FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Aaron Glenn sat at a table in the New York Jets’ press conference room and smiled. He didn’t stop smiling for the next nine minutes, a man relieved and relaxed after three months of building, of scouting, of educating his new staff on what he was looking for. This was what he was looking for.
When Glenn was hired in January, he set out to do the same things he watched his mentors — Sean Payton with the Saints and Dan Campbell with the Lions — do at previous stops. They wanted to build from the inside-out, in the trenches, especially on the offensive line. For a team that wants to run the ball, run the ball and then run it some more, it was a necessity to come out of this draft with a people-mover. Glenn had visions of the Saints in 2017 when they drafted offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk in the first round, and of the Lions in 2021 when they picked Penei Sewell. Glenn wanted his Sewell. He found him early in this draft process: Armand Membou.
“I come from two teams where everything was about the offensive line,” Glenn said. “I was in New Orleans when we drafted Ramczyk and we had Terron (Armstead). In Detroit, we started with Penei. I’m a firm believer that you start inside out. So, if we can build our line … that not only helps you as a team, it helps your quarterback, it helps your running backs, it helps your passing game and it creates an identity with your team that you’re trying to make sure that every team, when they watch film, they see that. It’s important to make sure we look at that.”
That’s where Membou comes in. He’s Glenn’s first building block from the draft — and, the Jets hope, the missing piece on an offensive line that had four promising young starters locked in but needed one more, at right tackle. For years, former general manager Joe Douglas attempted to build an offensive line both through the draft and by spending big in free agency. He mostly failed, but now general manager Darren Mougey and Glenn will bear the fruits of his labor. Counting Membou, four of the Jets’ five projected starting linemen were drafted in the first or second round — and all five are 27 or younger.
“We’ve always admired the film, his physicality,” Mougey said of Membou. “We knew he’d be a physical fit.”
And Glenn: “The athletic profile is off the charts. He’s mean, he’s nasty, he’s tough. What we’re trying to do on offense — he fits what we’re trying to do. It was a no-brainer. Once the pick was there for us, it was like: This is the guy.”
There are highlights of Membou from his time at Missouri, when his dominance persisted even when the Tigers struggled. He didn’t allow a single sack or QB hit in 2024, and only allowed eight pressures all season. He was known to take the man he was blocking, push him upfield, and then push him into the ground. Sometimes he’d stare or point at them. That’s the energy Glenn wants — that’s the energy he saw in Sewell too, in the early stages of the Lions’ rebuild.
“Absolutely love it,” Glenn said. “Our guys have seen that too … they see how he operates. We have some guys that operate like that too. It’s really our identity. It was an easy fit for us. It was an easy pick for us.”
As for Membou, he is already saying the right things.
“I’m a mauler,” Membou said on a conference call shortly after being drafted. “S—, whatever you need me to do, it doesn’t matter. Just run behind me.”
That’s the energy the Jets need, because they are going to run the ball. A lot. Last year, with Aaron Rodgers essentially calling the shots on offense, the Jets were the second-most pass-happy offense in the NFL. They had the fewest rushing attempts of any team. The run blocking was inconsistent and running back Breece Hall — widely viewed as one of the best in the NFL coming into the season — had a down year. (That’s a big reason why Hall was the subject of trade rumors on Thursday, though Mougey shut them down after the draft.)
This offseason, the Jets have prioritized fixing the running game and becoming a running team. Becoming, as Glenn said, “nasty.” They signed Justin Fields, one of the NFL’s best running quarterbacks. They bring back a talented trio of running backs in Hall, Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis. They signed a fullback (Andrew Beck). They added one wide receiver (Josh Reynolds) and surprisingly brought back another (Allen Lazard) — Glenn lauds both for their run blocking. They replaced offensive line coach Keith Carter with Steve Heiden, a former tight ends coach with the Lions who played a crucial role in helping cultivate an elite Detroit rushing attack.
Membou’s arrival feeds into that image of a run-heavy team. There was a feeling that the Jets’ draft decision would come down to Membou or one of the draft’s top tight ends (Tyler Warren or Colston Loveland), but Membou was really the apple of their eye.
“He fits who we are, so the pick was really easy,” Glenn said.
What made it easy: Glenn said Membou reminds him of Sewell — and both came into the NFL with similar questions about their size (both are 6-foot-4), and yet both are remarkably strong, tough and athletic.
“The mentality and the demeanor of the player is exactly the same,” Glenn said. “That’s what attracted me to that player, first and foremost. And then you start to see athletically how he moves, that attracts you. Then when you get a chance to talk to the player and learn who he is as a person, then that attracts you also. It was a perfect storm on that guy being a Jet.”
Membou felt it too, from the moment he woke up on Thursday morning.
“It was something my gut told me,” he said, “when I woke up today I (knew) I was going to be a Jet.”
(Photo: Denny Medley / Imagn Images)