Lots of good potential GM candidates this year. Costello of the NY Post does a decent job of starting the discussion. Article below. http://nypost.com/2014/12/25/15-names-to-watch-for-jets-gm/ DeCosta remains my top choice, just like he was 2 years ago. Problem though, is he seems more interested in waiting to take over for Ozzie in Baltimore. Never know....we have lots of money and a great draft selection. Maybe a high dollar contract will get him reconsidering things. Ballard also very interesting talent evaluator. Here's the article: The hot names These are the guys everyone will be calling: Chris Ballard, Chiefs director of player personnel: No one’s name comes up more than Ballard’s when you ask people about talent evaluators. Tampa Bay was interested in him last year. Nick Caserio, Patriots director of player personnel: Some question whether he would leave New England to go to the rival Jets. But he interviewed with the Dolphins last year before turning down their offer. Lake Dawson, Titans VP of player personnel: He has been a candidate for several jobs and actually turned the Dolphins GM job last year, reportedly because Miami would not give him full control. Ryan Pace, Saints director of player personnel: The Saints denied the Dolphins permission to interview Pace last year for their GM opening. Saints GM Mickey Loomis called Pace “our secret.” Duke Tobin, Bengals director of player personnel: The Bengals have assembled a very talented roster that is heading to the playoffs again. Tobin played a big role in that. Worth another look Before hiring Idzik, the Jets talked to a number of candidates. Here are a few that the Jets could revisit this time: Eric DeCosta, Ravens assistant GM: He was one of the first calls the Jets made in 2013, but he passed on even interviewing. He is the heir apparent to Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore and seems content to wait. Brian Gaine, Texans director of pro personnel: A former Jets player and scout, Gaine is from Rockland County and this would be a homecoming job for him. A Bill Parcells disciple, Gaine was a finalist for the Dolphins job last year. Tom Gamble, Eagles VP of player personnel:Gamble was one of the first candidates interviewed in 2013. He played a role in the 49ers’ turnaround and is now finding players for Chip Kelly. Many believe he will join Jim Harbaugh if Harbaugh takes an NFL coaching job. Tom Heckert, Broncos director of pro personnel: Former Browns GM took his name out of the running with the Jets in 2013 because he wanted to hire his own coach. Has been John Elway’s right-hand man in Denver. Must answer questions about a 2013 DUI arrest. Omar Khan, Steelers director of football administration: The runner-up to Idzik in 2013, the 37-year-old also interviewed in Miami last year. Khan is Pittsburgh’s chief contract negotiator. The Jets might want to avoid hiring someone without a personnel background after the Idzik experience. Former GMs For some reason general managers rarely get second chances in the NFL. Here are a few that might: Mark Dominik, ESPN analyst: The former Buccaneers GM missed on a first-round quarterback in Josh Freeman and hired Greg Schiano as coach, two moves he could not overcome. Scot McCloughlan, personnel consultant: As 49ers GM, he laid a foundation for the team’s recent success. He went to the Seahawks in 2010 and played a huge role in building their roster. Seen as one of the best talent evaluators in the sport, but he has battled a drinking problem. Scott Pioli, Falcons assistant GM: The former Chiefs GM is a New York native who worked for the Jets under Bill Parcells, his father-in-law. His time in Kansas City was marked by off-field drama and paranoia in the building, but he left a solid roster behind. Wild cards Another few intriguing names: Mike Maccagnan, Texans director of college scouting: When Casserly’s name surfaced this week, one source told me to keep an eye on Maccagnan, a Casserly favorite. Eliot Wolf, Packers director of pro personnel: Ron Wolf could end up being a consultant for the Jets, too. Would he recommend his son? Eliot is only 32, which might frighten the Jets, but the Packers front office has turned out good GMs in John Schneider and John Dorsey. Johnson surely will have more names than even these to consider. There are plenty of good candidates. It’s up to Johnson to figure out which is the right one to get the Jets back on track.
Now that Rex will be gone let's see if the Jets hire any of these GM who didn't want the job because they had to keep Rex.
2 years ago, we interviewed every viable candidate. people weren't backing away, and the job was generating a lot of interest. Only Caldwell took a different GM position (with Jax), and no one really knows why. Jax had a much better cap situation, and a whole lot less pressure in their market. I'd venture to guess it had more to do with that than the HC situation.
Not according to a lot of people on here. They turn the job down because of Rex. I think is bullshit myself. Everybody going into the interviews knew that Rex would still be the HC. So why even interview for the job already knowing that.
Parcells and Belichick didn't want to work with Woody. And if he's going to force the GM to retain a coach and then fire him after only two years. Still-there will be plenty of takers. Most of those guys on the list would accept the job even with conditions. The upside is enormous-getting a winning franchise in the New York market. The downside: ask Idzik.
Let's see if the great Idzik ever ends up with a GM job again. Plus how come Idzik isn't on this list? Rex is #2 for HC.
The reports have said because of Rex and because the GMs were told they had to trade Revis. But I would not be surprised if the real problem was the meddling by Woody forcing his religious and political beliefs upon the organization. Most noticeably him forcing the Tebow trade upon Tannenbaum immediately after Tannenbaum had already signed Stanton.
real interesting insight into Ballard from his former boss in Chicago. Short of prying DeCosta from Baltimore, Ballard is the type of talent evaluator i want. http://www.bucsnation.com/2014/1/3/5271498/chris-ballard-future-general-manager-for-the-buccaneers The leading candidate for the general manager position of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers appears to be current Kansas City Chiefs director of player personnel, Chris Ballard. We had the chance to talk about Ballard with Greg Gabriel, who spent nine years with the Chicago Bears as the director of college scouting under Jerry Angelo and now covers the draft for the National Football Post. Gabriel has some strong convictions on Ballard. "It took me about three years to figure out that he was going to be a future general manager." "I gave him his first NFL job," Gabriel says. "He's the first guy I hired. When I hired him I'd only been on the job ten days and Jerry [Angelo]) gave me his name. He said 'there's a guy down at Texas A&I [now Texas A&M Kingsville - ed.], he's the pro liaison/defensive coordinator, he was always good in talking about players. You could trust his opinion when you went to the school, and he gave you his thoughts about the player. So why don't you call him?'" "I called him on the phone three times. I never met him and I hired him. It was only through phone conversations. First time I met him in person was two days after I hired him, I flew him out to Chicago." "He was very, very impressive," Gabriel says. "And I knew he had the passion it took to be a good scout. Everybody wants to be a scout, but it's a very tough job. It's a tough job because number one you're on the road. You're by yourself. You're away from your family. You miss a lot of things, you miss your kids growing up because you're gone so much. You're basically your own boss when you're on the road. It takes its own stick-to-itiveness, initiative that you get the work done. And he got the work done." It takes more than just toughness, work ethic and perseverance to be a good scout, however. You need to know how to scout players, and you need to be able to sell that to your coaches and to the people in charge. "What Chris does better than any guy I've been around, and I've been doing this thirty years, he can sell a player better than anybody I've ever been around. Whether he's right or wrong, he knows how to sell them. He knows how to present a player. Just his personality, the words he uses, he's very, very convincing." Ballard was especially good at evaluating players on the defensive side of the ball, and especially defensive backs. The Bears had a slew of very strong defensive backs when he was there, and some of them are still going in the league, like Charles Tillman. Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE "Chris was a very strong defensive evaluator and he was excellent with defensive backs. And the whole time I was there, Chris cross-checked defensive backs. So he knew number one what we were looking for, number two he knew the personality of the coach, and knew if the coach could work with the kid and knew if the kid could prosper under the coach. There's not a lot of scouts, who can do that who have that skill. That's where he was very very strong." There are plenty of examples of players where Ballard's combination of being an excellent scout and being able to sell a guy helped the Bears get some very good players. "[Charles] Tillman, that was Chris' guy. [Cornerback] Nate Vasher we took in the fourth round from Texas. Now that's a great example, because Chris had a very strong conviction on Nate Vasher. Nate at his pro day didn't run very good. Now his agility drills and stuff were outstanding." Ballard wanted to really sell Vasher, though. He was convinced Vasher was going to be good. So he went back to Texas to time him again, and gets a tenth of a second off his time. Gabriel said "What did you do, strap jet engines to his ankles?" But Ballard really believed in Vasher, and just told Gabriel "Oh no man, he can do it. He can run real good!" "But fact of the matter is Nate Vasher, he couldn't run fast!" Gabriel says. "And I always harassed Ballard about that after, but he was so quick and so instinctive he became an All-Pro. Fourth-round pick and he went to the Pro Bowl!" It wasn't just defense, though that certainly is Ballard's specialty. "[Running back] Matt Forte was another guy. Chris and I both had a strong conviction. Jerry (Angelo) wasn't as sold on Forte as Chris and I were." Forte has since made it to two Pro Bowls and has been a very large part of the Bears' offense since being drafted. Dennis Wierzbicki Part of Ballard's edge as an evaluator was that he understood which character issues mattered, which didn't, and which coaches could work with which players. That helped the Bears find some talented players other teams might no touch, or wouldn't touch that early. "I think the fact that he coached at Texas A&M Kingsville," Gabriel said. "Where at the time when he was there, kids that couldn't get in at a lot of other places ended up at Texas A&M Kingsville. Some of them were bad character kids or I'm going to say borderline character kids, had some issues. So he knew how to deal with these kids.And knowing how to deal with these kids and knowing these kids and being around them, that gave him a better idea of how to judge character." "And he did a very, very good job in getting the right information. He just had to say the little things to me and I knew he trusted the kid. There might be some issues with the kid, but he knows how to push the kid's button and knows how to get the best out of him and knows that he won't bust, so to speak. [The player] won't be a disappointment. I gotta say that he was right the vast majority of the time!" So Ballard's an excellent scout. That certainly helps, but why would Lovie Smith go after him as a general manager, specifically? Turns out the two go a long, long way back. "He's got a very good relationship with Lovie Smith. You know, they go back. Chris played at Wisconsin when Lovie was an assistant coach there. They know each other going back from when Chris was in college. Another thing that's very important with Lovie: Chris is from Texas, Lovie is from Texas. Lovie loves Texans." Despite the fact that Lovie Smith's likely going to have final say on the roster, Ballard will have input, and Lovie won't be blinded by his own opinions. Ballard will be able to sell his players to Lovie, while Lovie on his turn will listen to what his general manager has to say. "If you're just gonna go on your own opinion you don't need scouts. There's gotta be discussion. And Lovie is a good listener. I had to sit down with Lovie on numerous occasions and talk to him about players, sell him on players. But he's a good listener." So would Ballard be a good general manager? Gabriel certainly thinks so. "If he does get the job there's not a doubt in my mind that he's going to do an outstanding job there."
I never said Idzik is great. But two years and two drafts isn't enough to judge him by. Esp. when your HC is a fat piece of...
Are you seriously suggesting that the body structure of the head coach is a factor in the General Manager's success?
I can see now no matter what is said to you it won't matter because you hate Rex. Your boy Idzik won't ever be a GM again. Hell you won't even hear rumors of him becoming GM again.
I agree. People complain about not having an immediate contributor on offense, but Jace Amaro has been solid. Pryor has been good/solid these last few weeks and he'll only get better. We have a few more unknowns who may or may not amount to anything. But it's still too soon to judge.
My guess would be that if Idzik is fired, most good candidates will pass on this job. Unlike athletes and coaches, most GMs seem to be a quiet bunch, so the allure of winning on the big stage might have limited appeal to them. Having to deal with the toxic local media and moronic fans every 2 seconds, and a spineless owner who gives in to them, that doesn't sound like a recipe for success for anyone who wants to build something good. I can see it attracting Tanenbaum's like GMs, who will overspend to be competitive for a while and then leave the mess to the next sucker to clean up.
biggest market in the US, potentially 50+M in cap flexibility, a top 5 draft pick, most of our picks available, and a chance to build something from scratch including the QB position. the toxic NY media is what it is. If you can't cut it here, you don't take on this job. My guess is they'll understand why Idzik was fired, and we'll interview all those top candidates in the coming months. will find out soon enough.
Exactly!! If Idzik gets fired - Did Billboard boy help the Jets or just make luring a new qualified GM to come here even harder?
I remember that. I was so upset that he went to Jacksonville. Everyone touted the guy as the best GM candidate in the league. Then there was John Dorsey from KC also. He did wonders here in WI, with the Pack, and I was upset we didn't get him either. It's too early to tell obviously, but they've been a good team these past 2 years. I hope we get somebody not named Idzik.
The jags won 4 games last year and 3 with one to go this year. It takes time for a GM to make progress.
