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Let me throw some context into this . . .
NJ.com writer Mike Rosenstein blogged today about something former NFL GM Mike Lombardi wrote for “The Athletic.”
“The Athletic’s Michael Lombardi explains why the Jets appear doomed to struggle until they are willing to fire Maccagnan,” wrote Rosenstein.
“Maccaganan, along with his trusted Assistant General Manager Brian Heimerdinger, have been building this team for four years and based on their construction work, the Jets’ roster still needs a considerable makeover,” wrote Lombardi, via Rosenstein. “In fairness, the Jets have a huge bankroll to spend on free agency as they did last year, but based on their record of evaluating over the past four years, there can’t be much optimism coming from Florham Park.”
Okay, let me get into something right off the bat that needs to be put on the table.
The last two years, Mike Lombardi’s son, Mick Lombardi, was on the Jets’ coaching staff, as offensive assistant/assistant QB coach.
Mick Lombardi was not retained by Adam Gase and according to nbcsportsboston.com, Mick Lombardi is about to be hired by the New England Pariots.
Unless I missed something, Mike Lombardi, laid off the Jets the last two seasons when they deserved some criticism from people in his position.
But perhaps it should come as no surprise that now that his son is off the Jets’ payroll, he’s taking the gloves off.
But you know what, if you weren’t going to criticize a team during two awful seasons, why start trashing them now?
What is going on here is pretty obvious – his son is now longer drawing a check from the team.
Look, I’m not going to sit here and act like Maccagnan and Heimerdinger have done a fantastic job so far, but I will say they have improved in their jobs.
They got out of the gate awfully in 2015, signing four defensive backs to big money deals, and none of them worked out.
They had some high draft picks that didn’t pan out like Christian Hackenberg, Darron Lee and Devin Smith, but I refuse to rip them for Smith, since nobody knew he’d blow the same knee out twice when they picked him. But as Bill Polian once said, “Even the best GM’s are only going to hit on 56 percent of their picks.”
But I think they have moved up the growth curve.
I think over the last year, they have made some really good moves like the trade up for Sam Darnold; taking Teddy Bridgewater of the scrap heap and turning it into a third round pick; trading a seventh round pick for Henry Anderson; adding Andre Roberts and Jason Myers on special teams and drafting Chris Herndon in the fourth round.
I think one thing that hurt Maccagnan and Heimerdinger the last four year was having a head coach who refused to bench people. Look, you can add good depth, but what difference does it make if the head coach won’t use it if a starter is struggling?
We all know this a huge year coming for Maccagnan and Heimerdinger with about $100 million in cap space and the third pick in the draft. They need a tour-de-force this off-season. We all know that.
But I’m not into this whole concept of Lombardi taking the gloves off now that his son has left One Jets Drive.
February 12, 2019
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