First, Robert Saleh. Now, Joe Douglas.
Woody Johnson is cleaning house for his woeful New York Jets in what has been a hugely disappointing season.
Douglas was fired Tuesday as the Jets’ general manager, the latest shakeup for a franchise that had Super Bowl aspirations with a healthy Aaron Rodgers at quarterback but has limped to a 3-8 start and appears likely to miss the playoffs for a 14th consecutive year.
The dismissal of Douglas, who was 30-64 and had no winning seasons in his tenure, came exactly six weeks after Johnson fired Saleh as coach on Oct. 8 after the Jets were 2-3 to open the year.
“Today, I informed Joe Douglas he will no longer serve as the general manager of the New York Jets,” Johnson said in a statement issued by the team. “I want to thank Joe for his commitment to the Jets over the last six years and wish him and his family the best moving forward.”
Johnson also announced that Phil Savage, who has served as a senior football adviser since 2019, will be the Jets’ interim general manager for the rest of the season. Johnson said the team would immediately begin the process of finding a new GM.
Douglas, who was in the final year of his contract after being hired in 2019, was not consulted by Johnson when the owner made the decision to dismiss Saleh and replace him on an interim basis with defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. New York is 1-5 under Ulbrich.
Johnson said at the time he thought the Jets had “one of the most talented teams that has ever been assembled” in his 25 years as owner — and Douglas was largely responsible. But the absence of Douglas’ input in the firing of Saleh was a clear indication that the GM’s job could also be in jeopardy.
“I come in here every day and just want to do whatever I can to help this team reach its goals and reach its destination,” Douglas said two weeks ago when asked if he was worried about his job status. “And whatever happens, happens.”
The Jets were 3-6 at that time and Douglas insisted the team could turn things around and make a late run.
“Obviously, it starts with me,” Douglas said. “I can look back and there’s quite a few things that I could have done better. Obviously, when a situation happens like what happened four weeks ago (Saleh’s firing), you have a lot of self-reflective moments on the things that you could have done better to keep that from happening.
“But we’ve got an opportunity here with these last stretch of games to change that narrative.”
The Jets have since dropped two more games, including a humiliating 31-6 loss at Arizona two weeks ago followed by New York blowing a late lead and losing 28-27 to Indianapolis last Sunday.
And Johnson apparently thought it was time during the Jets’ bye-week break to complete what is a major overhaul rather than wait until the end of the season — when it appears likely the franchise will extend the NFL’s longest active postseason drought.
Johnson’s future outside of football could also be a factor in beginning the search now. He served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, when Johnson’s brother Christopher was in charge of the team and hired Saleh. Woody Johnson could potentially fill that role again with Trump elected for the second time, and that would cause him to relinquish day-to-day operations of the team at some point next year.
Douglas was widely celebrated when he swung the trade — with Johnson’s urging — to acquire Rodgers from Green Bay. But the four-time NFL MVP tore his left Achilles tendon four snaps into the 2023 season opener and the Jets never recovered, finishing 7-10.
Rodgers entered training camp this summer healthy and with renewed zest for playing — and revived the franchise’s Super Bowl hopes in the process. Instead, the Jets have been arguably the NFL’s most disappointing team — and now the future of Rodgers, who will turn 41 on Dec. 2 and has a year remaining on his contract, is uncertain.
The failure of Rodgers to produce anywhere close to his usual level while with the Packers will be a stain on Douglas’ resume. The GM’s inability to successfully build a consistently solid offensive line will be another, along with the team’s decision to trade quarterback Sam Darnold to Carolina and draft Zach Wilson as his replacement with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 draft.
But Douglas also made several key moves to establish a young core, including drafting cornerback Sauce Gardner, wide receiver Garrett Wilson, edge rusher Jermaine Johnson and running back Breece Hall in the first two rounds of the 2022 draft.
Savage has extensive NFL experience as an executive, including front-office stints with Cleveland, where he was the GM for four years in his second stint with the Browns, as well as Baltimore and Philadelphia.
He was also the executive director for the Senior Bowl for six years, and served as general manager of the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football in 2018 before joining the Jets.
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