• The New York Jets became the first team I can remember to fire their coach and GM on separate occasions in-season.
Joe Douglas understood the deal going there, and I’m sure, at the end of the six-year deal he signed, knows a 30–64 record as GM exposed him to a day like this. The swing-and-miss on Zach Wilson in 2021, after failing to make things work with Sam Darnold, all of which was a prelude to the run at Aaron Rodgers, is a big reason why he was fired. These are high-level jobs, and Douglas lost twice as much as he won.
O.K., with that established, every failing boss should eventually get to the point where he’s pointed fingers in enough directions to necessitate one pointing right at the mirror. It’s time for Jets owner Woody Johnson to, finally, and once and for all, do that for his franchise.
Too many people who’ve been through Florham Park over the past 25 years, even those who have had good relationships with Johnson, say the same things about him. He’s surrounded by too many nonfootball yes men. He listens to those people way too much on football matters, and too many people working there feel like they’re at the mercy of what’s being said about Johnson and his team on social media.
This, without question, will make it harder to get people with options to take jobs there. To lure Douglas from Philadelphia in 2019. the Jets had to put together a six-year, $20 million offer—an off-the-charts contract at the time for a first-time GM. And the murmurs on what goes on in that building, the problems that every football person who’s worked there seems to run into, certainly haven’t gotten any better in the five years since.
Money, to be sure, will help Johnson (whether it’s Woody or Christopher) fix the perception problem in landing his next coach and GM in January like it did in 2019. But it won’t fix the issues that have been foisted on people who’ve served in those roles for decades.
And, again, for Johnson, there’s a hard truth if he takes a hard look in the mirror. We’ll see whether he faces it this time around.
