The End Of Douglas Error Couldn’t Come Soon Enough For Exasperated Jets Fans
The least interesting question posed by the media horde regarding the Jets’ firing of General Manager Joe Douglas on Tuesday is “Why now?”
My response: Who cares?
The 2024 season is, for all practical purposes, over. At 3-8, the Jets have a microscopic chance of breaking their 13-year playoff drought. It’s been an unmitigated disaster to the point where owner Woody Johnson had basically emasculated Douglas by firing Head Coach Robert Saleh after Week 5 and ending edge rusher Hasson Reddick’s holdout while trading future Draft picks for wide receiver Davante Adams a couple of weeks later, all without the actual GM out in front to comment.
The Jets announced that Phil Savage, who was a special personnel advisor under Douglas, will fill the role of interim GM until Johnson installs a new head of football operations, who will then oversee the hiring of a new Head Coach and evaluate whether quarterback Aaron Rodgers should return for 2025.
Douglas, whose contract was set to expire in June, was absolutely undeserving of running another offseason. If you don’t count 2019 because he arrived after the roster was pretty much set, his GM record stands at 23-55, a hideous 295 winning percentage. According to The Jet Press, such futility ranks 105th out of 107 NFL executives since 1977 who spent at least five years with an organization. I mean, the disgraced John Idzik went 12-20 (.375) in his short-lived Jets tenure.
Douglas can point to some successes, notably his trading of veterans for above market value (in safety Jamal Adams’ case, WELL above market value) and the 2022 Draft class, where he took full advantage of the excessive capital to select cornerback Sauce Gardner, wide receiver Garrett Wilson, edge rusher Jermaine Johnson, and running back Breece Hall. Even all his later picks—tight end Jeremy Ruckert, offensive lineman Max Mitchell, and defensive lineman Michael Clemons, are at least still on the team.
The problem: Want to know how many of his 19 picks from his first two go’s at the Draft in 2020 and 2021 have hung around One Jets Drive? Five, with offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker (first round, 2021) and backup safety Ashtyn Davis (third round, 2020) the only two of eight players chosen in the first three rounds to stick. Douglas’ whiff on quarterback Zach Wilson (No. 2 overall, 2021)—and then compounding the mistake by not immediately recognizing it--set the franchise back years.
That’s a lot of misses, which required Douglas to overspend in the free agent market. Though a former offensive lineman in college, his thinking that he could just plug in aging/injured mercenaries on the Jets’ line has had a multiplier effect on an offense that has been far and away the league’s worst in terms of rbsdm.com’s expected points added per play and success rate during his four-plus seasons in charge of personnel. He had hired in 2021 a defensive-oriented HC in Saleh who brought a 20th-century “establish the run first” model, only that’s hard to do when the line stinks and you’re always down by two touchdowns at halftime.
Douglas put all his chips on this season with the understanding that 40-year old Rodgers could perform at a reasonable facsimile of his NFL MVP self following his recovery from Achilles surgery that all but wiped out his 2023 campaign. Johnson once called it the best roster he’s ever had in nearly 25 years as Jets owner.
But what does he know anyway? It turned out that Rodgers isn’t that guy anymore and Douglas’ tinkering—bringing in washed former Cowboys All-Pro Tyron Smith to play left tackle and unnecessarily rejiggering what was a solid defensive line—made things worse.
While some may find it convenient for me to second guess some of Douglas’ decisions, I have always pointed to his questionable process first. He was the epitome of the “I know more than everybody” GM, constantly expending Draft capital to move up for players. His hubris was his fatal flaw. He went with overweight tackle Mekhi Becton over Tristan Wirfs in 2020 and traded up for Vera-Tucker when he could have stayed put and selected Christian Darrisaw in 2021. Because Douglas knew.
Well, everyone knew Douglas wasn’t long for this job. That the Jets cut the cord a bit prematurely doesn’t matter to Jets fans exasperated from another wasted half decade.