Jets had secret players-only practice following preseason loss to Giants: 'It was nothing crazy'

Antwan Staley, New York Daily News on Aug 20, 2025

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — Jets coach Aaron Glenn used the words “sloppy” and “undisciplined” to describe his team's preseason loss to the Giants.

The following day, the Jets not only practiced to work on a few areas, but it was coordinated and run entirely by the players themselves and linebacker Jamien Sherwood called the defensive plays.

“It was nothing crazy,” Jets cornerback Michael Carter II said. “Just a player’s walkthrough type of thing that we had.

“It was cool, really, to run that ourselves and be totally accountable because we were out there making the calls and going off based on what we saw and everything like that. So, the great teams are player-led teams. The players are accountable and we understand what the standard is and how we need to get things done and how things should operate. So we got a chance to go out there and prove it for the first time with just being us.”

Most people have heard of a players only meeting. That tends to happen when the team is on a long losing streak, hoping to turn around their season. The 2025 season hasn’t begun for the Jets, but they are coming off a subpar performance during the 31-12 loss to the Giants.

The Jets’ starting offensive unit, led by Justin Fields, had a difficult time getting the passing game going against the Giants. He rushed for more yards (five) than he passed for (four) and the Jets offense generated just a field goal before the starting unit left the game.

In addition to their offensive woes against the Giants, the Jets’ starting defense allowed an 80-yard pass by Russell Wilson with safety Andre Cisco in coverage, which set up a one-yard touchdown run by Giants running back Devin Singletary.

A regular practice was initially scheduled for after Saturday’s game. But it was removed from the schedule a week before the game.

The Jets probably didn’t want the public to know about the practice, which is why Glenn probably didn’t mention it during his press conference on Tuesday. However, Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson mentioned it Tuesday in an interview with Overtime and said the session lasted about an hour.

“I did like it,” Cisco said. “It shows you how much we do know and what we can do outside of coaches putting you in position.

“We are able to build off of what we know our coaches to do, even just individual drills — putting us in position to work on things. That was something that the safeties and I go through our regular warm-up drills, and we need to work on this coverage and that coverage. I think it went well.”

A player-led practice is one in which only the athletes are present, without coaches or other staff. In this case, Glenn was present for practice, but according to some of the Jets players, he was the only coach in attendance.

The players had team drills between the offense and defense, like they normally do. They also worked on situational downs and had first-down markers on the field.

According to Cisco, Glenn facilitated this because he envisions the Jets as a player-driven team, and Sunday’s practice was a way to enforce that. In addition to fine-tuning a few issues, player-led practices can also be used for team-building and communicating strategies for the future.

The Jets had significant roster turnover from the previous regime of Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas. So this could also be a way to make sure everyone is on the same page before the Jets’ Week 1 opener against the Steelers on Sept. 7.

“Ownership thing and also, owning the calls,” Cisco said. “Owning the defense and really leaning into what is it that our coaches are going to be calling and why are they calling it.

“And can we step in and predict it as a defense. [Jamien] Sherwood kind of took over those duties on that day, and it was player-led from that standpoint. So we gathered ourselves, we took ownership about how many reps we are going to get and holding guys accountable. How are we getting to the ball, executing the calls. So it was effective.”