Where Are They Now: Joe Mott

When Joe Mott was drafted by the Jets in 1989, it offered him the chance to play in the NFL, and his parents the chance to spend less time in their car traveling during football season.

“I’m from upstate New York [Endicott] and my parents, my senior year, they traveled to every game,” Mott said. “They drove every weekend, whether it was home or it was away, bless them. And they absolutely loved it. They had dear friends who they would meet every weekend, my friends on the team and other players’ families. And so my thought was, ‘Oh, this is great. They’ll only have to travel three hours or so instead of the usual 13 or 14 hours.'”

An All-Big Ten defensive end as a senior at Iowa, Mott was moved to linebacker and made his mark on special teams as a rookie with the Jets.

“Whether it’s special teams, whether it’s linebacker, you obviously want to play linebacker; you want to get in there and start,” Mott said. “But a lot of times for young guys, that’s not it. So the old adage, whatever I could do to help the team. Really, you hear that a lot and it’s kind of a catchphrase, but honestly, it’s true. That’s what you do.”

After going 4-12 in 1989, the Jets replaced their head coach Joe Walton with Bruce Coslet. But what intrigued Mott and others on the defense more was who Coslet brought with him to New York.

“In with Bruce Coslet came Pete Carroll and Monte Kiffin. Pete was the defensive coordinator. And Monte was the linebackers coach. So, that was that was interesting, and I mean that in a good way,” Mott said.

“Pete was a character. Monte was a character. And Pete is still full of energy. And that’s what you always got from Pete, energy, focus and enthusiasm. So it was whatever happens, you go along with it. But it was positive for us. They were good coaches, smart coaches. Good guys. And Monte, loved him as a coach. Loved Pete as a coach.”

With a new defense in 1990, switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3 formation, Mott had new responsibilities. While he was a standout special…