The Broncos have hired Josh McDaniels as their head coach. This affects the Jets in three respects.

1. The Jets now have the pick of the litter.

Teams searching for coaches in the offseason often have to compete against each other for hot candidates. The Jets job is now by far the best available. Denver is a very desirable job. The Broncos have great fans. They play their home games in a palace. The owner there is extremely supportive. Aside from Steve Spagnuolo not wanting to uproot his family, if both teams had their eye on the same coach, it would be tough to convince anybody to take the New York job over the Denver one. Jay Cutler may be overrated, but he makes the Broncos' longterm situation at quarterback infinitely more stable than that of the Jets. Now Gang Green only has to compete with the Rams, a hopeless team with an unclear ownership situation, and the Lions, pro football's version of the Titanic.

2. Mike Nolan will probably not return to New York as defensive coordinator.

McDaniels according to published reports is likely to jump upon the former Jets coordinator and 49ers head coach to run his defense. Nolan is a former mentor of leading candidate, Rex Ryan, and would have been a frontrunner to land a key position on the staff.

3. A quality assistant is gone from the AFC East.

This hardly cripples the Pats, but given McDaniels' work developing Matt Cassel, New England is definitely weaker today than twenty-four hours ago.