Former New York Jets general managers Mike Maccagnan and Joe Douglas were obvious failures during their tenures with the team. Maccagnan could never figure out the draft, leaving the team with some of the weakest talent in the NFL.

Douglas solved many of Maccagnan’s issues, but built a leaky locker room and couldn’t get the offensive line or quarterback position right.

So why in the world would the Philadelphia Eagles of all teams want either executive to join them?

Douglas joined Philadelphia last season and has now been given a similar role to the one he held during the late 2010s: senior vice president of player personnel. This week, the Eagles added Maccagnan to join him in the front office, where he will serve as a personnel executive under Howie Roseman.

Neither is in a key decision-making role, but both bring plenty of baggage from their time with the Jets.

Why would Philadelphia sign up for that?

Eagles bring in Maccagnan

There’s a perfectly good explanation for the Eagles’ Maccagnan hire that has nothing to do with the Jets. As one of the premier organizations in the game, Philadelphia has seen plenty of top assistants get promotions across the league.

Andrew Berry is now the general manager of the Cleveland Browns. Brandon Brown is an assistant GM with the New York Giants. Ian Cunningham has recently been hired by the Atlanta Falcons. The Eagles also lost Alec Halaby to a non-football job.

With so much brain drain over the last few years, Philadelphia can’t simply replace top assistants with unready replacements. By bringing in Maccagnan and Douglas, the Eagles do not have to force upward mobility within the franchise. They are stabilizing the room with competent individuals who are not making the final decisions.

That doesn’t mean the Eagles are going to be the new Jets, or that their organization is beginning a downward trajectory.

It’s simply a matter of a well-respected team in the sport having to fill top roles each year.

Why it matters for Jets

Maccagnan hasn’t been with the Jets for seven years. Douglas’ roster has been completely ripped to shreds.

Why exactly should Jets fans care about where these two failed executives end up?

The answer, of course, is more complex than people realize.

Process always matters in the NFL. When a team is good, it usually becomes the apple of the eye of many other organizations around the NFL. New York has never been that to other NFL teams over the last few years.

Eventually, though, that’s something the Jets should strive for. They should want to be the organization that is respected enough to leave teams pining to learn more about how they run things.

General manager Darren Mougey certainly seems to be on that track. He’s built an analytics-heavy front office that has identified top talent at discounted prices across the league.

And when he inevitably gets to a point where teams try to poach his assistants, he’ll need to take a page out of the Eagles’ playbook. It’s the only way to extend success beyond just one year.