Besides the most optimistic New York Jets fans and the families of the team’s players and coaches, it seems as if there is not a soul who believes in the franchise, even to the slightest degree.
Now, even the Jets’ front office members are catching flak from the media.
On Wednesday, NBC Sports published a ranking of every NFL general manager. Coming in last out of the 29 GMs with at least two offseasons of experience was Darren Mougey, the leader of the Jets.
The blurb on Mougey cut him some slack for the lack of time that he’s had to turn things around, but it also offered criticism for his role in the team’s 3-14 season under his watch.
“Darren Mougey’s one and a half years in charge is not what’s ailing the Jets. Give it time. … he had no positive additions take root in 2025, save for perhaps No. 7 overall right tackle Armand Membou. … Mougey also can’t take the blame for hiring Aaron Glenn since the head coach arrived three days before him. But they are in this together now, and their 2026 ‘solutions’ of signing Geno Smith and hiring offensive coordinator Frank Reich have confirmed this is the most desperate situation in the league.”
There are a few holes to poke in this logic, especially considering some of the GMs ranked above Mougey.
The most important fact of the matter is that it’s hard to even rank Mougey on a list like this when he has only overseen one season. Add in the fact that his one season was a teardown year in which he was more focused on clearing the cap clutter of his predecessor and accumulating future draft picks, and we really can’t sit here and evaluate Mougey’s chops just yet.
No matter what you think of Mougey’s 2026 offseason, we haven’t seen the on-field results of those moves. Whether you loved them or hated them, it’s the results that will dictate whether he should be praised or criticized.
With all of that in mind, Mougey arguably shouldn’t even be considered on this type of list. It should be limited to GMs who have overseen at least two regular seasons.
However, given that Mougey was included… shouldn’t the unknown commodity be ranked higher than known liabilities?
Mougey may not be a successful GM when it’s all said and done, but he also could still be excellent. Meanwhile, some of the GMs ranked above Mougey have already proven they’re rather clueless.
One spot above Mougey on NBC’s list is Arizona Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort. The Cardinals have gone 15-36 across three seasons under Ossenfort’s watch, and this offseason, their highlights include drafting a running back with the third overall pick and getting into a contract battle with Jacoby Brissett.
“Monti Ossenfort is out of excuses,” NBC writes. “He can no longer blame the quarterback he inherited, nor the first head coach he hired. Absent his Kyler Murray and Jonathan Gannon scapegoats, Ossenfort is left with one of the league’s most talent-bereft rosters, one that is now unquestionably ‘his’ following four draft classes and free agencies.”
Uh, this man is ranked above Mougey? At least there’s potential with Mougey. We have already seen Ossenfort run the Cardinals into the ground.
At No. 27 is Mike Borgonzi of the Titans, who, like Mougey, was a 2025 hire who oversaw a 3-14 campaign in his first season. The Titans seem to have more hype than the Jets entering 2026, but that largely stems from the sheer fact that they lucked into a No. 1 overall quarterback in 2025 while the Jets did not, which neither Borgonzi nor Mougey could control.
Considering what each has had to work with, Mougey has arguably done the better job, although that is subjective and requires more games to evaluate.
At No. 26 is yet another second-year GM who oversaw a 3-14 debut season and lucked into a No. 1 overall quarterback, John Spytek of the Raiders. Again, it seems as if the relative peachiness of Las Vegas’ future compared to the Jets’, by way of the quarterback situation, is the reason why Spytek is ranked higher, but that quarterback situation was the product of draft luck rather than any stroke of genius management.
Here’s where it gets tricky.
At No. 25 is crosstown rival Joe Schoen of the Giants, although head coach John Harbaugh is lumped in, as he has significant control over roster moves.
While Harbaugh has an extensive track record of success as a head coach, he enjoyed one of the league’s best front offices in Baltimore. Hall-of-Fame general manager Ozzie Newsome built Harbaugh’s Super Bowl team in 2012, and Newsome’s handpicked replacement, Eric DeCosta, carried on Newsome’s roster-building success. We don’t yet know whether Harbaugh can thrive as a quasi-GM.
Meanwhile, the Giants’ actual GM, Schoen, is a laughingstock in the eyes of New Yorkers. From his mishandlings of Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones, to struggling to build a competent offensive line, to numerous failed draft picks, Schoen has earned every bit of his 22-45-1 record across four years with Big Blue.
Perhaps it is fair to use Harbaugh’s influence to lift the Giants up, but he’s an unknown commodity in this role. Schoen is a known commodity: He stinks. Mougey may also stink, but he also still has the time and the potential to establish himself as an excellent GM, which should be enough for most fans to prefer him over the Giants’ buffoon.
With all of this said, it would be a stretch to claim that Mougey should rank much higher. At the end of the day, every move a GM makes is done in service of winning, and as we speak, Mougey has won three NFL games. While he has displayed a competent process throughout his two offseasons on the job, he hasn’t yet delivered the results that demand the respect of people around the league.
