New York Jets fans who have chanted “sell the team” may have identified the root cause of the team’s dysfunction.
At least, if a new report in The Athletic is to be believed.
Visit our New York Jets News page to stay updated on the latest happenings.
The report from Dianna Russini and Zack Rosenblatt details how Woody Johnson progressively seized the reins of the general manager’s office from Joe Douglas, first vetoing his desired moves before finally leaving him out of the equation altogether.
When the regular season started, Johnson’s meddling hit an obsessive level. After the Jets’ ugly 10-9 loss to the Broncos, Johnson met with the Jets’ coaches and suggested they bench Aaron Rodgers for Tyrod Taylor. The coaches were horrified at the thought of embarrassing Rodgers and hurting the locker room.
Though they calmed Johnson down for the time being, a week later, the owner unilaterally decided to fire Robert Saleh without consulting with Douglas or anyone else in the organization.
Douglas was prepared to offer Bryce Huff a contract extension, but Johnson vetoed it. He overrode any moves that involved increasing the pay of players already on the roster.
The firing of assistant general manager Rex Hogan shocked people within the Jets’ organization who knew how close the pair are. According to Russini and Rosenblatt, many believed that Johnson forced Douglas’ hand. When director of player personnel Chad Alexander became the assistant general manager for the Los Angeles Chargers, Johnson wouldn’t allow Douglas to replace either Hogan or Alexander.
After that happened, Russini and Rosenblatt quote Jets staffers as saying, “They’re holding him hostage,” and “Joe was checked out.”
During free agency, Saleh and Douglas wanted to correct their previous mistakes and stay away from aging players with injury concerns. Team sources indicate that Johnson overrode this by pursuing Tyron Smith and Mike Williams because of his sensitivity to social media. According to the report, not a single other team had expressed interest in Smith. Both signed incentive-laden deals with the Jets, neither of which worked out.
Even worse, Douglas offered Allen Lazard and a Day 2 pick to the Broncos for Jerry Jeudy. Johnson nixed that, too, and Jeudy went to the Browns.
When it came to Haason Reddick, Douglas did trade for him knowing Reddick would not play without a new deal. However, he thought Reddick would report and they would work out the contract. But it was Johnson who refused to give Reddick a new deal, leading to Reddick’s protracted holdout.
When Johnson told reporters during a conference call that the Jets had the most talented roster ever assembled under his ownership, many took it as a vote of confidence for Douglas. However, according to Russini and Rosenblatt, those in the organization recognized it as Johnson’s self-congratulation for the roster he thought he had built, not Douglas.
As the season went on, Johnson made all the key decisions. He was the one who pushed the Davante Adams trade for a conditional third-round pick, which was more than any other receiver went for at the deadline. He pushed Jeff Ulbrich to bench Tony Adams against the Colts.
The obvious culmination of this debacle was Douglas’ firing. The timing of it doesn’t make much sense, as the Jets cannot interview any candidates until the season is over. Douglas’ contract was finished at the end of the season, anyway, so Johnson could have just let it run out and then parted ways.
The decision to axe Douglas signaled to the rest of the NFL what this report from Rosenblatt and Russini makes clear: regardless of who the general manager is in name, the general manager in deed is Woody Johnson.
Yes, Douglas might be the primary source behind this article. A bitter ex-employee is never the best place to receive accurate information. Russini also has a strong recent history of providing circumstantial and unverified reports about the Jets’ locker room and has shown a vendetta against Aaron Rodgers.
Nonetheless, a discerning eye will note that everything in this report makes sense in light of what was viewable from the outside. Douglas did seem hamstrung in the offseason. As the season progressed, it became clear that he had been phased out; the comment Johnson made about the talent on the roster perfectly tracks with what the Jets staffers said it meant.
Douglas’ last press conference as general manager when he said “I serve at the pleasure of the owner” indicated just this, although the extent was unknown until now. His body language showed that exact defeat the Jets staffers described.
Choose how much to believe and how much not to. But somehow, the Jets’ disaster of a season just keeps getting worse.
