The New York Jets 2024 catastrophe continues as the team waves the white flag on the season. Tuesday, yet another prominent member of the organization takes the fall as the Jets announced that they have fired general manager Joe Douglas just six weeks after relieving head coach Robert Saleh of his duties. At 3-8 on the year, the Jets will now turn their attention to preparing to fix what went horribly wrong this season.
Joe Douglas’s tenure was marred by what could have been
In the immortal words of legendary NFL coach and executive Bill Parcells, “You are what your record says you are.” For Douglas, that means a 30-64 record in six years at the helm of perhaps the most cursed franchise in all of sports.
Unlike GMs of the past, there was a lot to like about Douglas. He cut his teeth as an executive with the Baltimore Ravens from 2000-2015, and then after a brief stint with the Chicago Bears, had a prominent role in the Philadelphia Eagles front office during their Super Bowl-winning season before being hired by the Jets.
Douglas took over an abysmal Jets team in 2019, finally getting the chance to rebuild from the ground up after firing former head coach Adam Gase. On paper, things seemed to be progressing as planned.
After hitting a home run in the 2022 draft selecting Defensive Rookie of the Year Sauce Gardner, Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson, and stars Jermaine Johnson and Breece Hall. However, it quickly became clear that Douglas’s hand-picked quarterback, number-two overall pick Zach Wilson, was not the guy to lead the team to the promised land.
After a 7-10 record with Wilson at the helm, Douglas pushed all his chips to the middle of the table, trading for future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers with the belief that the veteran signal-caller could lead the talented young roster to the promised land. He may have been right in 2023, however, Rodgers’ season was ending just four plays in with a torn Achilles, putting the Jets in the familiar position of having a talented roster led by a black hole under center.
Unfortunately, 2024 has seen the worst possible outcomes come to fruition leading us to Douglas’s predictable dismissal.
Right process, wrong results
Quite often through his tenure, Douglas was lauded for his decisions, though many crucial ones didn’t pan out. Whether it was drafting Wilson, the consensus number-two quarterback in his class behind Trevor Lawrence, missing on multiple second-round receivers like Denzel Mims and Elijah Moore, or free-agent signings going bust, it was hard to fault Douglas for many of the decisions he made.
Douglas typically stayed away from the free-agent overpay, a common catnip for general managers looking to turn around a franchise, instead shopping in the next tier, banking on youth, potential, and scheme fit to elevate those players and the team as a whole.
In the draft, he was a bit more of a risk taker, prioritizing traits over polish, to varying results overall. One area where he clearly excelled was finding diamonds in the rough on the waiver wire. During his tenure, Douglas found an All-Pro kick returner in Braxton Berrios, a solid starting defensive lineman in John Franklin-Myers, and one of the best linebackers in the game, Quincy Williams.
Unfortunately, the process only matters so much, and if the results on the field don’t match up you have a recipe for failure.
Meddling ownership contributed to poor decisions
According to a report by The Athletic many of Joe Douglas’s recent poor decisions were the result of directives from owner Woody Johnson. Johnson also overruled Douglas on several moves he wanted to make that may have been more beneficial to the team.
This is not the first time Johnson has been reported to have usurped his general managers. Most recently, it was Johnson, not Douglas, who fired Saleh. Johnson was also behind the Jets’ decision to fire offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur following the 2022 season, and perhaps most famously was behind the infamous Tim Tebow trade despite his supposed denials of involvement.
What’s next for the Jets?
With Douglas gone, the Jets now have a head start on the search for their next general manager. Unfortunately, given Johnson’s now notorious reputation for interfering and severe lack of football knowledge, it’s unlikely that the job is viewed as an attractive one around the league.
Further muddying the waters is the rumor that Johnson will once again be selected by President-Elect Donald Trump to serve in his administration. Johnson previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom in Trump’s first presidency, leaving control of the team in the hands of his brother Christopher.
One potential solution was floated by veteran sports writer Gary Myers on X/Twitter prior to the Douglas firing. Myers suggested the Jets hire Hall of Fame running back and former Jet Curtis Martin to serve as President of Football Operations.
Martin, well respected around the league and known for his intelligence on and off the football field, would then be in charge of finding the next GM. It doesn’t hurt that Martin also has a great relationship with the aforementioned Bill Parcells to bounce ideas off of.
A scenario like this could mitigate the risk of the Johnson ownership interfering. A well-connected and well-respected football man overseeing the next GM search and keeping the football side separate from the business side may be the only way for the Jets to end the nightmare and avoid a continuation of the dumpster fire the organization has become.
