Removing him now allows time to find the best replacement before the season ends and for a new guy to be in position to get the right coaching staff for once in decades
It is not very surprising that he got fired but I will say I am surprised Woody did not wait until after the season to fire Douglas
Also gives the new GM plenty of time to assess the existing roster, plan any end of season moves and plan for the draft.
For real. When I cancelled my season tix and walked away in 2017 I knew in my heart of hearts that it was the right decision (even though I inherited them from my Dad who got them in 1967 so it was not an easy decision at all) but all these years later I am even more relieved that I dumped them.
The very first move that signals a real commitment to pivot away from this being Aaron's franchise will start with that firing. Until that happens Aaron Rodgers Take 3 2025 is 100% happening. That isn't a small potatoes thing imo.
It's obvious now that despite not declaring so publicly, this season was an absolute "playoff mandate" by Woody for the GM and HC. Now that it's obviously not happening , I can see why JD began planning his family's future, and why they had to dismiss him early because of it. Rest In Peace Joe Douglas Era of Jets Football. Since I had usually stuck up for him, let's not forget the many unknown players he brought in who did well for us. Also, upon until the Reddick fiasco, he made a few great trades too. He was better at that than he was in the first round. As stated earlier in this thread, I expect the successor to be worse.
This is my big fear. It would be such a Woody/Jetsy thing to do. I have almost zero faith in Woody realizing that keeping Rodgers/Hackett will greatly reduce the list of good candidates willing to sign as GM.
He had to go. I didn't hate him, but at some point all of your "great" moves need to result in wins. Aaron Rodgers cannot have a say in this signing. You bring in whomever is best for the job regardless if Rodgers is on board. He's not good enough to sway any potential moves. Expectations for this are extremely low. Hopefully they don't screw it up.
Douglas built a piss poor team over 6 years with no depth and failure after failure in the draft. Then he took $250m to repair his drafting/FA failures of the past with players that are past their primes with overinflated price tags, and failed again anyway. Douglas has a terrible eye for talent. Terrible.
Even worse - the OT he passed up for Becton looks like he's going to be a Hall of Famer barring serious injury. Hard to overstate the ripple effects of the missed Becton pick. It played a role in Zach getting obliterated his first few starts, the musical chairs of aging FA tackle acquisitions, the trade up for AVT, etc. JD also waited way too long to admit defeat on the Becton pick. It was clear very quickly that Becton was a problem both on and off the field. Stubbornness in admitting mistakes, and thus letting them become bigger problems than they had to be, was a hallmark of the JD era.
I don't know if this is just a Jets fans thing, but we do seem to have a massive % of fans who will defend bad players/coaches/GMs against all logic. The beat reporters even get roasted for saying things that are clearly true regarding the dysfunction of the organization.
I would again go as to argue there that it probably wouldn't even really matter. At least in 2025 If we commit to a Take 3 run with Aaron I wouldn't think the fill-in-the-gaps choices being made, going towards another "all in" season stand, end up looking all that different regardless who the GM hire ends up being. With a chunk of those decisions more of less being of the make themselves variety given what available options are even on the table.
I think part of the JD defense is because (a) he was better than the utter trash that came before him, and (b) the 100% lack of faith in Woody finding someone better. I was a JD defender, and I still think our problem was more on coaching, since I do think the roster is better now than what JD inherited, however, there have been way too many misses to continue to defend JD, and while NO GM bats 1.000, 6 years is way more than enough time to show what you can do. I always say that GREAT doesn’t take a long time to show up. If JD were all that, we’d have been a playoff team 2-3 years ago. But still, I have literally ZERO faith that Woody will find the right GM and HC. Zero.
It's incredible how bad JD's eye for talent was. This is the guy who didn't even consider Brock Bowers who is currently having the best rookie TE season in history. Just unimaginable incompetence. It's also not a coincidence that our drafts improved when Saleh was brought onboard. I think he had more to do with our few good draft picks than most realize.
Not sure why we are even talking about Hackett. anyway, both Schefter and Cimini are reporting this is the first step in a complete rebuild, insinuating that they know Rodgers wont be back. Longtime beat reporter Rich Cimini wrote on X/Twitter: "With a totally new regime in 2025, it likely means Aaron Rodgers won't be back. A new GM and new HC will probably want their own QB. Rodgers has a good relationship with Douglas, and last week he advocated for Jeff Ulbrich — and it's hard to imagine him wanting to even be back."
Perhaps the biggest indictment on JD's lack of talent evaluation skills is how few good players we drafted after round 1. If you look at our drafts during his tenure, we've literally only drafted 2 good players after round 1. It's insane.
