Former New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas failed to produce a winner in the six seasons he led the organization.
Many fans and analysts would call that a failure of a hiring. In many ways, that’s all that Douglas can be seen as. The organization failed to win more than seven games under his eye, and crumbled under the lack of a quarterback or competent coaching staff to lead the way.
Those failings will overshadow much of what Douglas did well. New York had an excellent draft in 2022 that brought Pro Bowl-caliber players with the first four picks. They also added some key late-round and undrafted free agents to the roster.
The 30-64 record speaks for itself, though. With Douglas returning to the Philadelphia Eagles as a scout, he leaves behind an important lesson the Jets must learn.
Jets’ Important Lesson
When Douglas was hired by the Jets following the 2019 draft, he came as one of the league’s top executives looking for a general manager job.
New York was not wrong to target Douglas. His resume was impressive. Learning at the altar of both Howie Roseman in Philly and Ozzie Newsome with the Baltimore Ravens made Douglas something of a commodity at the time of his hiring.
It just didn’t work out.
The same can be said for many of New York’s recent coaching hirings as well. Robert Saleh was a top coaching candidate when he was hired by the team in 2021, as was Todd Bowles in 2015. Those may have been head coaches, but the lesson remains the same for New York.
Just because the Jets can hire the top name in any coach or GM search, it doesn’t mean they are the right guy for the job.
Just because someone may have the pedigree as an assistant for Hall-of-Fame executives, it doesn’t mean they have the same touch.
Those examples can be passed down throughout history. Douglas may have been the celebrated hire at the time, but he ended up being the wrong man for the job. He couldn’t find a head coach (something Roseman in Philadelphia is never tasked with) and he couldn’t find a quarterback.
That’s why the Jets should feel comfortable with the hiring of Darren Mougey as the team’s general manager and Aaron Glenn as the head coach. Both candidates had strong resumes, but neither was considered the “can’t miss” person in the pool.
That isn’t a bad thing.
New York’s goal was to find the right people to turn around their franchise. They believe they now have that with Mougey and Glenn.
If Douglas’ failure taught the organization anything, it’s that their solutions may not come from the candidate everyone around the league is talking about. It will come from people who are respected, even if they are not the most popular choice.
