Alec Halaby interviewed. He’s a Harvard grad. Young, nerdy type I would love a big brained nerd after 5 years of a big dumb former lineman in Joe Douglas
Chris Spielman, assistant to DET’s CEO, being approached for an interview. Good move. Someone with executive level experience and part of a franchise that quickly turned their misery the fuck around.
Lol gotta love the PR department making sure to pat their boss on the back a bit during the press releases. https://www.newyorkjets.com/news/alex-halaby-jets-general-manager-interview-1-8-2025 Jets Chairman Woody Johnson is leading the searches for a general manager and head coach. He hired The 33rd Team in a support role to help identify and vet candidates in addition to coordinating interviews.
Halaby is #1 on my list. Spent over a decade as a right hand of Howie Roseman, who is not a scout either btw. Analytics background but involved in all aspects with Howie. A no brainer hire IMO.
Well, he helped by finding someone who turned it around, not doing it himself. I.E. what Tanny and his brother are already doing for us. And yes, the only reason he is interviewing is because his brother is leading the search. This should not be a real candidate.
Chris Spielman is apparently Dan Campbell's right hand man in the Lions front office. Spielman as GM and Glenn as HC would be a good move
I don't think a guy with his title is involved as much as you think in day to day, but this is where hopefully the 33d team provides value as they should know who does what for each organization. I am concerned that Chris is a brother of Rick Spielman, and his title (special assistant to owner) certainly does not suggest he is in the weeds of Detroit Personnel GM operation, like Ray Agnew, Jon Dorsey, etc: https://www.detroitlions.com/team/front-office-roster/.
Titles are meaningless. Spielman is the reason Dan Campbell is there. Detroit was a rudderless ship, a joke bigger than our Jets. Detroit reached out to him as a franchise legend for help. He stepped up and brought in Holmes and Campbell. Sheila Ford was lost He's a football guy all the way, no BS. We would be lucky to get him
I do think he would be good to help with coaching/GM search, much like his brother, but are you sure he is involved in day to day GMing? Or is he only there for GM role because of his brother? I don't know, but I would feel more comfortable with someone like Agnew who I know is involved since he is Assistant GM or Halaby for instance.
The more I read especially on the next GM candidate the more I realize we are providing an opinion either pro or con on people that quite frankly we never heard of before, or know very little except for the one paragraph we read from the media. Hope the consultants and Woody gets it right. We absolutely need a culture changer that knows how to prioritize talent at skill positions and does not rehash old habits.
Agreed. It’s easy to have an opinion on the retreads since they’re responsible for the entire record. But I’m not sure how to really form an opinion on all of these assistants. Idzik was a terrible candidate but that’s what you get when you get hired with conditions. Maccagnan was also a bad candidate that was about to get fired but at least he was on the personnel side. Douglas was good on paper and ended up being bad at what he said his forte was. Go figure.
Very true, we don't really know, but still it is possible to draw SOME conclusions to at least get a feel. That's what we do as fans on the message board, it is understood it should be taken with a grain of salt. But, yeah, we have no idea at the end of the day until they do the job In fact sometimes a couple of years into it, if you recall even JD looked decent in the beginning. But with all that said, I am more comfortable with someone who is assistant GM or a sr director of player personnel, someone who is involved with day to day GMing for successful teams for a prolonged time, like say Halaby for example or Borgonzi or Farmer.
Good on paper, but even on paper rose too fast, very little experience at senior level - total just 4 years, and already a GM. Doesn't mean he would fail, but a big red flag that was missed at the time. If he got a few more years of seasoning under Roseman, could have been a different story. That's why I like Halaby, who actually did get that seasoning with Howie.
Eh I guess. But Roseman only had 4 years at the VP level. Brandon Beane was an AGM for 1 year before becoming a GM. Brad Holmes was never higher than the director level.
Director is a senior position, it's not like a scout, which is what JD was before 1 single year as a director in Chicago. You get a lot of interaction with GM operation. Looks like Howie was a director or above for 7 years and he was also a fast riser. JD: Director 1 year, then VP for 3 years. That is even faster, I mean lightning speed, even compared to Howie, who turned out to be a winderkind. I know it seems like 4 vs 7 years is not a massive difference, but I do think if JD spent 3 more years seasoning under someone good, it could help a lot. 4 years is just very little, no matter how you slice it. Sure, he could have been a wunderkind and succeeded, but he wasn't. I do like to see a bit more than 4 years of sr experience going forward though in a GM.
I guess. Ok so here’s a few more. Les Snead (Rams) was a director level for two years before becoming a GM. John Lynch (49ers) never worked in a single organizational capacity before becoming a GM. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (Vikings) had one more year than Douglas in your aforementioned “Senior” roles but no scouting experience and about 13 less years in any pro football capacity. Brett Veach (Chiefs) had two years as a co-director role before becoming a GM. Douglas’s resume was comparable, with good recommendations from good organizations. I’ll drag Woody and friends as much as anyone else, but his resume fit the bill. It wasn’t “super speed” or whatever.
