Aaron Glenn declines to interview with Patriots

Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn will interview every team that has an open coaching position. Except one.

According to multiple reports, Glenn declined an invitation to interview with the Patriots.

The Patriots asked for permission to interview Glenn two days after they asked for permission to interview Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson — and a day after many criticized the Patriots for potentially circumventing the spirit of the Rooney Rule by quickly interviewing Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton, who is currently not connected to any NFL team. The American can therefore be interviewed in person immediately.

It’s all part of what many see as a rushed effort to hire former Titans coach Mike Vrabel.

To be clear, the Patriots fully adhered to the Rooney Rule. Glenn’s request on Wednesday created the impression that the Patriots had made an effort to over-comply — either after hearing outside criticism or (perhaps) after hearing directly from the league office that it seemed like an inauthentic effort to achieve compliance with the rule that two minority candidates be interviewed in person.

The fact that Glenn said “no thanks” actually allows the Petraeus family to make a deal with Vrabel, if they want to. However, if they did, it would provide further support to those who claim that the process was not about conducting an open and comprehensive search, but about ticking boxes in order to undertake a recruitment process that they may have already decided to do.

However, the Rooney Rule only requires interviews. It does not require that minority candidates be currently employed by another team. (Maybe it should). There was no violation of the text of the rule.

The Leftwich and Hamilton interviews were of secondary interest. It has reintroduced their names into the current recruiting cycle, which may help put them on the radar screen of teams that will inevitably fill in with new hires.

Consider this story Broncos coach Sean Payton shared on Wednesday regarding the unscientific way coaches find their names in the broader mix of jobs.

“It’s not a large community,” Payton told reporters. “I was in New Orleans and Andy Reid from Philadelphia called. They were asking for permission to visit Dennis Allen as defensive coordinator. Dennis was coaching the secondary for us. Of course I said yes, and I talked to the DA and he was going to do an interview. Now, John Fox (former Panthers and Broncos) and I are close friends.” We worked together for four years on the Giants, but there was little of this: Word got out that Dennis was going to be interviewed in Philadelphia and a week later, Foxy called me and said in his gruff voice: “Hey, I want to talk to the attorney general about the defensive coordinator position,” I said. “Sly, I’m good at that.” “You can’t pick him out of the lineup right now, though,” I said.

Leftwich and Hamilton both worked in the NFL as offensive coordinators. Leftwich won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers in 2020, and Hamilton helped develop the likes of Andrew Luck and Justin Herbert.

If one or both eventually parlay their interviews with the Patriots into assistant coaching positions in the NFL, it’s a win for them.