edwards said yesterday. “This now gives us the ability to go out and build this team through the draft and free agency.”
It, too, might help in hiring a defensive coordinator, who now will see more stability at the top.
Edwards yesterday interviewed former Nebraska defensive coordinator Bo Pelini, one day after interviewing Gunther Cunningham, the linebackers coach of the Titans and a former defensive coordinator and head coach for the Chiefs.
Cunningham is high on Edwards’ list, but the Falcons and possibly the Chiefs are also interested in him and there’s a concern that the Falcons might pay him more than the Jets want to spend. Ted Cottrell, who was fired after the season, was scheduled to make $600,000 in 2004 and it’s believed the team doesn’t want to pay much, if any, more than that.
Meanwhile, Edwards revealed yesterday that he’s reached out to recently-fired Bears head coach Dick Jauron, though the two have yet to speak. Jauron, though, is coveted by Coughlin at the Giants and believed to be high on the Lions’ list, too. Both Coughlin and the Lions want to hire him as an assistant head coach.
The Jets might have a shot at Jauron, according to NFL insiders, because he believes being a coordinator will give him a quicker opportunity to build his name back up as a head-coaching candidate.
Edwards said he’d like to have this process complete by next week, though there might be some coaches who are in the Super Bowl whom he’d have to wait until Feb. 2 to speak with. Eagles linebackers coach Ron Rivera is one assistant Edwards has targeted as a candidate.
Among those interviewed for the job so far, Edwards seems to be leaning toward Cunningham at the moment, depending on how his interviews go elsewhere.
“He’s a task master, a guy [who] works relentless hours,” Edwards said of Cunningham. “He’s very demanding, very disciplined, very detailed.”
Edwards said he was impressed with Ravens’ DBs coach Donnie Henderson, saying, “He can be a coordinator in this league. He was very thorough. He has a chance.”
If Edwards doesn’t make a hire by next week after he gets back from the Senior Bowl, he said, “You’ll know I’m still waiting,” referring to perhaps Rivera.
