GM dept. - Joe Douglas talks new challenges, changing culture ~ ~ ~

[kelly]

The NY Jets should finally do what’s right and build around Sam Darnold.

Well, it finally happened. On Sunday, the NY Jets upset Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams, highlighted by an amazing performance by all areas of the team.

While the team voiced their excitement for the win on Twitter, it seems that the Jets have just played their way out of a generational quarterback in Trevor Lawrence.Both the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Jets sit at 1-13 with just two games remaining on the season. The Jets face the playoff-bound Cleveland Browns, and the New England Patriots, who have officially been eliminated from the postseason.

That’s a sentence that would seem like a joke five years ago.

The Jaguars have to take on the offensively revitalized Chicago Bears, as well as the Indianapolis Colts, who are in a fierce battle for the AFC South division title.As of now, it’s unlikely that Jacksonville is going to win another game the rest of the season. While the Jets won’t be remembered as one of the unfortunate teams with an imperfect 0-16 record, it might have been worth it if it meant drafting a generational quarterback in Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence.Up until now, mock drafts have predicted Lawrence to dawn green and white all season, but it seems that trend is coming to an end. With championship weekend having just passed, Lawrence, and the second-best quarterback prospect Justin Fields, put their talents on display.

Unfortunately for Jets fans,it seems that those 2 games made the gap between prospects evident.Lawrence is as good as advertised, while Fields has shown signs of not being anywhere near a surefire pick.And with that, New York has to swallow their pride and turn to their current signal-caller, Sam Darnold.

The NY Jets must finally build around Sam Darnold

Joe Douglas has a ton of picks to work with over the next two years, and without another quarterback with Lawrence’s talent and ceiling, there should be little question but to put him in the best position to succeed in 2021.

Something they should have done in 2019.

Even with a win providing a temporary boost in morale, the Jets are still a one-win team. They remain the worst team in the league, with a ton of questions that need answers. ‘

? Adam Gase will be gone come Black Monday ?, so finding a head coach that can maximize Darnold’s potential is the most important task entering the offseason.

Free agency is a must-win for Joe Douglas. With talented receivers such as Allen Robinson or Chris Godwin available (at least for the moment), the Jets need to fix an anemic offense.If Darnold is really the long-term answer under center, then there needs to be a ton of cap space dedicated to giving him the tools to succeed.Of course, the entire reason we’re talking about this is because of the draft. The 2021 NFL Draft was going to be important for New York regardless of the outcome, but its importance has just shot way up.

If Douglas, and whoever the future head coach is of the Jets, want to run with Sam Darnold as their quarterback of the future, they will need to make sure this draft is nothing short of incredible.The 2020 draft class is proving to be a goldmine just one season later. Mekhi Becton, Denzel Mims, Braden Mann, and Bryce Hall are already paying dividends for the rebuild. Douglas will need to continue to build this roster up.Trevor Lawrence is an amazing prospect, and it’s likely that there will not be another prospect like him for years. Decades, even.

The Jets have a decision to make this offseason. They can’t fall any further than the second overall pick, meaning that Justin Fields is very much in play. Douglas will have to make a decision on whether or not they already have their quarterback.If Lawrence isn’t an option, then the best thing to do for New York would be to finally give Sam Darnold the roster he deserved all along.

>    https://thejetpress.com/2020/12/22/ny-jets-joe-douglas-build-sam-darnold/

[kelly]

-- Ready, set, Joe!

Locked into the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NFL draft, New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas is on the clock for the next four months. There won't be any suspense at No. 1, unless something goes haywire with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence, which means the draft starts with the Jets.

instead of building around the Clemson quarterback, which would have been a no-brainer for the Jets' franchise, Douglas will face a multiple-choice challenge in his second draft at the helm. It's impossible to predict what will happen because there are many unknowns, including the identity of the head coach, but this sets up as a "quarterback-or-not" decision.

Here's a closer look at his options:

Start over at quarterback: There's a gap between Lawrence and the next-best quarterback, which could be Ohio State's Justin Fields or BYU's Zach Wilson, depending on your taste. Others could push their way into the conversation, most notably North Dakota State's Trey Lance. In other words, there might not be a consensus No. 2 choice by draft day, which means scheme and individual preference will be bigger scouting factors than usual.

If Douglas is convinced one of them will be a franchise quarterback, he must draft him and trade Sam Darnold. That might sound harsh, but that's the reality. He knows what he has in Darnold, whose record is 9-15 since the GM arrived in New York in June 2019.Darnold's play has ranged from poor/turnover-prone to workmanlike/game manager, as his production level hasn't caught up to his physical talent. He's riding a three-game streak with no turnovers, the longest of his pro career. That's certainly a positive way to end the season, but some of it is because he's on a tight leash -- only 26, 31 and 32 pass attempts in those games. Coach Adam Gase has changed the way he's calling games, reducing the burden on Darnold.

If the Jets hire a coach who wants to operate a high-octane passing attack, it behooves them to draft a quarterback who can play that style. Douglas has the final call on the draft, but he will seek input from the coach. If the coach doesn't want to attach himself to Darnold, who has one year left on his rookie contract, it's time to move on.

Draft the best non-quarterback: It's been a long time since the Jets were in this position. You have to go back to 1997, when they owned the No. 1 pick but decided to trade back twice before taking linebacker James Farrior. (In the process, they passed on two tackles who wound up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Orlando Pace and Walter Jones.) In 1996, they stayed put at No. 1 and selected wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson.

With the No. 2 pick, the Jets would have their choice of elite wide receivers, including Alabama's DeVonta Smith or LSU's Ja'Marr Chase. Put one of them with Jets wideouts Denzel Mims and Jamison Crowder, and you're talking about a balanced and explosive receiving corps for Darnold. Mims shows promise for a rookie, but he's not a true WR1. His production has dipped in recent weeks as opponents have developed better scouting reports on him.Douglas is a big believer in building a strong offensive line, so he could opt for Oregon's Penei Sewell, who would join with Mekhi Becton to form 700 pounds' worth of bookends. It wouldn't be the sexiest pick, especially after using last year's first-round pick on Becton, but Douglas is a meat-and-potatoes GM who wants to dominate in the trenches.If he wants to fix the defense, which could use help at all three levels, the options include Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons and Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain II.

Go for volume: Douglas has spent the past five months accumulating draft picks, starting with the Jamal Adams trade to the Seattle Seahawks. He could add a few more premium picks by trading down from the No. 2 spot, swapping spots with a quarterback-needy team. The ideal scenario would be to drop a few spots, sock away more draft capital and still get New York's No. 1 target, whether it be a quarterback or another player.This is easy to say in December, but quite another thing to pull it off in April.

Bottom line: Instead of an easy choice (Lawrence), Douglas will have a handful of ways this offseason with which he can rebuild a roster bereft of talent.

>       https://www.espn.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/85457/jets-have-menu-of-2021-nfl-draft-options-in-post-trevor-lawrence-world

[kelly]

Rich Cimini    ESPN Staff Writer 

Morning-after thoughts on Justin Fields: While impressive, his performance doesn't mean the Jets will pick him at 2. The next coach will have a say in the QB Decision, and we don't know who that is (assuming Adam Gase is a goner). What Fields did, though, was raise the value of the pick, which will benefit the Jets if they decide to trade out. If Fields does it against Alabama, a more talented and more sophisticated defense than Clemson, it would be hard for the Jets to pass.

> https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

[kelly]

It sounds like Christopher Johnson is putting all his faith in Joe Douglas to shape the future of the Jets.

The general manager will run the search for the next head coach, according to The Athletic’s Connor Hughes, after the team fired Adam Gase on Sunday night. Johnson will have the final say in the hire, according to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, and team president Hymie Elhai will assist in the search, but it appears that Douglas’ football acumen will carry the most weight.This is unequivocally the correct move, and one the organization failed to make in its previous head-coaching searches. The Johnson family utilized search firms and endorsements from other big names in the league to pick the past two head coaches, neither of which worked out well. The Jets hired former general managers Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf in 2015, who hand-picked Mike Maccagnan for the open general manager job. That led to the hiring of Todd Bowles, who went 24-40 in four seasons with the Jets. Johnson kept Maccagan after firing Bowles in 2018, and the two chose Gase after a late phone call from Peyton Manning reportedly sealed the deal. We all know how that ended. 

It looks like Johnson finally learned from the franchise’s past mistakes. Douglas, who has vast experience in two of the most successful franchises in recent memory – the Eagles and the Ravens – will spearhead the search for his coach for potentially the next four years. He’ll have a lot of talented people to choose from at the professional and collegiate ranks, including Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy, Colts DC Matt Eberflus, Ravens DC Wink Martindale, Titans OC Arthur Smith, Iowa State’s Matt Campbell and others, according to NFL Network.Douglas will likely cast a wide net for the next head coach, though, and should take his time to find Gase’s replacement considering how he’s built the team heading into 2021. Douglas doesn’t have any experience picking coaches – he was a talent evaluator in Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia – but he’s likely made a lot of great connections over his long career in the league. 

There are a couple of great candidates with ties to Douglas, but the Jets aren’t the only team on the hunt for a new head coach. The Falcons, Lions and Texans already need a head coach, and the Jaguars will likely become the next team soon. The key to Douglas’s search will be pitching the job to potential candidates. Fortunately, Douglas set the team up for future success with a couple of savvy moves this past offseason. Not only do the Jets possess the second overall pick in this year’s draft, but they’ll also have six picks in the first 100 selections in 2021, four in the first three rounds in 2022 and more than $72 million in cap space this offseason. That’s an enviable job for a potential hire.

Whomever Douglas picks will have a connection to the GM the past three head coach never had. Gase, Bowles and Rex Ryan were all arranged marriages with their respective general managers. Only Ryan enjoyed relative success, and that lasted just two seasons. That won’t be the case this time. While Johnson will still have some level of say in the hiring, Douglas should still lead the search and should effectively make the final call after all the vetting and interviews.This is an important step for the Jets. It shows the team is willing to break from its old mold to build a better franchise. It also shows Johnson trusts Douglas and understands his vision in spite of the Jets’ 9-22 record under the GM’s direction. There were a lot of mistakes made by the previous regimes of Maccagnan and John Idzik, and Douglas has tried hard to dismantle what they did the past two offseasons with frugal offseason spending and shedding players with bad contracts or trading them acquire draft capital.

Douglas could alter the course of the organization with this hire, and it only makes sense he should be the one to find the right coach to usher in the new era and work hand-in-hand to deliver the plan he’s set in motion. This coach will play a crucial role in developing the Jets’ young talent, which very well may include a quarterback at the top of the first round.Johnson finally made the right first move in finding the next Jets head coach. Now, it’s on Douglas to pick the right one.

> https://jetswire.usatoday.com/2021/01/04/new-york-jets-ownership-joe-douglas-lead-head-coach-search-adam-gase/

[kelly]

re the CAP - 

Every December, the NFL gives the 32 teams an idea regarding the expected salary cap for the coming league year. This year, that didn’t happen.

It didn’t happen because the pandemic has caused revenue to crater, by dramatically reducing attendance at games. The NFL and NFL Players Association agreed in July that the cap for 2021 will go no lower than $175 million.That would be a $23.2 million drop, per team, in comparison to 2020.

There has been talk that the cap won’t drop that low, and that it possibly could remain in the range of $195 million. The final number, however, will result from a negotiation between the NFL and the NFL Players Association. The players surely will want the cap to be as high as it can be. Multiple teams will want that, too, in order to avoid having to create the space necessary to comply with a $175 million spending limit.

Plenty of owners, in contrast, don’t want to delay the full brunt of the impact of the 2020 losses. They view it as an interest-free loan to players. And that mentality would push the final number closer to $175 million.A league source with knowledge of the situation suggests that the salary cap could be in the range of $180 million.At that amount, things could get very ugly for plenty of teams and players. As the source characterized it, the commencement of the 2021 league year on March 17 will destroy the middle class of veteran free agents. Plenty of players will be cut or not re-signed.

By way of example, a player like Ndamukong Suh, who was paid $7 million in 2020, will likely get something closer to $3 million in 2021. Many teams will be able to offer veterans only $1 million per year.The problem is that contracts always are negotiated with the understanding that the cap will keep going up by five to 10 percent. If it drops by roughly 15 percent this year, multiple teams will have major issues because they haven’t built their rosters with the possibility of a shrunken cap in mind.

>    https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/01/19/salary-cap-could-be-in-the-range-of-180-million/

[kelly]

Rich Cimini   ESPN Staff Writer 

CEO Christopher Johnson and GM Joe Douglas, in statements, praise Robert Saleh for his leadership and communication skills. Lots of culture talk, too, continuing a theme. Johnson says Saleh "will partner with Joe," but he doesn't spell out if the reporting structure has changed. Douglas said Saleh's "vision for this team aligns with what we have been working to establish here the last two years." Personally, I'd hit the "delete" button on the last two years.

>  https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

[kelly]

Rich Cimini    ESPN Staff Writer 

News that the Lions and QB Matthew Stafford have agreed to part ways could affect the Jets in two ways: 1. If they decide to move on from Sam Darnold, Stafford could be a trade option if they deem Deshaun Watson too pricey and don't like the QB options with the No. 2 pick. Stafford would be a middle-ground alternative. He has two years, $43M on his contract; 2. It's a potential trade-down partner for the Jets. Detroit (No. 7) now needs a QB; could they move up? The Jets are willing to listen.

>     https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

[Bronx]

Page 1 of this thread out of a Charlie Chaplin's movie script...a one actor scene. 

[kelly]

7 minutes ago, Bronx said:

Page 1 of this thread out of a Charlie Chaplin's movie script...a one actor scene. 

Luv it !   ?

[kelly]

Rich Cimini   ESPN Staff Writer 

The Lions/Rams blockbuster involving Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford could have an indirect impact on the Jets.It eliminates a potential trade-down partner for the Jets (No. 2). Obviously, Detroit (No. 7) will have no interest in trading up for.a QB now that they have Goff. As for Deshaun Watson impact: If Stafford goes for two first-rounders, a third rounder and Goff, what will it cost for Watson? Goff's massive contract no doubt a factor in this haul.

>        https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

[kelly]

Rich Cimini    ESPN Staff Writer 

Thoughts on the Jets fielding trade inquiries for QB Sam Darnold (ESPN's Adam Schefter): 1. GM Joe Douglas has shifted his stance; he once said Darnold was untouchable; 2. You have to listen if teams are showing interest in an underperforming player who has only one year left on his contract; 3. If they trade Darnold, the Jets must feel good about a QB at 2. Either that, or they're simultaneously seeking a veteran replacement. Can't count on Deshaun Watson. Houston situation is too uncertain.

>   https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

[kelly]

Matthew Stafford has been traded and Carson Wentz is expected to be dealt soon in a move that will leave other teams looking for a quarterback with one less option for their lineup.Some of those teams might turn their attention to Jets quarterback Sam Darnold. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that teams have made calls to the Jets about the prospect of trading for Darnold.

As of now, the Jets have rebuffed those calls because they have not yet set their course for the offseason. With the No. 2 overall pick, they will likely have their choice of non-Trevor Lawrence quarterbacks to consider selecting at that spot.They could also use that pick for a player at a different position, trade it for more picks to use to build around Darnold or a different quarterback, or use it as part of a trade package for a player like Deshaun Watson. Settling on one of those paths will have to take place before the team can make any move involving Darnold.

>          https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/02/07/report-teams-have-called-jets-about-sam-darnold-trade/

[kelly]

Rich Cimini    ESPN Staff Writer 

It will be impossible to copy-cat the Bucs' championship blueprint because there's only one Tom Brady, but one aspect of their success can be a model for teams: Great drafting. Ten players from the last 3 drafts played at least 30% of the snaps last night. In fact, eight of the Bucs' top 11 snap leaders on defense fall into that category. You can bet Jets GM Joe Douglas is mindful of that, which makes you wonder if he would use a large chunk of his draft capital on one player (Deshaun Watson).

>    https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

[kelly]

Rich Cimini    ESPN Staff Writer 

Jets GM Joe Douglas and assistant GM Rex Hogan are attending Trevor Lawrence's pro day at Clemson this morning. Barring a major upset, Lawrence won't be available for the Jets (second pick), but they're scouting him for comparison purposes. They can see how the other top QB prospects measure up to Lawrence. Bottom line: This shows the Jets are in the QB market.

>    https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

[kelly]

It is amazing when you look back at the two decades during which Woody Johnson has owned the Jets how rarely he, and they, have gotten things right.Oh, they were right for a while with the team of Mike Tannenbaum and Rex Ryan. And there sure was that brief, shining period when it seemed they’d gotten it right with Mark Sanchez.But maybe the last time the Jets really got something right was when they effectively traded for Bill Parcells. Not surprisingly, it’s a big deal that pre-dates Woody. Then before long Parcells wasn’t coaching the Jets any longer and they were watching as the guy who would become the greatest coach in pro football history, Bill Belichick, walked right out the door.

Now the Jets approach the most important draft since the one where they drafted Joe Namath out of Alabama. Of course they have been looking for the next Namath since then, for more than fifty years, during which time the team has played in the same number of Super Bowls as you and me. You probably recall that along the way, they passed up Dan Marino and drafted Ken O’Brien instead.Now they are asked to make another decision about a young quarterback, Sam Darnold, on whom they used the third pick in the whole NFL draft less than three years ago. The Jets either trade him, and try to get draft choices in return, or they keep him, and indicate that the current general manager, Joe Douglas, still has faith in Darnold even though it was his predecessor,

Mike Maccagnan, who drafted the kid out of USC.And if Deshaun Watson coming to Florham Park turns out to be some kind of fever dream for Jets fans in the end; and if the Jets end up trading Darnold to San Francisco or Indianapolis or Washington or Chicago or someplace else where they’re in the quarterback market these days, then the Jets are right back where they were when they did take Darnold at No. 3. They have to decide, at No. 2 this time, whether to take Zach Wilson of BYU or Justin Fields of Ohio State and designate one of them, or some other college hotshot, as the hands-down future star that Darnold never became with the Jets.But whatever happens, and whatever Douglas — who has been on the job for a year-and-a-half and given no indication, at least not yet, that he is a future front office immortal — decides to do with the second pick in the upcoming draft, about this there is absolutely no doubt:

Joe Douglas better be right.

Because if he’s wrong about the next quarterback of the Jets, whether it’s the kid they already have or the kid they might draft to replace him, then Joe Douglas will turn out to have just been passing through as Woody’s top football guy the way Terry Bradway was, and Tannenbaum, and John Idzik and Maccagnan. And the Jets will be starting all over again. Again. And having their fans wondering when they are going to be right about something.It all revolves around Darnold. Is he the player who has so often looked as lost as he has, playing on this era’s iteration of Same Old Jets? Or is he quarterback who at least provided some hope in the season before last as the Jets went from 1-7 to 7-9 by winning six of their last eight games? This is for Joe Douglas to decide. He was with the Eagles before this. They took Carson Wentz with the second pick of a draft once. Wentz was going to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl. And the Eagles made a Super Bowl, all right, and won it against Belichick and Tom Brady and the Patriots. But the night they did, Nick Foles, was the quarterback. Now Wentz is on his way out of town.

You can look this up, but drafting quarterbacks is hardly an exact science. The quarterback taken ahead of Wentz in that draft is Jared Goff. He’s in Detroit now. Goff got traded for Matthew Stafford, himself the No. 1 pick in the draft now, and sentenced after that to 12 seasons with the Detroit Lions. It was the same as having to play 12 years for the Jets since the last time the Jets were really any good. Maybe if Sam Darnold does get traded, it will feel to him like early parole.Does anybody know for sure how much game he has? Or might have? How can anybody make a reasonable assessment when he wasn’t had a running game or enough protection or enough talented guys to whom he could throw the ball, at least when he had the time? Patrick Mahomes has shown as much talent for the position, and imagination, and mad skills, as any young quarterback in recent NFL history, and has now played in two Super Bowls and won one of them.

You saw what happened last Sunday in Tampa when Mahomes had no protection and no help and looked defenseless against the Bucs defense. It didn’t even matter that he had Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill on his side every time the Bucs were chasing him in the general direction of the Gulf of Mexico.Darnold has thrown 45 touchdown passes in three seasons with the Jets, against 39 picks. His passing yardage is just over 8,000. Now, if he stays, he gets a new coach in Robert Saleh (joining this list of coaches for Woody since Belichick left: Al Groh, Herm Edwards, Eric Mangini, Rex, Todd Bowles, Adam Gase), and made the chance at a second act to his Jets career that will feel more like a do-over.

Or start-over.

Can I tell you that Darnold actually is a future star? I can’t. But is there a chance that if the Jets trade him he will go become a legit star somewhere else? You bet there is. These are the Jets we’re talking about. Only the Knicks have been wrong as often as the Jets have been since the start of this century.Now they are at another crossroads. It really is the most important in their history, not just because they have the No. 2 pick, but one other pick in the first round, one in the second, two more in the third. But it all starts with what they do at quarterback. There have been other decisions about the position since Namath. Never one more important than the one Douglas is about to make.A team that is consistently wrong as any in the sport tries to get one right.If we need the national anthem before sports events, how come we don’t need it before Broadway plays?

You know something else we don’t need ?

>    https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/ny-jets-nfl-draft-sam-darnold-lupica-20210213-ndzrvnylrbcgtos7ljovf7lqp4-story.html

[kelly]

oh,.. unless we can make a trade... no way we get him    ?

[kelly]

2020 NFL rookie grades, AFC East: Rocky start for Dolphins' first-rounders

Super Bowl LV's in the books, bringing an unprecedented NFL season to a close. So, how did the new guys perform in this uniquely challenging 269-game slate? Gennaro Filice and Nick Shook are taking a division-by-division look at each team's rookie class, providing grades and analysis on Year 1 production. Filice examines the AFC East below.

~ ~ ~ Grade

B

New York Jets

Total picks: 9 · 2-14

Round 1

• (No. 11) Mekhi Becton, OT, 14 games/13 starts

Round 2

• (59) Denzel Mims, WR, 9 games/8 starts

Round 3

• (68) Ashtyn Davis, S, 10 games/6 starts
• (79) Jabari Zuniga, DE, 8 games

Round 4

• (120) La'Mical Perine, RB, 10 games
• (125) James Morgan, QB
• (129) Cameron Clark, OT

Round 5

• (158) Bryce Hall, CB, 8 games/7 starts

Round 6

• (191) Braden Mann, P, 16 games

Notable undrafted free agents: Javelin Guidry, CB (11 games/2 starts); Bryce Huff, DE (14 games/0 starts); Lamar Jackson, CB (13 games/six starts).

Hired in June of 2019, Joe Douglas had to wait 10 months before making his first pick as an NFL general manager. Finally on the clock with the No. 11 pick last April, he went big -- real big -- and the Jets reaped the benefits. "Mount Becton" entered the NFL as something of a freak show, a 6-foot-7, 363-pound athletic monster with a college highlight reel so laughably dominant that you had to question the competition. But then he went out in Week 1 and started ragdolling Buffalo Bills like those overmatched ACC pass rushers of yore. The rest of the season played out much the same, with the 21-year-old rookie frequently looking like a man amongst boys, though injuries forced the left tackle to miss some action. Becton's a foundational pillar, and not just because he blocks teammates from the sun. Douglas' second pick was more injured and less impactful, but once Mims' hamstrings began to cooperate, he flashed the chunk-play ability and extensive catch radius that had made him a Draft Twitter darling. The Jets cycled through a cadre of rooks in the secondary, and ex-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams didn't always put them in positions to succeed. (Remember when he put the other Lamar Jackson on an island with speed merchant Henry Ruggs III on the infamous zero blitz call?) Still, Davis showed promise as an athletic, aggressive safety before ending the season on IR, while Guidry looked like a potential find as an undrafted corner with speed to burn. Punters are people, too, and Mann was a serviceable one in Year 1.

rest of above article : 

> https://www.nfl.com/news/2020-nfl-rookie-grades-afc-east-rocky-start-for-dolphins-first-rounders

[kelly]

New York Jets

The Jets will trade QB Sam Darnold to the 49ers for second- and third-round picks.

Looking for a veteran placeholder, the Jets will sign 49ers UFA C.J. Beathard, who played under new Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur in San Francisco. Capping the quarterback makeover, the Jets will select BYU's Zach Wilson with the second overall pick. -- Rich Cimini

>     https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30862072/bold-nfl-offseason-predictions-all-32-teams-trades-deshaun-watson-sam-darnold-carson-wentz-more#NYJ

[kelly]

How Do NFL Network Analysts Think the Jets, Joe Douglas Want to Build the Roster ?

NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah, Steve Wyche and Judy Battista Talk About How the Jets Will Look to Build Their Roster During the Offseason

video : 

>  How Do NFL Network Analysts Think the Jets, Joe Douglas Want to Build the Roster? (newyorkjets.com)

[kelly]

Rich Cimini  ESPN Staff Writer 

The Carson Wentz trade doesn't bode well for the Sam Darnold market (if the Jets are interested in trading him). Wentz went to the Colts for a third-round pick in 2021 and a conditional second rounder in 2022 (can go up to a first rounder based on P/T). The Colts are taking on a big contract, which may have factored into the compensation. Still, it would be a surprise if the Jets get more than that for Darnold. Maybe they could get a 2 this year and a 3 in ‘22. Maybe.

>   https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

[kelly]

Why Joe Douglas waited so long to trade Sam Darnold

there was an explanation for the delay.

Joe Douglas was being patient, but also wanted to see the top quarterbacks in the draft in person before ultimately deciding his plans at the position. It is why the Jets waited so long to move Sam Darnold, after quarterbacks Matthew Stafford, Jared Goff and Carson Wentz were dealt prior to the free-agency period.

“I don’t know how every team approaches a quarterback [evaluation], but I’ve always thought it was a golden rule — you don’t ever take a quarterback until you stand near or next to a guy and watch him throw the football,” Douglas told Sports Illustrated. “None of the top brass were able to get out to a BYU game this year. There were no all-star games, no combine. You could see Mac Jones at the Senior Bowl. But other than that, your only opportunity to stand there and watch them throw was at a pro day. To me, that’s huge for a quarterback.”Douglas saw all of the top quarterbacks – Zach Wilson of BYU, Justin Fields of Ohio State, Mac Jones of Alabama and Trey Lance of North Dakota State – the Jets will be able to pick from with the second choice in the draft. (Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence is widely expected to be selected No. 1 by the Jacksonville Jaguars.)

“Almost every pro day I went to I got something out of,” Douglas said. “A guy like Trey Lance, I thought Trey Lance had a strong arm, I walked away from North Dakota State saying, ‘Wow, this guy has better arm talent than I thought on the tape.’ Getting a sense for it, watching the ball come out of his hand, you’re there, field-level, you’re seeing it –does the ball drop at all at the end of the throw, is it accelerating through the guy’s hands? You really get a sense for that, that you wouldn’t normally see on tape.”Eventually, the Jets traded Darnold to the Panthers for a sixth-rounder this year and second-round and fourth-round picks in 2022. They nearly moved him before free agency, the general manager said, but the team wasn’t ready to pull the trigger.

“It was a strong offer,” Douglas said. “We told them, ‘Look, there’s still a lot of boxes left to check. And we just don’t feel comfortable, in case something happens with one of the top two guys, we don’t want to get caught in a bad situation, like one of two guys fails a physical and then we don’t have Sam.’ So we didn’t do anything.”

>    nypost.com/2021/04/09/why-joe-douglas-waited-so-long-to-trade-sam-darnold/

[BornJetsFan1983]

He is doing a pretty damn good job so far

[kmnj]

the jets culture has been losing-joe has changed nothing-the team won two games last year

Parcells took a 4-28 team from Kotite to 9 wins then the afc championship year two-that is changing culture

 

 

[kelly]

The focus in the lead-up to the NFL draft for the Jets has naturally centered around what they will do with the No. 2-overall pick.

Now that it has become clear, in the wake of the Sam Darnold trade, that they will be taking BYU quarterback Zach Wilson with their first pick, it is time to look closer at the Jets’ next two picks in the draft, which begins on April 29.Those two picks come at a fascinating point in the draft and will give general manager Joe Douglas multiple options. The Jets hold the No 23-overall pick, their second first-rounder, which they received from Seattle in the Jamal Adams trade. They have another pick 11 slots later at No. 34, the second pick in the second round.As critical as Wilson’s development will be for the Jets’ future, how these two picks turn out will be nearly as important. The Jets will expect to draft two immediate and longtime starters.

Douglas has done a great job of acquiring draft picks. Now, he has to hit on them.

“We do have a lot of assets as we sit here now, but we have to make the most of this opportunity,” Douglas said this week.

The Jets’ roster is one of the worst in the NFL, and that was on display in their 2-14 record in 2020. The silver lining for Douglas of having such a bad team is that the GM has many options with these picks.These are what I think the Jets’ biggest needs beyond quarterback will be entering this draft, listed in order: cornerback, guard, linebacker, running back, edge rusher, tight end and wide receiver. With a list that long, there are plenty of different directions in which Douglas can go.

Cornerback is at the top of the list because their starters at the moment are Bless Austin, Bryce Hall and Javelin Guidry at the slot position. The Jets need to infuse that position with more talent. The top corners will likely be off the board by 23. But with all of the quarterbacks and skill players projected to go early, players such as Jaycee Horn of South Carolina and Greg Newsome from Northwestern might be there. Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley has health concerns that could push him down, and Florida State’s Asante Samuel Jr. could be there in the second round.

The Jets also need to improve the interior of their offensive line, and USC’s Alijah Vera-Tucker is the top-ranked guard in the draft. The Jets could hope he falls to 23 or use some of that draft capital (21 picks in the next two years) to move up a few spots if they truly like him. Two players from Alabama moving to guard — Landon Dickerson and Alex Leatherwood — are candidates at No. 34.

Other players to watch at these spots are: edge rushers Azeez Ojulari (Georgia), Kwity Paye (Michigan) and Jaelan Phillips (Miami); running backs Najee Harris (Alabama), Travis Etienne (Clemson) and Javonte Williams (North Carolina); linebackers Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (Notre Dame), Zaven Collins (Tulsa) and Jamin Davis (Kentucky); and wide receivers Kadarius Toney (Florida), Rashod Bateman (Minnesota) and Elijah Moore (Mississippi).

Douglas also has flexibility at both of these spots to trade back. Last year, there were three trades between picks 23-26 on draft night. The Patriots actually dealt pick 23 last year to the Chargers for a second-rounder and a third-rounder. Douglas could acquire more picks, and with as many needs as the Jets have, he could still feel good about filling a hole lower in the draft.The top of the second round is also an area that usually features some movement. Teams spend all day Friday thinking about what players slipped out of the first round, and a team might be motivated to move up. The Jets could be in position to again acquire more picks.

While this draft will ultimately be remembered by Jets fans for how Wilson turns out, Douglas could move his team forward if he can maximize picks No. 23 and 34 into starting players either by drafting them there or using those picks to load up on even more draft capital.

>    https://nypost.com/2021/04/10/jets-have-multiple-options-with-draft-picks-after-zach-wilson/

[kelly]

Joe Douglas : Vision and plan of Robert Saleh’s staff makes my job easier

The Jets made a big trade last week when they shipped quarterback Sam Darnold to Carolina and cleared the path to take a new quarterback with the second overall pick in this month’s draft.

Once that quarterback — Zach Wilson is the expected choice — is in place, he’ll join head coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur in a first season with the franchise. Darnold didn’t have that as he came in during Todd Bowles’ final season, transitioned to Adam Gase in 2019, and then saw Joe Douglas replace General Manager Mike Maccagnan a year after he was selected.

Albert Breer of SI.com reports that Gase didn’t bend his offensive approach all that much to fit Darnold and that contributed to the former Jet’s rocky play the last two years. Douglas told Breer that he doesn’t have such a fear about the next quarterback because Saleh, LaFleur, and the rest of the staff have made it quite clear what they want in players.

“Obviously, you’re excited about Robert,” Douglas said. “And then you’re excited about this great staff of hires and teachers he’s bringing in. . . . And then you get into these meetings, and there’s such a clear-cut plan. There’s such great teaching methods that they have in place. And just going through these conversations, it’s reinforced the excitement that you had when we made the hire. These are great guys, man. They have the vision and they have a plan and it makes your job easier from a personnel perspective when there is that clear vision in what they’re looking for — like, O.K., this is easy, we can find guys that are made of the right stuff. It’s been cool. It’s been really cool.”

Quarterbacks have a way of making or breaking head coaches and General Managers. Douglas and Saleh will be defining bet for their Jets tenures in a little more than two weeks.

>    https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/04/12/joe-douglas-vision-and-plan-of-robert-salehs-staff-makes-my-job-easier/

[kevinc855]

I'm tired of feel good articles about the "culture" and "leadership" philosophy like im reading about a bank. Successful banks help their investors make money. Successful front offices turn their team into winners. 

Amazing how quick Parcells turned around the Jets and here I am at season 3 with a very sub par roster with a rookie QB inbound

[kmnj]

2 minutes ago, kevinc855 said:

I'm tired of feel good articles about the "culture" and "leadership" philosophy like im reading about a bank. Successful banks help their investors make money. Successful front offices turn their team into winners. 

Amazing how quick Parcells turned around the Jets and here I am at season 3 with a very sub par roster with a rookie QB inbound

yep some how folks bought into the fact that Joe needs 5-8 years-the roster parcells inherited was 4-28 from Kotite who may have actually been the only worse coach to Gase(it is close though)

The Parcells rebuild also laid the foundation for the jets for years to come at some key places as well and he had one of the best drafts in jets history-now some will say he screwed up peyton coming to the jets -maybe so but he took us to one game away from the superbowl 

 

In my eyes this is a critical year for Joe-2-4 wins wont cut it but his fan boys next excuses will be-you cant expect him to win with a rookie qb and his coach is new so he needs  a few years to install his system

 

 

 

 

[kelly]

1 hour ago, kevinc855 said:

* * * and here I am at season 3 with a very sub par roster with a rookie QB inbound

..ain't  Life  GREAT !  ?

 

 

[kelly]

There are some… interesting rumors circulating regarding Sam Darnold and what the New York Jets might or might not have done leading up to last week’s trade with the Carolina Panthers. The truth is far too much fun to ignore in any case and the details for this deal are fascinating enough.

Albert Breer at Sports Illustrated is one of several journalists who have dug deep on how the trade developed between these franchises. The negotiations began with an awkward SNL joke over the phone and culminated with the Panthers sending three draft picks to the Jets for their starting QB.Apparently, Carolina felt it was important to hang on to their first three picks in the 2021 NFL draft. Here’s how they worked out a compromise with New York, per Breer’s report.

“For the Panthers, based on how their draft board sets up and their needs, it was important to hold onto their slotted picks in the first (No. 8), second (No. 39) and third (No. 73) rounds. So the compromise, with the Jets asking for “a second-rounder plus,” was to have the two come in 2022. And initially, the concept Carolina was working off was to have two later 2021 picks as part of the deal, but the sides couldn’t quite make the terms work under those parameters. So Carolina moved the sixth-rounder it was offering this year down (Carolina has three sixth-rounders and gave the Jets the last one), and the 2021 fifth-rounder they were offering up to a fourth-rounder and into next year.”

Interesting stuff. Does this mean the Panthers are unwilling to part with those picks no matter what they get offered when they’re on the clock?

Time will tell and anything can happen once the draft begins. Clearly the franchise has a plan going in that they want to stick to.

>    https://sports.yahoo.com/sam-darnold-deal-more-details-160011347.html

[Jetsfan80]

Ha ha you got banned.  Again.