Jay Rodgers enters his second season as edges coach for New Orleans in 2026. A 25-year coaching veteran with 17 years of NFL experience, Rodgers has been a defensive line coach, outside linebackers/edges coach or defensive run game coordinator in each of the last 14 seasons in the NFL. Prior to coming to New Orleans, the Austin, Texas native spent the 2024 season with the Atlanta Falcons as defensive line coach.
In 2025, Rodgers played an important role in helping the team implement a 3-4 base defensive scheme. Edge defenders Cameron Jordan (10.5) and Chase Young (career-high 10.0) each reached double-digit sacks, with the Saints being one of only three teams to have two defenders with at least ten takedowns. Carl Granderson led the edge group with 57 tackles (35 solo), while adding six sacks, 11 stops for loss, one interception and four pass breakups. Granderson and Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt were the only two NFL edge players with at least 55 stops, six takedowns and one pick.
In 2024 with the Falcons, he guided a promising young defensive line that helped the Falcons allow only 11 rushing touchdowns. Former Saint David Onyemata finished with 45 tackles, including eight stops for loss and one pass breakup, while leading Atlanta's 3-4 scheme up front group in sacks.
Prior to his stint with Atlanta, Rodgers spent three seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers (2021-23) under former Chargers head coach and current Saints Defensive Coordinator Brandon Staley, where served as outside linebackers coach and defensive run game coordinator (2021) before transitioning to defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator (2022–23).
During Rodgers's three-season tenure in Los Angeles, the Chargers were ranked first in the NFL in sacks on third and fourth down (75). The Chargers defense finished with 48 sacks in 2023, tied for seventh-most in the league, and limited opponents to a 62.5 goal-to-go-percentage, fourth-best in the league. In 2021, Rodgers oversaw an outside linebackers room that recorded 19.5 of the team's 35 sacks, including 10.5 from Joey Bosa, who was named to his fourth-career Pro Bowl.
Prior to Los Angeles, Rodgers spent six seasons (2015-20) as defensive line coach for the Chicago Bears, where he directed a defensive front that routinely was part of a top-ranked defensive unit. In 2018, Chicago boasted the NFL's top run defense (80 ypg) while holding opponents to a league-low 17.7 points per game. For his efforts overseeing the defensive line of the NFC North champions, Rodgers was awarded by his league peers with the John Teerlinck NFL Defensive Line Coach of the Year. The unit was led by former Saints defensive lineman Akiem Hicks, who earned second-team All-Pro honors and was named to his first career Pro Bowl. From 2016-20, Hicks recorded the seventh-most sacks by an interior defensive lineman despite missing most of the 2019 season.
Rodgers joined the Bears after six years (2009-14) with the Denver Broncos. He was part of a staff that saw the team make four consecutive postseason appearances from 2011-14, including an appearance in Super Bowl XLVIII following the 2013 season. Over his three years (2012-14) as the defensive line coach, Rodgers' unit helped the Broncos defense lead the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game (90.8). In 2012, defensive end Elvis Dumervil was named to his third-career Pro Bowl as the front helped the defense record a league-leading 52 sacks. Rodgers began his NFL coaching career as a coaching assistant for Denver in 2009 and was a defensive quality control coach from 2010-11.
Rodgers is an alumnus of Westlake High School, the same program that legendary Saints signal-caller Drew Brees came from. He started 15 games at quarterback at Indiana University from 1996-98 before transferring to Missouri State in 1999. Rodgers was named team captain and the team's Most Valuable Player in his one season at Missouri State, where he set a number of school single-season passing records. Rodgers earned his bachelor's degree from Indiana before working as a recruiting assistant at Ohio State University in 2000.
Rodgers entered the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at LSU from 2001-02. He spent his first season working with the offensive staff, as the 2001 Tigers won the Southeastern Conference and defeated Illinois in the Sugar Bowl. Rodgers then assisted the defensive staff in 2002 before moving to Dodge City (Kan.) Community College in 2003 as passing game coordinator, quarterbacks coach and wide receivers coach. Following one season at Dodge City, Rodgers returned to Missouri State, spending the 2004 season as quarterbacks coach. He then coached the position for two seasons at Stephen F. Austin (2005-06) and, in his final stop before the NFL, coached wide receivers at Iowa State (2007-08).
Rodgers and his wife, Melissa, have three children. His brother, Jeff, is the special teams coordinator for the Buffalo Bills. The two coached together for four seasons with Denver (2011-14) and three seasons with Chicago (2015-17).
PLAYING CAREER: Indiana, 1996-98; Missouri State, 1999.
COACHING CAREER: LSU, 2001-02; Dodge City (Kan.) Community College, 2003; Missouri State, 2004; Stephen F. Austin, 2005-06; Iowa State, 2007-08; Denver Broncos, 2009-14; Chicago Bears, 2015-20; Los Angeles Chargers, 2021-23; Atlanta Falcons, 2024; New Orleans Saints, 2025-.
