Changes in the Jets' Personnel Dept.

I'm sorry, but this is absurd. You speak as though he has made no good decisions, moves, draft picks, FA signings, and that we have a lousy roster and are looking at a 2-3 win season. Your perspective is over the top entirely negative and cynical, but it just isn't reality. I get it, as I was very close to where you are several years ago. Thank goodness, I quickly tired of being so cynical, and I got hope when Gase was fired and JD hired. The rebuild/turnaround hasn't happened as smoothly or quickly as I had hoped, but for the first time since maybe 2008, the Jets have a legitimate chance to go to the playoffs and make some noise. That's fact. Yes, it depends upon injuries, and how well an almost 41-year old QB plays, but the Jets are due for some good luck. He almost screwed this draft up by trading up for Odunze, but luck was with us and the Giants refused to trade with the Jets. That may save the Jets' season.

This team is thought to be a top 5 roster in the NFL, and that just didn't happen by accident. Yes, he's made mistakes and unfortunately, some of those mistakes were big ones and high profile. When you take a QB #2 in the draft and he busts it hurts. But that QB was both the consensus #2 pick in the draft and the 2nd best QB in the draft. As a young GM he made the mistake of not having a quality veteran QB to help mentor the young QB he had drafted, but I think part of the reason he didn't was that he was still cleaning up the cap mess that Mac had left with foolish FA signings and big contracts. He also has had quite a bit of bad luck with freak injuries to his OLs due to the turf. He got much more for Jamal Adams and Sam Darnold in trades than anyone thought possible, and I think he got more for Darron Lee than anyone thought possible. He also tried to sign several big name FAs who would have helped speed up the turn around, but due to the Jets having been the laughingstock of the NFL for so long, and their having a rookie HC, they didn't want to sign with the Jets, so signed elsewhere even though JD offered them more.

All GMs miss on draft picks and have FA additions fail. Unfortunately, teams rarely get the chance to hire an experienced, quality GM. 99.9% of GMs are rookies and have to learn on the job, just as rookie HCs do, and it takes time to develop new processes and procedures, and make changes. Along the way, they're going to make mistakes. JD inherited the worst roster in the NFL with little talent, and practically no depth, and a bad cap situation. No quick rebuild was going to happen with this team. It was going to take years to clean up the cap and totally turn over the roster. In his 3rd draft he had one of the best drafts in NFL history. Most GMs can work their entire career and never have a draft as good as the 2022 draft. He followed it up with a good 2023 draft, and this year, he did an amazing job overhauling the OL, and partly by luck, he had a very good draft this year adding Fashanu, Corley, Allen, Davis, Stiggers, Key, and then Watts, McGregor and Taylor as UDFAs. Look at all the quality UDFAs JD has signed during his tenure. Not many GMs have come close to finding as much talent among UDFAs as JD has.

You should know that one of the reasons why the Jets have been so bad through so much of their history is that they've never had any stabililty. A new GM and HC would be hired, systems would change, they'd get 2-4 years, then would be fired, and the new CS that was hired would totally change offensive and/or defensive schemes and the GM would have to turn over the roster, and the team would be practically starting from scratch again. There's been a constant carousel of change. The best teams have stability. Their owners gave GMs and HCs time to learn, grow and develop in their jobs.

It took him longer that any of us would have liked, but we're all impatient because we have decades of frustration from lousy drafts and bad hires, and all the losing. That impatience has bred unrealistic expectations in fans. The important thing is that we now have a strong and deep roster on both sides of the ball. It could be better and in another year, it will be better. The only things that this team is lacking at present is a top young QB prospect, a good young #2 WR, and a good young, ball-hawking safety. With JD having been an OL in college, everyone expected him to be an OL guru. He's not or hasn't been to date, but there's no shame in that. Ozzie Newsome is considered one of the best GMs in NFL history and how many SBs did the Ravens win? How many great TEs or QBs did Ozzie draft? Ron Wolff was considered to be another great GM. He had a great eye for QBs and WRs, but not so much for defensive players, and he got very lucky with his OL.

JD seems to have learned and grown in the job, and we have a chance to have some stability in the organization. If Saleh has to be fired following this season, JD can hire a new HC who will use the same schemes, so that the roster doesn't have to be turned over again. He can continue to build upon the very good core he has here with Q., Quincy Williams, Breece, G. Wilson, Sauce, JJ, Tippman, Fashanu, Sherwood, AVT (if he can stay healthy), and maybe McDonald, Ruckert, Gipson, Barnes, JBC, Stiggers, Allen, Davis, Izzy, Corley, Taylor, and McGregor.

 

That draft was for players to fit Gase's scheme. He had no idea that Gase would be fired, and that the new HC would want to run different schemes. It was JD's first draft, and I'm sure his head was spinning the team had so many needs. The Jets needed an LT. Becton had HOF potential and no injury history. Drafting him made perfect sense. He had bad luck with Becton getting injured, and couldn't have known that Becton would try to eat himself out of the NFL. Mims was considered a 1st round pick, and he had a pretty good rookie season in spite of not being a good route runner. Things might have been very different if Becton hadn't gotten injured and Saleh had hired an experienced CS instead of so many novice position coaches and novice OC. Mims appears to have just been a bad pick since he wasn't a good route runner, and was a body catcher. That can be chalked up to a rookie mistake.

Mac had ignored the offense and JD tried to help the offense with his first two picks, then turned to the defensive side. Ashtyn Davis has turned into a good football player. He was raw and it was known that it was going to take him some time to develop. Zuniga was a dice roll. He was talented but had an injury history. The team needed to upgrade its pass rushers. Mid-round pass rushers don't usually pan out, but JD gave it a shot. It didn't work out, but he quickly moved on. I didn't like the Perine pick, but Perine had a brother or cousin who had been in the NFL for years and had been decent depth, but I thought Perine was slow, and he was and just not good enough. Morgan didn't work out but how many 4th round QBs do? He was trying to find a future backup QB or possibly get lucky and find a starter cheap, and it didn't work out. Big deal. Cameron Clark could have become at least solid depth at OG, and quite possibly a good starter. Unfortunately, he suffered the career-ending injury. Bryce Hall was an excellent pick and he did a good job as a starter his rookie season, he just isn't fast enough. Braden Mann rewrote the record books as a punter. He was the best punter in that draft. Again, imo JD can't be blamed for Mann not working out. I'm still puzzled why he wound up being so bad for the Jets, after having been so great in college. The difference shouldn't be that much for a punter. So it wound up not being a very good draft, but if Becton had stayed healthy, and had a healthy attitude towards food, then that would have made the draft a lot better. If Clark had not suffered that injury and Mann hadn't mysteriously lost his punting ability, JD's first draft would look radically different.