Long-Time Suffering Jets Fans Prepared For Another First-Time GM/HC Combo
Some hot names have been taken off the board as the Jets continue their exhaustive and exhausting search for a new General Manager/Head Coach combination. Not that Gang Green had a real shot at someone like Lions Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson, who reportedly accepted the Bears’ HC offer on Monday after making his disinterest to New York’s outsourced search leaders at The 33rd Team known. Previously, former Kansas City executive Mike Borgonzi, who at least interviewed with New York’s brass, took the Tennessee GM job.
As the Jets commence the process’s second round, you have to wonder what they’re thinking. Most seem to believe that we’re in for another set of first timers in each gig. At one point last week, it seemed that Green Bay VP of Player Personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan had the inside track for the GM hire. The latest buzz is that the Jets could land on a different pairing with Detroit roots—current Washington Assistant GM Lance Newmark, who spent the previous 26 years in the Lions’ organization, and Detroit Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn, a 1994 Jets first-round pick who, according to NFLcom’s Ian Rapoport, could be walking out of Tuesday’s second interview with a contract. Newmark’s second interview is also set up for Tuesday, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Both men have received praise for their efforts in resurrecting a once moribund franchise in Detroit, with Newmark also getting a piece of the credit for the Commanders’ sudden rise this season. Glenn is said to be a natural leader, unafraid to instill accountability.
Still, how much of Newmark’s input was needed with the Commanders chalk drafting of quarterback Jayden Daniels at No. 2 overall can be debated. In fact, it’s more about the actual GM whose record is available for parsing, while only those inside the building can truly know an underling who is seeking a promotion’s readiness. As Jets fans just learned with Joe Douglas, who received the “right” apprenticeships with top-notch organizations in Baltimore and Philadelphia before flailing here.
You sometimes can’t even tell from the interviews. As one who used to hire people in my former life, I can cop to being fooled a couple of times by those who came across as knowledgeable in interviews but who were then discovered as being incapable of performing the job’s tasks to the standard. So whether you’re looking at accountants or NFL GMs, those who lack prior experience in the job you’re trying to fill come with added risk. In football, success can be measured more accurately when you’re researching the actual decision maker with trigger-pulling responsibility.
It’s not just the Jets who have been burned by their last two first-time GM picks Douglas and Mike Maccagnan; look at the Giants. Joe Schoen had the ideal background working his way up from a scout to the Assistant GM job for perennial Super Bowl contender Buffalo, where he also had a relationship with former Bills OC and current Giants HC Brian Daboll. Only Schoen has whiffed on so many personnel decisions over the last three seasons that it was shocking to many Giants fans that the Mara family didn’t run him out of town on Black Monday.
So, like with Douglas and Schoen, the Jets would be rolling the dice again should they go with a first-time GM. I don’t mind it as much with the Jets’ HC choice, though I’d prefer it be an offensive play caller. They’re more likely to develop a young quarterback properly and can’t bolt for a better job if the offense starts putting up points like an OC surely will.
As for Glenn, his trip to the NFL Divisional Round didn’t do him any favors. While he can be forgiven for his defense’s general late-season struggles due to a litany of injuries, the critical 12 men on the field penalty on a fourth quarter 4th-and-two at the 5-yeard line was not a good look for someone campaigning to be a “CEO-type” Head Coach (or for Lions HC Dan Campbell, for that matter).
For the anti-Glenn Jets folks, understand that the Saints are also interested in him, interviewing him for a second time the day after he meets with the Jets. If a Glenn deal doesn’t get done with the Jets on Tuesday, then all bets are off. Owner Woody Johnson doesn’t strike me as the type to entertain a bidding war, especially after he’s seen so many other candidates who he could probably get much cheaper.
The Jets Circus never closes.