I'm really happy with how our hierarchy looks right now, and what they've started building together. But before the first season of the Saleh regime gets going I am still perplexed by what happened with the Gase hiring, Mccagnan draft, and Mccagnan then being replaced after the draft by Joe Douglas. At the time the prevailing thought was that Gase was immediately wielding power to unsurp Mccagnan by getting one of his guys into the job. What actually was the Gase/ JD relationship, and what loyalties did they have towards each other? I didn't hear any negative Gase comments from JD on his way out the door. Nor was there much reporting on what their relationship was like while they worked together here. We're all happy Gase is gone and JD is not. I'm still perplexed by the whole episode - and I've followed this team forever. It does seem like we are now at last in a good place, but the only doubts I have are what happened as recently as two years ago and whether or not the same whacky Chris/ Woody Johnson stuff will happen again to spoil it.
The hierarchy is still all messed up. JD hired Saleh, which is good and proper, however JD was CJ's hire and after next season he is likely to be on a slippery slope and headed out the door. The problem is that since he hired Saleh, Saleh will also be on that same slippery slope after only one season. The alternative, of firing JD after 2022 and keeping Saleh will put the Jets right back on the broken hierarchy that was such a big part of last decade's mess. To avoid this JD had to do the smart thing and hire a CEO head coach with experience running a team. That would have greatly reduced the odds on our likely 2021 blowout and what is likely to follow. However that CEO head coach would have cut into JD's authority and so he went with the new guy with no clout instead - not what you want to bring on board with the NFL's longest playoff drought running.
Totally agree think about the trade he’s pulled off in the last two years he got two first round picks for Jamal Adams he got a second round pick for Sam Darnold…. 2022 draft we have two first round and two second round picks what idiot owner would fire the general manager that put the team in that kind of position ??..oh I forgot the Johnson brothers own the Jets.. I think we all know this much if the Johnson brothers were foolish enough to fire JD some other owner would gobble him up in a New York minute… meanwhile has anybody even heard from the last two GM’s on this team?? Are they in the witness protection program? Oh and our former head coach I just read he’s offensive coordinator for high school football team?? let that sink in for a minute.. from HC in the NFL to High school…And not for nothing I wouldn’t want him coaching my 17-year-old kid
Gase was smart enough to know that Maccagnan wasn’t the answer and wielded enough power at the time to get him fired. JD wanted to be a GM but was smart enough to know the Jets were a mess and held out for 6 years. Which essentially gave him enough power to move on from Gase when it became painfully obvious he wasn’t the answer. Christopher Johnson was smart enough to realize he royally screwed up his only HC hire and had to trust the GM he gave a 6 year contract to to get it right. We sit here today with what looks like a GM that totally gets it, who hired his own HC who seems to be very promising and the Jets future is looking as bright as it has been in a decade plus.
He’s actually in year 3 of a 6 year deal. After this season his contract is half over. Gotta start producing at some point.
It's funny in that originally we were all led to believe JD and Gase had a good relationship based on past history of working together...and while that may be true in a "work friendly" kind of way, Cimini at some point during the year mentioned on his podcast that one of the things that made JD apprehensive about taking the Jets GM position was his lack of belief/faith in Gase...which makes sense...we've all been friendly w/ folks at work that we also know are sub standard performers and that seems to be the case here. Gives more credence to the fact that JD knows what's going on and knows the difference between nice guys and competent guys and being ok at cutting bait with the former to hire the later... Also, JD seems to have the full faith of ownership which in my opinion is great as he seems to be the long term fit/leader to head up football operations/decisions. He also seems to have great communication skills and full faith in his ability which makes him totally comfortable in collaborating with others and asking for other's opinions. Those who are less confident often shy away from collaboration and asking for other's thoughts...we've got a good one here and he's got a very long leash in my opinion.
We may never know the truth of the situation. Based on the articles I've seen, it appears to me that following Mac's last draft, either on his own or urged by Gase, Christopher Johnson reviewed the work done by Mac, and then decided to fire Mac. I imagine that Gase was in Johnson's ear initiating and urging the process on, and Mac didn't really work/cooperate with Gase with regards to the draft (didn't ask Gase what types of players he wanted or about specific players), and I think I remember that Gase wasn't allowed in the draft room. Once Mac was fired, I think Gase recommended Douglas, and Douglas had been identified by the NFL and a number of teams as the top up and coming GM candidate. A couple of teams had asked Philly for permission to talk to Douglas at the beginning of that offseason, but Philly refused to give them permission. When the Jets asked following the draft, Philly agreed to let them speak with Douglas. I think I recall that Douglas had said that he wanted the Jets' job, or something to that extent so Philly gave him permission to interview. Following the intitial interview process, Douglas turned down the job. Gase then supposedly drove to Douglas' house and begged him to take the job. Douglas said that he'd have to have a longer contract and more money for scouting and CS, and once the Johnsons agreed to that, Douglas accepted the job. It was rumored that Gase and Douglas were friends. They had worked together for the Bears, I think. At the time, I thought there was something to that, but not now. I now think that Gase wanted Douglas and liked him more than Douglas liked Gase. I now think that Douglas took the job knowing that the team needed to be gutted and that Gase was not going to work out. Following Douglas' hire, the org chart was changed where Gase would report to Douglas and they wouldn't be peers. I have to believe that Douglas gave that as a stipulation before accepting the Jets' job. I also think that it was decided at that time that barring a great season, Gase would be fired at the end of the 2020 season and Douglas would be allowed to lead the search for the new HC. That may not be correct. The Johnsons may have seen what a solid job that Douglas was doing with making changes to the scouting dept's approach, to his handling of FA, the Adams trade, and the draft, and then decided to allow him to take the lead and make the decision on the new HC hire. I think that Douglas and Gase probably worked together as well as they could. Douglas was respectful, and allowed Gase to do his thing, and Douglas worked with him with regards to the draft. I have read that the Morgan draft pick was at Gase's urging to help with Sam. Because they had worked together, Douglas is a professional and good guy, he saw no reason to humiliate Gase by making negative comments about him when he was fired. I think the decision to fire Gase was also supposedly the Johnsons, but it could have been at Douglas suggestion or insistence. All of us are indeed glad that Gase is gone, but sadly, not all of us are not happy that Douglas is not. We have 2-3 posters who think Douglas has done a terrible job and the Jets are in awful shape. A number of others have been very critical of Douglas, but not quite as negative as those 2-3. It's mind boggling, isn't it? There is zero reason for anyone to be that negative about Douglas. They are being irrational and unrealistic. They expect a GM to be perfect and make no mistakes, but mostly they just think that Douglas should have done what they wanted,and because he didn't, they don't like him and want him gone. I'm not worried at all about any wacky stuff from the Johnsons. I think they have learned their lesson. They realize that they have a competent and very good professional handling things and trust him. They know how many times they have screwed up, so are going to let him call the shots.
Good job NC. The bold I believe is the root cause of their irrational unhappiness. But rest assure that the majority of the fans , the leadership, even GMs and Coaches across the league, people that actually know a thing or two about talent, hell even the media, have been nothing but complimentary of the outstanding job he has done so far. In two drafts he has swiftly reshaped this roster and brought us a CS THAT IS TOP KNOTCH. He inherited a nightmare and had to plug the massive leak after Mac last joke of a draft and brought in some marginal bandaids when no real talent was available. Mistakes are made by all GMs, but he knew the need and took a shot. JD is on the highway to success, not some imaginary slippery road, and this year draft might very well turn out to be our best ever. We need to stop expecting miracles and give this organization a chance. JD is going no where but up. And rightfully so. He is the leader and talent we so desperately needed.
The Gase/MAC ending is fairly epic. As soon as Gase came in he started trying to undermine Mac. He leaked stories about how he was upset about FA signings. But it all came to a head on draft day when Gase forced the issue by embarrassing the owner on draft day forcing him to choose between himself and Mac. Gase had a temper tantrum and refused to sit next to Mac during the draft, moved his chair out of view of the camera putting his chair in the corner and sat there in front of the media but out of camera view refusing to take part in the draft. There is nothing a billionaire dislikes more than being embarrassed. As Gase knew this story got out and Johnson chose Gase over Mac rather than doing the smart thing and firing both. Gase making an immature power play was one of the first things Miami fans and media warned us about when we hired him. As fans we immediately learned from this that Gase had learned nothing from his firing in Miami. Really this incident told us what we were in for the next two years having to deal with Gase's insecurities and ego. Edit: after doing some quick google searches I was mistaken. Gase refused to sit next to Chris Johnson not Mac during the draft moving his chair away from him to highlight his anger towards Mac.
It’s a little off kilter with his hiring date, he’s had 2 off-seasons, he’s got 2 more before he’s on the hot seat. Unless we want to continue to put the coach and gm on different schedules
Guy, you are totally off base. The hierarchy is not broken, and JD is not on any slippery slope. You couldn't be any more wrong about any of this.
The hierarchy now is a million times better than last year. I always felt the GM and the HC reporting to the owner was a disaster. If that is in other places, the orders get running a football team way more than the Johnsons. This change made me more excited than anything else.
