What I want for Christmas (or Columbus Day)

Wouldn't you rather have a coach who chooses us over other teams than a coach who comes here because he had no other options?

 

What do the top companies do with young execs who show a lot of potential, but who have areas of weakness? They don't fire them straight away. They advise them pf what their shortcomings are. They encourage them and/or send them for professional training designed to overcome those shortcomings and turn them into strengths. They groom them. They could hire a guy like Harbaugh that has more experience and who has had more success than Mac to help groom Mac.

In the Jets' case, it may not work or help. Harbaugh (or whomever) might not want Mac, but he'd have to accept someone to head up scouting and run the draft, and if he wanted to do it himself, he better know and have a good relationship wiith some scouts that he can hire in case all the Jets' scouts leave following the draft.

 

I don't think Mac has shown a lot of potential. If Harbaugh disagrees, he can keep Mac, but I think he'd want to put his own team in place.

 

I could not give one slight crap about why any given coach chose to come to the Jets if his intent and ability was to make the team a winner.

 

I think anyone would. I don't see the Jets' situation as untenable or unappealing as you. The Johnsons have deep pockets and spend money to get players. They have a great headquarters/facilities (except the shared stadium). They have a great young FQB prospect and some good young talent. They'll have a ton of cap space next offseason. I think it could be a very appealing situation. I think the team's fortunes can be turned around very easily, and anyone who does will be able to write his own ticket.

 

The problem is if a coach comes here because he has no other options, that means other teams didn't want him. Which means unless everyone else got it wrong and we got lucky, we aren't getting a coach with the ability to make the team a winner.

 

Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree on that. No other GMs sought to sign Teddy this spring. Mac did. Mac made an aggressive trade up to get us a FQB. He has used a sound draft philosophy of taking BPA. He has made some good trades and FA acquisitions. Has he missed on some picks? Yes, but all GMs do. I also hasten to add that with a better HC and CS, perhaps some of those players who haven't made it might have developed into solid players.

 

I wouldn't want one guy to wear both hats, either. It's just too much responsibility and power, and it can divert too much of the HC's attention from the team on the field, and still not leave enough attention for scouting other teams, players, etc. I totally agree that if Harbaugh was willing to come but didn't want Mac, that Mac should go, and let Harbaugh bring in someone to run the scouting and the draft that answered to Harbaugh.

 

If I'm a coach, I like Darnold and the youth and cap space. But I want to make sure I have a GM who can get me good players, especially in the draft. And I don't have that confidence in Mac.

Bridgewater was a good move, but nothing great because in the end all we got was a trade up from the fifth to the third round. The trade was good assuming Darnold is worth it. BPA is only a sound philosophy if you can identify who the BPA is. Williams and Adams were supposed to be the BPAs, but I'm not sure Williams was the BPA, and Adams definitely wasn't (see Mahomes). Do all GMs miss on picks? Sure, but they also get big hits, and I don't think Mac has any right now. Maybe things would be different with a better coach, but you could also say Bowles would look better with a better GM. Not that I'm defending Bowles, I want him gone.

 

I also have no problem with every other team in the league getting it wrong or with getting lucky. No permutation of logic can create a situation where it's a bad thing for the Jets organization and a single man agreeing to make the future better for the Jets. The alternative is to do nothing.

 

The alternative is to fire Bowles and Mac and start over and/or hire a president of football operations and let him decide what to do. Which IMO is a much better choice than letting Mac pick a coach.

 

Since neither of the Johnsons seem to have a clue, even if they fire everyone, they'll just go ahead and hire somebody like Casserly to make the GM/President hire for them which will result in the same problems that have plagued this organization for decades.

 

The notion that Bowles could have done better with better draft picks is wearing incredibly thin. Some people don't like Mac and want him gone. So they leverage the draft excuse. Fine, there are entitled to their opinion. I whole heartily disagree. Bowles could not do any better no matter who you give him. He hasn't done shit yet. While other young coaches have immediately improved the players performance that was given to them. He has done the opposite.
Either way we need a Head of operations to make the call. He should know. What we think doesn't count.
However, the notion that no good coach would come here with Mac as GM is totally unfounded, biased by personal dislike of the GM and nothing more than Folklore at this time. Bowles must go no matter what the rest of the organization does. And the DC Needs to go with him.

 

I have no faith that they'd hire someone who could actually do the job. It would be someone just as incompetent as Bowles most likely.

 

Good question. Been asking that myself a lot here these past couple of seasons.