Who is Chris Banjo? Everything you need to know about Jets new ST coach

So far in the 2025 offseason, the pipeline between the Denver Broncos and New York Jets has been a little one-sided. The Jets hired former Sean Payton disciple Aaron Glenn as their new head coach this offseason, followed closely by the decision to hire Darren Mougey as their general manager.

Mougey had been in the Denver Broncos' front office for over a decade and was part of helping bring a third Super Bowl to the Broncos back in the day, and obviously he's giving some recommendations to Glenn for his coaching staff. The Jets have poached yet another Bronco from Sean Payton's staff, this time bringing on assistant special teams coordinator Chris Banjo, a former NFL player who looks like he could still suit up and get the job done.

The decision for the Jets to hire Banjo was reported by Mike Klis on Wednesday night.

Who is the Jets' new special teams coordinator Chris Banjo?

So who is Chris Banjo and what does he bring to the table? Banjo was an NFL player for 10 years playing for the Packers, Saints, and Cardinals. Having played for both Sean Payton and Vance Joseph, it only made sense that Banjo would get into coaching right after playing on a staff that included both guys.

He was a rare case of a player retiring from playing the game and immediately getting into the coaching realm. And although he averaged just 19 tackles per year in his NFL career, Banjo was a highly-effective and trustworthy core-four special teams ace. You don't last in the NFL for 10 years playing 10 percent or less of the defensive snaps as a safety unless you're doing something exceptionally well on the game's third phase.

So Banjo knows what to do out there and he's an assistant coach who has drawn high praise from Sean Payton over the last couple of years. Although he was buried behind Ben Kotwica and Mike Westhoff on Payton's staff, you had to figure he was at least among the candidates to replace Kotwica, who was fired this past offseason.

Now, he's going to the Jets to be the top special teams coordinator and he was obviously a priority for Aaron Glenn to bring in.

The Broncos have had an All-Pro return specialist in Marvin Mims Jr. each of the last two seasons while kicker Wil Lutz has been among the AFC Special Teams players of the week on multiple occasions. As far as the coverage units are concerned, the Broncos were 2nd in the NFL offensively in starting field position and 3rd in the NFL defensively in starting field position.

Those numbers are reflections of the special teams.

Banjo is just 34 years old and will turn 35 later in February. He will obviously do well relating to the players since it wasn't that long ago he was suiting up himself.

He played at the college level at SMU and was undrafted. Despite being undrafted, he played in 131 career games.