It will be up to New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas to find the right one … [+]
Getty Images
Christopher Johnson was trying to do the right thing, allaying the fears of a tired fan base that just doesn’t trust the New York Jets to make any big move right.
But in a hurry to commend general manager Joe Douglas on Monday’s conference call, the acting owner may have made Douglas’s job a little more difficult.
Johnson made clear on Monday that Douglas will “lead the charge” while the Jets seek a coach to replace the fired Adam Gase. Yes, Johnson and team president Hymie Elhai will also sit it out on the interviews, but Johnson pointed out that Douglas’ suggestion will be the main focus.
That’s great, and it should be. After all, Douglas is an old footballer with plenty of connections in the industry. He is the man in the hierarchy of the best team that is able to separate fact from fiction when evaluating potential candidates, not only because of what happened to him, but because of the vast network of contacts. which will help him with a background check.
“Joe is the GM we’ve been looking for for years,” Johnson said. “I have a lot of confidence in him.”
But that public call by Johnson also makes it clear to candidates that Douglas is running this show, which could be negative in terms of attracting potential college head coaches who may be running out. seek total control, i.e., the ability to finally talk about personnel movements. A “hot” college head coach – think Matt Campbell of Iowa State, Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern, or Dan Mullen of Florida, among others – want to try to reconcile that issue. Given Johnson’s faith in Douglas and the fact that he signed a six-year contract in June 2019, the best thing an incoming coach can do is hope for a joint effort. working with Douglas gets the final idea, which is how it worked with Douglas and Gase.
So far, the Jets have reportedly requested and been allowed to conduct interviews with several NFL offensive and defensive coordinators, including Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll , Indianapolis defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus and Tennessee offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Johnson also said Monday that he wanted “a head coach to coach the entire team and his staff. You don’t have to be offensive, you don’t have to be immune. This is a coach to the whole team. ”
If college coaches do not show up, and none have been publicly linked to the Jets so far in terms of interviews, it will be up to Douglas to do a project in the future and decide which pro coordinator a routine that is able to grow into that CEO- style post. With permission, there is no guarantee that a college coach can successfully reproduce at the NFL level, but at least it has proven that he can build a full program. A coordinator comes with such a background.
Of course, it can be done. Many successful NFL head coaches started out as coordinators, and it may be up to Douglas, who has not chosen a head coach in his career, to identify and recommend that man to Johnson. That is, unless college coaches appear as prime candidates.
The advantages are that Johnson at least leaves most of the work in the hands of a football expert, compared to two years ago, when he seems to have been caught by Peyton Manning’s recommendation in hiring Gase unknowingly. Also, while the ultra-nice Johnson was not willing to trash Gase on his way out the door, he at least realizes that a coach with his head buried in his playing sheets on game day was the poor optic.
When I asked him about the way Gase completely removed the defense, Johnson replied, “I do not think that that is certainly a bad way of doing things, but in our case, I think we can do better. “
The weight square is Joe Douglas. It is now up to him to prove Johnson’s great proposal.