Who Will Clean Up Jets' Mess? Idzik Talked Himself Out - Merged

[flgreen]

Chiefs executive Chris Ballard or Scott Pioli could come clean up NY Jets' mess

 

Two sources predicted Tuesday that Ballard, the Chiefs director of player personnel, will be the hottest GM candidate after the season. If Johnson goes for a candidate with experience, I think Pioli, the assistant GM in Atlanta, is the best choice.

 

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

 

Published: Wednesday, October 29, 2014, 1:19 AM

Updated: Wednesday, October 29, 2014, 1:19 AM

• A
•  
• A
•  
• A

 

 

           

ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Woody Johnson (l.) needs to start over with a general manager whose expertise is personnel, let the GM hire his own head coach, then let the GM and coach find a quarterback.

 

When Woody Johnson was interviewing general manager candidates 20 months ago, he was interested in hearing their plans for Darrelle Revis.

 

It was pretty clear how Johnson felt.

 

“Revis has got to go,” is what Johnson was saying, one source told the Daily News on Tuesday.

 

If a candidate disagreed and made a point that it might be in the Jets’ best interest to keep their best player, even if he was coming off ACL surgery with contract issues ahead, “Woody didn’t want to hear it,” the source said.

 

Where did John Idzik stand on the Revis issue? Ninety-three days after Johnson hired him, Idzik traded Revis to Tampa. “John told Woody everything he wanted to hear,” the source said. “John said he would get rid of Revis. I’m 100% sure of it.”

 

Just 24 games into the job, Idzik is 9-15 with a seven-game losing streak. He is a salary-cap expert in over his head making personnel decisions, made worse by not having a quarterback after whiffing on Geno Smith. His awful press conference Monday didn’t help.

 

It’s a given Rex Ryan will be fired after the season, but Idzik deserves to go, too. Johnson needs to start over with a general manager whose expertise is personnel, let the GM hire his own head coach, then let the GM and coach find a quarterback.

 

If Johnson admits he made a mistake with Idzik, will anybody want this job? It’s a massive rebuild under the intense scrutiny and pressure of New York and disgusted Jets fans. “It will be desirable,” one source said. “Somebody will raise their hand for it. There’s only 32 of them. But to me, it’s a bad job. Idzik was foolish to take it, but nobody else wanted him as a general manager and he wanted to be a GM. It wasn’t a good situation. He wasn’t the right guy for the job.”

 

Another source said, “Being one of only 32 makes it attractive — and the money.”

 

Two sources predicted Tuesday that Chris Ballard, the Chiefs director of player personnel, will be the hottest GM candidate after the season. He was the leading contender for the Bucs job after last season, but declined to be interviewed because he would not have final say. That belonged to new head coach Lovie Smith. Ballard and Smith had worked together in Chicago.

 

Ballard was a scout for the Bears from 2000-2011 and was their director of pro scouting in 2012. He has extensive experience in personnel. That’s what Johnson needs. Coaches make a huge difference in the NFL, but it’s still all about the players, specifically the quarterback.

 

JOE MAHONEY/AP

Scott Pioli will have learned from his four years as the Chiefs general manager.

 

Chiefs general manager John Dorsey called Ballard “a tremendous talent evaluator.” Eric DeCosta, the Ravens assistant GM, has been in demand, but he is the heir apparent to GM Ozzie Newsome and it will be hard to get him out of Baltimore.

 

Bill Polian, the former GM of the Bills, Panthers and Colts, was not interested in the Jets job before Idzik was hired, and there’s no reason to believe he’d be interested now. Polian, a candidate for the 2015 Hall of Fame, is currently working for ESPN.

 

If Johnson goes for a candidate with experience, I think Scott Pioli, the assistant GM in Atlanta, is the best choice. He will have learned from his four years (2009-12) as the Chiefs GM.

 

Pioli, who is Bill Parcells’ son-in-law, worked for the Jets from 1997-1999. He will be better the second time around as a GM.

 

He was just 23-41 in K.C. and his coaching hires — Todd Haley and Romeo Crennel — didn’t work out. He did win the AFC West in 2010, but was fired after a 2-14 season in 2012.

 

Andy Reid immediately turned that around to 11-5 last year. The core of his team was Pioli’s players plus Reid’s trade for quarterback Alex Smith. Pioli drafted four players who made the Pro Bowl last season for the Chiefs: safety Eric Berry, defensive tackle Dontari Poe, linebacker Justin Houston and kick returner-running back Dexter McCluster.

 

He was Bill Belichick’s right-hand man with the Patriots from 2000-08 and was responsible for many of New England’s draft picks that helped the Pats win three Super Bowls.

 

Idzik drafted Sheldon Richardson, who was voted defensive rookie of the year last year, but he’s the only impact player among the 19 players he’s drafted in two years. He hasn’t signed an impact free agent. He has revamped the Jets roster in less than two seasons — he’s brought in 33 of the 53 players on the active roster and all five players now on injured reserve. That’s 65.55%, a huge turnover in such a short period.

 

“Woody just wants for the Jets to stop being a laughingstock in the city,” one source said. “He’s tired of it.”

 

Then hire a football man to make football decisions.

 

[slats]

NY Jets GM John Idzik may have talked his way out of town

How do the Jets go forward with this man picking the players and, most likely, picking the new coach? What has Idzik done so far to make Woody or any Jets fan think that you can hand over another season to him, or two, or three?

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, October 29, 2014, 1:41 AM A

 

After his strange, rambling presser, how could anyone - especially Jets owner Woody Johnson (r.) - think it is a good idea to give John Idzik (l.) control over the team's future?

John Idzik may have done something rather amazing on Monday with his midseason report on himself and the mess that has become the New York Jets season: He may have begun talking his way right out of town. He started around 1:30 in the afternoon before taking any questions. By the time he walked out of the media room he seemed to have turned himself into a lame-duck general manager.

 

For weeks the conversation has been about who the next coach of the Jets will be. Idzik single-handedly changed that conversation on Monday. He is the one who put his own job status into question if the Jets don’t dramatically turn things around, and right now. The media didn’t do that. It never does. Idzik did it to himself.

 

Go back and read everything that Idzik said, starting with his own evaluation of his own job performance.

 

Read back over an endorsement of Rex Ryan that really wasn’t an endorsement at all. Read his assessment of all the fight he says this Jets team has in it, fight only the general manager is apparently seeing. And then ask the same question Woody Johnson has to be asking himself:

 

How do the Jets go forward with this man picking the players and, most likely, picking the new coach?

 

Think about it: What offensive or defensive coordinator looking to make a big move into a big job — and coaching a team with “New York” in its name will always be a big job — wants to throw in or throw down with a general manager who might be on his way out the door in a year?

 

It is unclear whether Idzik was in real trouble with his owner before he faced the media in Florham Park. No one is suggesting his fate is sealed. Give Idzik every benefit of the doubt, talk about how a season-and-a-half isn’t a proper referendum on whether or not Idzik has the chops to do this kind of job in the National Football League. You can say, one more time, and with feeling, that any general manager has the right to pick his own coach, something Idzik will surely get to do if he lasts.

 

But once and for all: What has Idzik done so far to make Woody or any Jets fan — and especially any Jets fan paying PSL prices — think that you can hand over another season to him, or two, or three? Another question Woody Johnson has to ask himself, watching his team’s performance and his general manager’s on Monday, is this:

 

Do you turn over as many years to your general manager as you did to a failed quarterback such as Mark Sanchez?

 

We talk all the time about how if you give the ball to the wrong young quarterback the way the Jets did with Sanchez, and are doing with Geno Smith, you are setting your program back years. It is as much of a football disaster to be wrong about a general manager. And what makes Woody Johnson think he’s right about Idzik?

 

Certainly this could all change if the Jets show some life, and Geno Smith shows some game, over the second half of the season. Maybe Eric Decker does something and Calvin Pryor does something and Percy Harvin lights up November and December. Maybe Rex’s defense, even without cornerbacks, shows you the ability to get a big stop, and to let the other team stop scoring touchdowns on third down. Raise a hand if you think all that is going to happen.

 

And even if the Jets somehow have enough rope to get back to 6-10 or 7-9, where are they, really, if they are starting all over again next season with a new coach and a new quarterback?

 

When it was all over on Monday, the feeling about Idzik was that he couldn’t decide whether he wanted Jets fans to like him or feel sorry for him. What he certainly did not do was inspire any confidence in his fan base, give that fan base any sense that there is some kind of plan here, a real vision for the future; that the general manager Woody Johnson hired has it in him to build a real contender, or even the first Super Bowl the team has had in nearly half-a-century.

 

Jets fans know the deal by now: Soon they will be hearing about January of 1969 the way New York Rangers fans used to obsess about 1940 before Mark Messier came to town.

 

Woody Johnson is the one who helped create this situation by making Idzik keep Rex Ryan rather than allow him to pick his own coach when he got the job. So the owner is the one who has to own this. But in fairness, Johnson has not been a terrible owner here. The Jets have not been the New York Jaguars. He was right about Rex Ryan, at least in the short run. Now he has to take a longer view of what is happening to the Jets, ask himself whether he really believes he picked the right general manager to replace Mike Tannenbaum.

 

The Jets’ season is lost already. What Johnson has to worry about at this point is losing fans, the ones Idzik tried to reference on Monday, the ones he’s met between the ages of 5 and 75. He tried to tell all of them he shares their pain. They weren’t buying. You wonder who buys PSLs going forward.

 

Ask yourself one last question about the Jets and the man in charge of fixing a mess he has helped create:

 

What bothered you more if you’re a Jets fan, the game against the Bills on Sunday, or that press conference on Monday?

[New York Mick]

No one. They're ******* cursed.

[Integrity28]

 

What bothered you more if you’re a Jets fan, the game against the Bills on Sunday, or that press conference on Monday?

 

 

The press conference, tbh. I expected the game to go exactly that way. We'd just played toe-to-toe with the Patriots the week before, which is enough moral victory for the familiar Rex complacency to set in. So, of course we were going to take a double-digit loss at home to the Bills. This is how things have been with Rex for years.

[Integrity28]

Looking back, I wonder if Gamble insisted on finding a way to keep Revis - and that was why the Jets dragged him through the mud. I also wonder if Heckert found out that he had to 1.) keep Rex and 2.) trade Revis, and that is why he cancelled his interview with us.

 

******* Woody, always with the stipulations that end up narrowing the candidate pool to garbage for every important role in this team's leadership.

[Integrity28]

 

“Woody just wants for the Jets to stop being a laughingstock in the city,” one source said. “He’s tired of it.”

 

Then hire a football man to make football decisions.

 

 

Woody is tired of it? 

 

How about the ******* fans?

 

These two sentences could have been the whole article. If Woody is "tired of it" then he needs to pony up and prove it.

[slats]

At some point, the Jets have to stop with the partial changing of the guard. Demoting Bradway rather than firing him. Firing Mangini, but keeping Schottenheimer. Firing Tannenbaum, but keeping Rex. 

 

Unlike two years ago, the Jets GM position could be a very attractive one after this season. Fire Idzik and Ryan. The team has plenty of cap space (thanks, Idzik!), and a high pick. The new GM would have total control to hire scouting and coaching staffs (and fire Bradway, if he wants to). This is a better time to do it than after a couple years of Idzik being forced to spend that room, and a couple more years of his drafts. 

 

Yeah, he will've gotten the short stick here, but at some point they need to do a complete overhaul. They haven't done that since Parcells left. 

[Matt39]

Amazing we'll be starting from scratch again next season. But rock bottom is what this franchise needed I guess...

[jack48]

I think Idzik is probably gone.  Rex, too, of course.  It is not the usual course, and honestly, can anyone say what he should have said at the presser?  I mean, without destroying team morale by throwing everyone under the bus?  HIs best course would have been to cancel that presser and seal himself up in a tower somewhere.  There is just not an air of professionalism about anything in the operation.

[Matt39]

At some point, the Jets have to stop with the partial changing of the guard. Demoting Bradway rather than firing him. Firing Mangini, but keeping Schottenheimer. Firing Tannenbaum, but keeping Rex. 

 

Unlike two years ago, the Jets GM position could be a very attractive one after this season. Fire Idzik and Ryan. The team has plenty of cap space (thanks, Idzik!), and a high pick. The new GM would have total control to hire scouting and coaching staffs (and fire Bradway, if he wants to). This is a better time to do it than after a couple years of Idzik being forced to spend that room, and a couple more years of his drafts. 

 

Yeah, he will've gotten the short stick here, but at some point they need to do a complete overhaul. They haven't done that since Parcells left. 

 

Yes. Idzik cleared the cap....he did his job. Now he can go.

[Integrity28]

 

 

Pioli drafted four players who made the Pro Bowl last season for the Chiefs: safety Eric Berry, defensive tackle Dontari Poe, linebacker Justin Houston and kick returner-running back Dexter McCluster.

 

 

Okay, sign me up.

 

Proof that a non-Rex driven draft can land you a stud on the DL, someone capable of drafting a good safety, a linebacker that can actually rush the QB without 3 years of excuse-making and position-tweaking, and ... wait for it .... a kick returner (which normally I'd scoff at, but in a year that has seen us struggle to find even that, it can't be overlooked).

[slats]

No interest in Pioli, but I'd certainly be open to Ballard. Jets need a GM with expertise in his general job description: stocking an NFL roster with talent. 

[ebonix]

Amazing we'll be starting from scratch again next season. But rock bottom is what this franchise needed I guess...

....www.nydailynews.com

"Just 24 games into the job, Idzik is 9-15 with a seven-game losing streak. He is a salary-cap expert in over his head making personnel decisions, made worse by not having a quarterback after whiffing on Geno Smith. His awful press conference Monday didn’t help.

 

It’s a given Rex Ryan will be fired after the season, but Idzik deserves to go, too. Johnson needs to start over with a general manager whose expertise is personnel, let the GM hire his own head coach, then let the GM and coach find a quarterback."

[flgreen]

At some point, the Jets have to stop with the partial changing of the guard. Demoting Bradway rather than firing him. Firing Mangini, but keeping Schottenheimer. Firing Tannenbaum, but keeping Rex. 

 

Unlike two years ago, the Jets GM position could be a very attractive one after this season. Fire Idzik and Ryan. The team has plenty of cap space (thanks, Idzik!), and a high pick. The new GM would have total control to hire scouting and coaching staffs (and fire Bradway, if he wants to). This is a better time to do it than after a couple years of Idzik being forced to spend that room, and a couple more years of his drafts. 

 

Yeah, he will've gotten the short stick here, but at some point they need to do a complete overhaul. They haven't done that since Parcells left. 

 

Hopefully this will be the year.  Idzik just isn't qualified.   New GM, New HC, New QB.

 

IMO 2 good QB's in this draft.  Jets have to get one of them

[jack48]

No interest in Pioli, but I'd certainly be open to Ballard. Jets need a GM with expertise in his general job description: stocking an NFL roster with talent. 

Sure.  Salary cap guys abound.  Personnel gurus not so much

[WoodyJ]

Listen guys, I still have all the faith in the world in John. He was able to get rid of that greedy SOB, Revis, and he recognizes, like me, how great of a HC Rex is. Trust me, I know what I am talking about.

[Pac]

lol these guys have been waiting for 2 years to do this..  oh how they get their panties in a bunch when a GM doesn't feed them insider info.

[ebonix]

At some point, the Jets have to stop with the partial changing of the guard. Demoting Bradway rather than firing him. Firing Mangini, but keeping Schottenheimer. Firing Tannenbaum, but keeping Rex. 

 

Unlike two years ago, the Jets GM position could be a very attractive one after this season. Fire Idzik and Ryan. The team has plenty of cap space (thanks, Idzik!), and a high pick. The new GM would have total control to hire scouting and coaching staffs (and fire Bradway, if he wants to). This is a better time to do it than after a couple years of Idzik being forced to spend that room, and a couple more years of his drafts. 

 

Yeah, he will've gotten the short stick here, but at some point they need to do a complete overhaul. They haven't done that since Parcells left. 

BRADWAY SOURCE OF MUCH OF JETS WOES............www.ganggreennation.com

..Terry Bradway....if you don't know, is a former General Manager of the New York Jets. He served from 2001 to 2006, when Mike Tannenbaum was hired. During his tenure, he's responsible for an absolutely disastrous draft history. He was responsible for Dewayne Robertson, Brooks Bollinger, Mike Nugent, and Doug Jolley.

Robertson was one of the biggest busts in team history. I would argue Nugent was the greatest overreaction in NFL history, as a kicker drafted in the SECOND ROUND solely because the previous kicker, Doug Brien, missed two field goals in a playoff game the year before. Jolley on the other hand was traded to the team, for, among other picks, a first rounder. He did essentially nothing before being traded again for, if memory serves, a sixth round pick. In short, Bradway was not a good general manager, which is why he was fired.

 

Soon after, Bradway was fired for Tannenbaum. But that didn't end Bradway's career. In a move that only the Jets would make, they kept Bradway as a Senior Personnel Executive. He currently serves as the team's Senior Director of College Scouting. Only the Jets would make a guy that was an utter failure at scouting in charge of scouting. But it's okay, because he apparently liked Russell Wilson (although not enough for the team to draft him in the first two rounds of the draft).

These kinds of moves are endemic of all the team's problems. The team is absolutely unable to self-scout. They're loyal to past employees and players to a point of absolute insanity. Other than 2009-2010, the Jets haven't really been successful since the 1998 season, even if they've had a few good years in the meantime. Yet they continue to stick with guys in the front office that have no business having any decision making authority, and Bradway is the perfect example.

[T0mShane]

I, too, think they should fire John Idzik due to his public speaking skills.

[T0mShane]

Amazing we'll be starting from scratch again next season. But rock bottom is what this franchise needed I guess...

Next year's roster is far from "rock bottom." Everyone is overreacting because the team was unprepared to play against Buffalo, after a Bye Week, which is a Rex Ryan staple.

[Matt39]

Next year's roster is far from "rock bottom." Everyone is overreacting because the team was unprepared to play against Buffalo, after a Bye Week, which is a Rex Ryan staple.

 

No QB, no oline, no secondary and arguably no LB's....its a total rebuild Tom. There's just not a lot of talent on this roster....we're batting way below the Mendoza line from 09-14 in drafts. I don't see how anyone could have any faith in Idzik after these drafts or that bizarre 20 minute ramble. Idzik's struck out in FA, the draft...and he's been married to picks who can't play.

[slats]

Next year's roster is far from "rock bottom." Everyone is overreacting because the team was unprepared to play against Buffalo, after a Bye Week, which is a Rex Ryan staple.

 

That wasn't a bye week. 

[Integrity28]

That wasn't a bye week. 

 

Long week, bye week... all the same, I knew when people were posting those stupid prediction threads we were getting curb stomped by the QB that I wanted us to pick up and start until Geno was truly ready, or replaced by a better young stud.

[T0mShane]

No QB, no oline, no secondary and arguably no LB's....its a total rebuild Tom. There's just not a lot of talent on this roster....we're batting way below the Mendoza line from 09-14 in drafts. I don't see how anyone could have any faith in Idzik after these drafts or that bizarre 20 minute ramble.

It's a rebuild for sure, but there are pieces here, and we're going to have to get pieces at QB and OLB that fit the next coach's system. There is potential at corner with Milliner and McDougle, Pryor won't look as sh*tty if he's allowed to do what he does. Then there's the sh*tload of cap space to invest in a vet corner, guard, etc, especially after all this veteran, Rex-infused trash is shown the door. Idzik may well turn out to be incompetent, but we won't know that until next year at the earliest, imo.

[slats]

It's a rebuild for sure, but there are pieces here, and we're going to have to get pieces at QB and OLB that fit the next coach's system. There is potential at corner with Milliner and McDougle, Pryor won't look as sh*tty if he's allowed to do what he does. Then there's the sh*tload of cap space to invest in a vet corner, guard, etc, especially after all this veteran, Rex-infused trash is shown the door. Idzik may well turn out to be incompetent, but we won't know that until next year at the earliest, imo.

 

Coming off an achilles and an ACL, respectively, there's really not a lot of potential there at all. 

[Matt39]

It's a rebuild for sure, but there are pieces here, and we're going to have to get pieces at QB and OLB that fit the next coach's system. There is potential at corner with Milliner and McDougle, Pryor won't look as sh*tty if he's allowed to do what he does. Then there's the sh*tload of cap space to invest in a vet corner, guard, etc, especially after all this veteran, Rex-infused trash is shown the door. Idzik may well turn out to be incompetent, but we won't know that until next year at the earliest, imo.

 

The Saunders pick was a clear tell sign this guy is in over his head imo. As this season goes on there have been too many players making big plays over league that we could have drafted...we can't put another draft in this guys hands. Evans was going to be cut if he didn't get hurt. 

[slats]

It's a rebuild for sure, but there are pieces here, and we're going to have to get pieces at QB and OLB that fit the next coach's system. There is potential at corner with Milliner and McDougle, Pryor won't look as sh*tty if he's allowed to do what he does. Then there's the sh*tload of cap space to invest in a vet corner, guard, etc, especially after all this veteran, Rex-infused trash is shown the door. Idzik may well turn out to be incompetent, but we won't know that until next year at the earliest, imo.

 

But then next year will be too early to make a move, too, because it will be the first year with the new head coach. Two years later, Idzik will've been forced to spend most of that cap space as per the CBA, and he will've had two more drafts. And the cycle continues...

[Matt39]

But then next year will be too early to make a move, too, because it will be the first year with the new head coach. Two years later, Idzik will/ve been forced to spend most of that cap space as per the CBA, and he will've had two more drafts. And the cycle continues...

 

Yeah that's my fear as well. The cats out of the bag now that the Jets are a mess(what else is new)....there's no way to correct this other than starting from scratch. These two drafts have been just so bad I dont see any other option...unless we wan to continue this stupid cycle were on with half assed re-boots.

[JustInFudge]

Here's what happens because its the Jets:

 

Season ends - Jets are 3-13

Rex Fired

Idzik retained.

Idzik pick Head Coach

Head Coach is terrible

Jets suck

Woody gives another year

Jets suck

Head Coach fired

Idzik fired

 

Start all over again  in 2017.

 

Yay!!!!!!!!!!

[dbatesman]

Here's what happens because its the Jets:

 

Season ends - Jets are 3-13

Rex Fired

Idzik retained.

Idzik pick Head Coach

Head Coach is terrible

Jets suck

Woody gives another year

Jets suck

Head Coach fired

Idzik fired

 

Start all over again  in 2017.

 

Yay!!!!!!!!!!

This is the most likely scenario.

[T0mShane]

The Saunders pick was a clear tell sign this guy is in over his head imo. As this season goes on there have been too many players making big plays over league that we could have drafted...we can't put another draft in this guys hands. Evans was going to be cut if he didn't get hurt.

To be honest, I haven't liked either draft. I wanted Cordarelle Patterson, Derek Carr, DeAnthony Thomas, and Zac Dysert. I screamed when he took Richardson, and again with Pryor.

[JustInFudge]

No QB, no oline, no secondary and arguably no LB's....its a total rebuild Tom. There's just not a lot of talent on this roster....we're batting way below the Mendoza line from 09-14 in drafts. I don't see how anyone could have any faith in Idzik after these drafts or that bizarre 20 minute ramble. Idzik's struck out in FA, the draft...and he's been married to picks who can't play.

 

All you have to do is watch the NFL and you quickly realize the Jets are so deprived of talent, its pathetic.

[Matt39]

All you have to do is watch the NFL and you quickly realize the Jets are so deprived of talent, its pathetic.

 

I've been slowly tuning the Jets out on Sundays. It's an unwatchable product. 

[JustInFudge]

It's a rebuild for sure, but there are pieces here, and we're going to have to get pieces at QB and OLB that fit the next coach's system. There is potential at corner with Milliner and McDougle, Pryor won't look as sh*tty if he's allowed to do what he does. Then there's the sh*tload of cap space to invest in a vet corner, guard, etc, especially after all this veteran, Rex-infused trash is shown the door. Idzik may well turn out to be incompetent, but we won't know that until next year at the earliest, imo.

 

Since he's arrived, Idzik has had a sh*t load of picks and money to sign veterans corners and guards yet the Jets roster is still a complete joke.  

 

What is magically going to change next season?  

 

And the only pieces in place on this team are Wilk and Sheldon.  The rest are jags.

[Matt39]

To be honest, I haven't liked either draft. I wanted Cordarelle Patterson, Derek Carr, DeAnthony Thomas, and Zac Dysert. I screamed when he took Richardson, and again with Pryor.

 

The scouting dept needs a total new sets of eyes. It starts with the GM...