Demario Davis, David Onyemata and Minkah Fitzpatrick having reunions of sorts with Jets, Aaron Glenn

Demario Davis rejoined a familiar face in a familiar place for the next stop in his long, impressive NFL journey.

After eight years with the New Orleans Saints, the 37-year-old linebacker signed with the New York Jets for a third stint with the team that drafted him. And this time, he's back with coach Aaron Glenn.

“Once my agents let me know that the Jets were an option, it was a no-brainer,” Davis said Thursday during a video call with reporters.

Davis was a third-round pick by New York in 2012 out of Arkansas State and Glenn a personnel scout during the linebacker's first two NFL seasons. The two just missed each other when Davis played in Cleveland in 2016 and Glenn left the Browns to join New Orleans' staff as an assistant. But they were back together again in 2018 when Davis left the Jets for a second time to play with the Saints.

“He was a big reason I ended up in New Orleans,” Davis recalled. “And now here, I didn’t even need to have a conversation with him to be all on board. And to get here and see what it is that he’s building and the culture and just to feel the energy in the building, just a ton of excitement.”

Davis, who signed a two-year contract worth $22 million, with $15 million guaranteed, will be counted on to help provide leadership for a team looking to bounce back from a 3-14 season and trying to snap the NFL's longest active playoff drought at 15 seasons.

“I think he’s preaching all the right messages and it sounds like there’s a locker room of guys who are bought into what he's coaching and we’re just being brought in to help reinforce that,” Davis said. "If anything, use our voice to turn up the volume, because at the end of the day, ships go into daylight because you hold on and hold steady through the storm. And that’s all we need to do. He has the vision, he has the mission.

“And all we've got to do is hold this thing steady and we’re going to come out the other side and I think it’s going to shock the world.”

Davis isn't the only Jets newcomer on defense having a reunion of sorts in free agency.

Defensive tackle David Onyemata signed a one-year, $10.5 million deal that includes $9.7 million guaranteed after spending the last three seasons in Atlanta. He played his first seven seasons with the Saints, including five with Glenn as an assistant coach and three with Davis as a teammate.

The 33-year-old Onyemata also called it “a no-brainer” to join the Jets and play for Glenn. A video clip made the rounds on social media after New York beat Atlanta last November with Onyemata finding Glenn on the field and thanking him for helping “change my life” with words of wisdom when they'd chat before meetings with the Saints.

“Just being on the same team and just communicating with him,” Onyemata said, “that bond kind of got stronger over the years.”

Onyemata also looks forward to playing again with Davis as teammates.

“We’ve got a great relationship over the years,” Onyemata said. “Just communication, being on the same page, and just getting the opportunity to do that again and be out there on the field with him again will be great.”

Glenn acknowledged he's changing things up and will call the defense this season, but he hired Brian Duker as his coordinator to oversee the operation. Duker comes from Miami, where he was the secondary coach and pass game coordinator for two years. Among the players he worked with regularly was safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who was acquired by the Jets for a seventh-round pick earlier this week — and then signed him to a three-year, $40 million contract extension — to anchor their secondary.

“I think we have all the necessary parts to be a really, really great defense under the guidance of AG, Duker and those guys,” Fitzpatrick said. "So there’s a lot to look forward to.”

The three-time All-Pro is a native of Old Bridge, New Jersey, and after playing in Miami and Pittsburgh his first eight seasons, this is a bit of a homecoming for the 29-year-old Fitzpatrick.

“I still have a lot of friends and family back here," he said. “I’ve been to the Jets' facility multiple times when I was younger when I competed in the Nike High School camps and whatnot. So it’s a lot of flashbacks being back in this building.”

He also will play his home games at MetLife Stadium, the site of the 2014 NJSIAA non-public group 4 championship in which Fitzpatrick and St. Peter’s Prep beat Paramus Catholic 34-18.

"So it’s a full-circle moment, for sure,” he said.

It's not quite what quarterback Geno Smith is experiencing after being acquired from Las Vegas in a trade 13 years after the Jets drafted him in the second round. But reunions create a sense of comfort on and off the field.

“It’s very surreal seeing familiar faces,” a smiling Davis said. “Man, it really feels like coming back home.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

FILE - Miami Dolphins safety Minkah Fitzpatrick runs onto the field during player introductions before an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Nov. 9, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Doug Murray)

FILE - New York Jets inside linebacker Demario Davis (56) reacts after a play against the Carolina Panthers during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun,File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. military says a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting operations against Iran crashed in western Iraq, killing four of its six crew members.

The U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said the crash followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace,” and that the other plane landed safely.

Here’s what is known so far about the tanker, which is the fourth publicly acknowledged U.S. aircraft to crash during the war against Iran:

The KC-135 Stratotanker is a U.S. Air Force aircraft used to refuel other planes in midair, allowing them to travel longer distances and maintain operations longer without landing. The plane is also used to transport wounded personnel during medical evacuations or conduct surveillance missions, according to military experts.

Based on the same design as the Boeing 707 passenger plane, the tanker has been in service for more than 60 years, supporting the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as allied aircraft, according to an Air Force description. The aging plane is set to be phased out as the air force receives a full complement of next-generation KC-46A Pegasus tankers.

Despite upgrades over the years, the KC-135s' age has fueled concern about their reliability and durability.

“The last of these planes were produced in the 1960s,” said Yang Uk, a security expert at South Korea’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies. He added that the transition to the KC-46A has progressed more slowly than expected.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the Air Force last year had 376 KC-135s, including 151 on active duty, 163 in the Air National Guard and 62 in the Air Force Reserve.

A basic KC-135 crew has three people: a pilot, co-pilot and boom operator. Nurses and medical technicians are added in aeromedical evacuation missions.

Refueling typically happens at the back of the plane, where the boom operator is located. A fuel boom is lowered to connect with fighters, bombers or other aircraft. On many of the planes, the boom operator works lying face down while looking out of a window on the underside of the plane.

Some KC-135s can also refuel planes from pods on their wings. The tankers also have room above the fuel stores to carry cargo or passengers if needed.

Refueling tankers could play an increasingly important role if the Iran war drags on, as U.S. aircraft may need to fly longer missions to pursue Iranian forces retreating deeper into the country, said Yang.

The U.S. Central Command said four of the six crewmembers on board the crashed KC-135 have been confirmed dead and that rescue efforts are continuing. It said the circumstances of the crash are under investigation but that the loss of the aircraft was “not due to hostile or friendly fire.”

A U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the developing situation, said the other plane involved was also a KC-135. Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., wrote on X that the other plane landed safely in Israel.

Yang said it would be rare for a refueling tanker to be downed by enemy fire because such operations are usually conducted in the rear of combat zones.

The crash came after three U.S. F-15E fighter jets were mistakenly downed last week by friendly Kuwaiti fire.

KC-135s have previously been involved in several fatal accidents. The most recent occurred on May 3, 2013, when a KC-135R crashed after takeoff south of Chaldovar, Kyrgyzstan, while supporting the war in Afghanistan.

In that crash, the crew experienced problems with the plane’s rudder, according to a U.S. Air Force investigation. While they struggled to stabilize the plane, the tail section broke away and the plane exploded midair, killing all three crewmembers onboard.

The most serious mid-air collision involving the plane happened in 1966, when a B-52 bomber carrying nuclear bombs struck a tanker near Palomares, Spain.

The accident caused the tanker to crash, killing four onboard. The disaster led to an extensive decontamination effort to clean up nuclear material dispersed when conventional explosives in the hydrogen bombs detonated after hitting the ground.

Schreck reported from Bangkok. AP writers Ben Finley and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed.

FILE - A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker refueling tanker aircraft takes off from the Kadena Air Base airfield in Kadena town, west of Okinawa, southern Japan, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)

FILE - A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft performs a flyover during the national anthem before an NCAA college football game between Central Florida and Georgia Tech, Sept. 24, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)