JD Isn't Getting Fired (and you probably shouldn't want him to)

[Jetsfan80]

Longest postseason drought in US pro sports, with 4 different GMs spanning that period, yet some here want to live in a fairy tale world where Woody Johnson is NOT by far the biggest problem with the org.

[Fantasy Island]

And this is what a piss poor draft pick from Draper, Utah gets you.

everybody chill please.

ZW has been benched and hope is now flickering.

[mfmartin]

https://www.espn.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/48246/chiefs-saints-execs-decline-jets-gm-interviews
From the above
"The New York Jets were spurned Monday by two more potential general manager candidates, bringing the total to at least four. Kansas City Chiefs director of player personnel Chris Ballard and New Orleans Saints director of player personnel Ryan Pace declined invitations to interview for the job, it was confirmed. The NFL Network first reported them."
That was in 2015. 
Further along in the article...
"A similar situation unfolded in 2013, when the Jets were blown off by several candidates. In that case, though, the job wasn't deemed attractive because the coach (Rex Ryan) came with the gig. They ended up settling for John Idzik."
So the last two times before the Jets hired JD - they had multiple prospects pass on the opportunity. 
Yes one of 32 jobs is great - but the top candidates know they can get a job and they will someday - but getting in the right situation is most important to them. They have options. Every year 4-8 jobs open up. Usually they involve an open roster with flexible cap space, the opportunity to hire a new coaching staff, implement a scheme they are familiar with, and have a top pick they can use to draft their QB. 
In that article - the six candidates were: 
Trent Kirchner - Still on the Seahawks
Rod Graves - Was a Jets guy - now out of league/retired
Bill Kuharich - Last job was in the AAF in 2019
Rick Mueller - Now a player personell exec for an XFL team
Mike MacCagnan - we know
Chris Grier - GM of the dolphins
So of the six options we had then - one of them is still in the NFL. He has also had some success! He interviewed with Woody and Woody decided to hire Mike MacCagnan instead...
The four people who declined to interview with the Jets? 
Chris Ballard - Successful GM
Ryan Pace - Got a different GM job - held it for 7 years - got fired - immediately got hired to a high position with Atlanta
Eric DeCosta - Successful GM
George Paton - Current GM
So the guys we interviewed for are basically all out of the NFL except for Grier (who we didn't hire) - and all of the guys we passed on are all GMs except one who was a GM and is now basically a #2. 
 
 
In 2013 the process looked like this: 
Dave Caldwell - passed on Jets to take Jags job - still in front office 
John Dorsey - declined the Jets - has become GM twice and is currently senior exec w/ Lions 
Tom Telesco - Didn't take the Jets interview and took a GM job for Chargers - still their GM 
Bill Polian - declined to meet with Jets
Tom Heckert - declined to meet with Jets b/c of salary cap issues 
Jerry Angelo - only candidate with GM experience - never worked in football after 2013
Tom Gamble - Interviewed with Jets and bounced around 
Omar Khan - Interviewed with Jets! Jets chose Idzik - Khan is now GM of the Steelers
Brian Gaine - Interviewed with Jets - eventually became GM of Texans - now assistant GM of Bills 
So even those GMs that did have success later in their career were passed over for either Idzik or big Mac. Almost every good choice declined to interview - and the needles in the haystack were passed over by our guy Woody. 
So yes - it can absolutely get worse. More than anything though - Woody will make the choice and Woody is incompetent. I'd rather at least have him pick from a somewhat reasonable pool of candidates than what I would imagine would be a terrible pool given all the original complications in the OP. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chris Ballard is a successful GM?


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[Spoot-Face]

Holy sh*t this thread got more intense than my bowel movements today, and boy I gotta tell ya, it's been some ride!

[Columbia Jet Fan]

12 minutes ago, derp said:

I don’t think I agree with the premise that the GM job will be more appealing in 2024 than 2025 that seems to be woven throughout the OP.

Douglas has been scrambling get this team to win games so he can save his job for two offseasons. Another year of him means more desperation trades for vets, pushing cap hits to future years, etc. Giving him a lame duck year makes that worse, not better.

He’s been financially treating this team like a Super Bowl contender for two offseasons and has young talent he acquired from tearing down the roster he inherited and still can’t break .500.

This is fair. I didn't factor JD actively making the roster worse this offseason which is a legit concern and would make it tougher for a future GM. 

I still believe the most important things a future GM will look at in some order are: 

1) Ability to pick their own QB if no QB on roster

2) Overall roster talent/cap health

3) Ability to pick their own coaching staff/scheme 

4) Owner/organizational competence 

We can't do anything about 4. 2 is debatable but could definitely get worse in 2025. 

I think 1 & 3 are the big reasons I'd be more optimistic about 2025 than 2024. I just don't think many people are going to want to take on the Rodgers risk/control. Sadly I think if you're plan is to keep Rodgers happy (arguably a nonstarter to take the GM job) you probably have to keep the coaching staff. 

[Warfish]

1 minute ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Longest postseason drought in US pro sports, with 4 different GMs spanning that period, yet some here want to live in a fairy tale world where Woody Johnson is NOT by far the biggest problem with the org by far.

That's a different argument.

1. Woody is a big part of our problem.

2. We can't and shouldn't fire our current failure of a GM because we cannot ever hire a better one because no one good will ever work for us  and we cannot ever hire anything better because it's hopeless forever because of Woody.  

#1. I agree with 100%.

2?  Yeah.  

 

[HighPitch]

35 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Ah yes, the old “well if nothing is gonna change why not quit being a fan” take.  Pretty sure you’ve ripped on others for this same garbage kind of viewpoint dude.  
 

My harasser makes a great point

[Kleckineau]

57 minutes ago, Columbia Jet Fan said:

To clarify up front - he undoubtedly deserves to be fired based on performance and how he handled ZW/backup QB this year. While I think he has done some good things - there is too much stupid mixed in on top of awful results to retain his job. 

However....

1) This job is not very attractive to a new GM. 

• Rodgers is a 40 y/o QB coming off an achilles. He has a history of being difficult and wants input on personnel decisions. 
• A new GM will likely not be able to bring in a new coaching staff. Rodgers will be a pain/retire if the Jets fire Hackett - he also likes Saleh - and the defensive staff has done well
• You don't have a ton of draft capital. No 2 or 5 this year - nothing in the future
• The cap isn't ideal. It isn't awful - but JD pushed a lot of money to future years - it will limit how much a GM can do
• The division and conference are brutal
• Woody is known as a meddler and has historically relied on a system that involves the HC reporting to him and the GM reporting to him - not the GM overseeing the HC which is what most teams have. It was considered a big "give" for Woody to give this up to JD and I'm not sure he'll want to do it again. 

2) Any new GM that is willing to come into this situation is probably a third tier candidate

• Yes everyone wants a change. But lets look at our OC change last year. Everyone knew it was a sh*tty job opening w/ a potentially lame duck HC and no QB - we knew the options would be limited - and we fired him anyway. Yes we all wanted to pack MLFs bags for him - but we chose a guy who is undoubtedly worse than MLF. 
• Woody Johnson is making the decision. Anytime a decision is made by Woody Johnson that relates to football - its a bad thing for Jets fans. 

3) Woody knows Rodgers has him by the balls

• My guess is the post Rodgers ticket sales were the best since Woody bought the team - Woody knows by summer this year we'll all be re-energized and will buy back into the team w/ AR as the savior
• Rodgers can threaten to retire if he doesn't get his way
• Rodgers likes JD and JD is clearly willing to sign his buddies and give him input 
• Rodgers doesn't care about the future of the Jets (not a dig - he shouldn't) and wouldn't want a new GM who is worried about what the post AR Jets looks like - JD doesn't have this issue since his fate is tied to Rodgers

4) Hiring a new GM will only delay a potentially inevitable franchise reset/rebuild

• We're all in on Rodgers in 2024. If he can't salvage this offense or is just a shell of himself - everyone is gone and we're looking at a new coaching staff, QB, and front office for 2025. 
• If we bring in a new GM this offseason he will be the one to build everything back up in 2024. He will be the one picking a QB, hiring a new coach, and retooling the roster. He will also be a third tier candidate and will likely prolong the suck. 
• The job will be more attractive in 2025. You cut Rodgers or he retires and you take your cap hit in 2025. You stink in 2025 - draft a QB and have a bunch of young players on rookie deals you can choose to extend/trade. Fan and ownership expectations are reset but there is still young talent on the roster to sell to a potential GM. 
• The new GM/Coaching staff would presumably have a three year window - one being the hangover from the AR era and two years to show competency. 
• If we bring in someone in 2024 and the AR experiment goes wrong they'll have limited cap space in 2025 to fix things. To save their job they'll probably do what JD has done this year and McCagnan did in 2019 - overpay for free agents and push money to the future (CJ Mosley, Lev Bell, Lazard, Laken restructure, Duane Brown restructure, Uzomah restructure, etc). 

Long way of saying - we made our deal with the devil - and right now it looks like the devil is bending us over. While I'd prefer for that not to continue - I'd rather get it done with once and for all then to take a five minute breather just to get bent over again

TLDNR

Short version 24-52

[UntouchableCrew]

17 minutes ago, derp said:

I think it was, the question is whether that will be the case in a couple of years when guys like Sauce and Garrett Wilson have to start getting paid and there’s not a surplus of young cheap first and second round caliber players on the roster because the excess draft picks ran out. Douglas has tried moves to put the team over the top and they haven’t worked.

Totally fair. The money that is currently going to underperforming veterans will need to go to Sauce and Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson, etc. Re-signing good young players is a must even if they aren't cheap.

We just need to hit on more draft picks. Nobody is successful without hitting on draft picks. And frankly, having those guys re-signed and then drafting a QB in a position to succeed is key.

[bitonti]

18 minutes ago, Warfish said:

If someone truly, legitimately, thinks nothing can ever be done to be better than we are now, I cannot fathom why that anyone would keep watching.

I truly believe this team will enter another full rebuild in 2025. There is hope it's just way in the distance. 

they were never 1 QB away from a SB. that was foolhardy. There's no shortcuts (remember that Saleh motto?) 

they just have to keep building maybe draft that lineman from Oregon St (fuaga) 

The problem is that the same fools who got us to this point will likely have another offseason to do damage

[Maxman]

34 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

I hope Woody dies or sells the team so something can maybe change.  Not being a Jets fan isn’t an option.

Also im FAR too entertained by JN not to keep coming here.

So kindly GFY if you don’t like it.  Stop telling people how to fan, as you’ve asked others NOT to do. 

So this thread is now locked. I shouldn't have to remind everyone but hoping that someone dies is not anything we allow to be posted here.

It's in bad taste and I'll leave it at that.