Jets' Aaron Glenn 'happy to talk' to cornerback Kris Boyd following shooting
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn gestures during the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots on Nov. 13 in Foxborough, Mass. Credit: AP/Robert F. Bukaty
Losing games and juggling quarterbacks and tracking injuries and trying to fix what is ailing the Jets on both sides of the ball, that’s what Aaron Glenn signed up for.
The call that came to him early Sunday morning was not.
It came nonetheless.
That’s when the Jets’ head coach learned that one of his players, Kris Boyd, had been shot twice in the abdomen and brought to a hospital in Manhattan, and that two other Jets players had been with him during the altercation.
“Once I heard about the situation, talking about Kris in general, the first thing I thought about is he just had a kid,” Glenn said on Wednesday in his first comments since the incident. “And I’m thinking about his wife. I’m thinking about his kid. I want to make sure he is OK. That’s the only thing that really went through my mind, and anyone else involved, make sure they were OK.”
It took some time to achieve that.
“You try to gather as much information as you can and try to let the process play out,” Glenn said. “You can’t just get up and call people because a lot of times you really don’t get an answer from some people. Man, just wait it out, let the process take care of itself… That’s a scary situation.”
Eventually, later on that stressful Sunday, a day the Jets had off after playing on Thursday last week, Glenn was able to speak with Boyd.
“I was happy to talk to him, I was happy the way he felt and the way he sounded from that conversation,” Glenn said. “I’m happy for the fact he will come out of this thing really, really well. That’s what eases my mind is he is in good spirits. His wife and his kid, they’re in good spirits, and he’ll walk away from this just fine.”
Wednesday was the first time anyone from the Jets was able to give a positive report on Boyd’s prognosis. Later on Wednesday, Boyd made his first public comments, too, posting a photo of himself in a hospital bed on Instagram.
“I'm sorry, I have no words at the moment,” Boyd wrote. “Just grateful! I'm coming along, starting to breathe on my own now. Sincerely appreciate everyone!"
New York police released surveillance images on Monday of a man sought in the shooting as the investigation continues. On Wednesday, The Associated Press reported that Boyd’s condition had been updated to “stable.”
Glenn said he and Boyd never discussed football or the chances of his ever returning to the game. Boyd, who came to the Jets as a free agent on a one-year contract this season, has been on reserve since August due to a preseason shoulder injury.
But when the team came back together this week, Glenn said he had plenty to say to the remaining players – including those who were there.
“Being a part of this league for so long as a player and as a coach, there are a number of things I have had an opportunity to witness, be a part of, experience, seek advice [on],” Glenn said. “The one thing I do know, man, when things like this happen, it’s easy for me to have conversations with the team, it’s easy for me to have a conversations with the player, but it’s always hard to figure that guys have either put themselves in this situation or are in this situation that I can talk to those guys about.
“You absolutely have to address this with the team,” he added. “You don’t want anything like this to ever happen to anybody on your team, to anybody outside of your building on other teams, but it is something you have to address with the players.”
These are the moments when Glenn’s leadership of the organization needs to be on full display, and he has seemingly risen to the occasion.
That goes for both versions of Glenn, behind the scenes and in front of the cameras. After a rocky few weeks of picking fights with reporters (some by name), playing shell games with his starting quarterback, and casting a surly cloud over the building, Glenn has clearly gotten over whatever had been bugging him. His two press conferences immediately after the loss to the Patriots were polite and honest, a refreshing way to head into the weekend.
Then on Wednesday, he not only volunteered the news of his most recent quarterback decision, benching Justin Fields and starting Tyrod Taylor on Sunday in Baltimore, he seemed to get a kick out of the expectations that he would not. Just before the question everyone already knew the answer to was asked, Glenn looked at one reporter off to the side.
“What are you laughing at?” he asked.
It is obviously a much more dire circumstance to deal with a player getting shot as opposed to who will be taking the snaps in any particular game, so the mood turned much more serious moments later on when the conversation switched to Boyd. Even then, however, Glenn remained relatively honest, forthcoming and emotionally open.
Glenn said he did not have any updates on when Boyd might be released from the hospital.
“I will say this,” Glenn said, “just talking to him, he felt really upbeat. That’s what gives me comfort, that he feels like that and is talking that way.”
It’s amazing how the tenor of just a few words from someone can calm a situation and set a tone of stability.
It’s really great Boyd was able to do that for Glenn.
But it’s good too that Glenn is back to doing that for the Jets.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
