This is one in a series of articles that will also appear in the New York Jets 2025 Yearbook, which will be published later this summer.
Tanner Engstrand is stepping up to the plate for his first at-bat in coordinating an NFL offense.
"Absolutely ready," he said during the Jets' organized team activities in May. "I've been in a coordinator role before at multiple different places, obviously not in the NFL, but nine years as a coordinator. I feel 100 percent confident. I'm excited for this opportunity."
Engstrand, who was most recently the Lions' pass game coordinator from 2022-24, worked closely with OC Ben Johnson in Detroit with a group that ranked No. 1 in the NFL in total yards over the last three seasons under Johnson, now Chicago's HC.
"Ben is an elite teacher, and really what you take from that is be clear and concise with the information you're giving to the players," Engstrand said. "Be the most detailed person at your job that you can be and leave no doubt to the players of what their job is.
"A lot of my time was spent game-planning the pass game on a weekly basis. Running meetings with what we called the pass pod — the skill position group. Meeting with the quarterbacks, at times, receivers, tight ends, just being involved in those different positions in any aspect of the pass game."
Engstrand, who was a senior at San Diego State when Jets GM Darren Mougey was a redshirt freshman, is coming from an offense in Detroit headed by a prototypical passer in Jared Goff. In New York, the offense will be led by one of the most dynamic runners in the league in Justin Fields.
"I think it just opens things up more," Engstrand said. "It just adds another layer to what we can do with where we're going on offense."
With influences like Johnson, Lions HC Dan Campbell, Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh (they worked together at the University of San Diego and Michigan) and the well-respected Pep Hamilton, Engstrand, 42, would not tip his hand about what the Green & White's schematic identity will be this season.
"We want to play fast," he said. "We want to be physical, we want to be aggressive, we want to be explosive, we want to be detailed. We want that to show up on tape each and every week. When somebody looks at our tape, we want those things to show up, and that's what we're going to shoot for."
