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One of the most important things Joe Douglas must do . . .
is ignore the white noise at all costs when making personnel decisions.
NONE of his personnel decisions should be made based on public opinion polls or media narratives.
NONE.
He’s been in the NFL player personnel world for two decades, with 14 of those years working for one of the league’s best talent evaluators, Baltimore’s Ozzie Newsome.
What Douglas has to do is very simple. It’s very involved, but it’s simple – watch the film – as people around the NFL love to say, “The film don’t lie.”
That pertains to evaluating the entire Jets’ roster, but also the players they might be interested in free agency.
Rely on the film, not the outside noise.
If there is a left tackle he loves, maybe like Louisville’s Mekhi Becton, available at 11, perhaps Douglas pulls the trigger. But it should be simple based on the film study of Douglas, Phil Savage and company, not pandering to public opinion.
An example of pandering was when the Jets re-signed Darrelle Revis in 2015, when his best football was clearly behind him.
Some people would lead you to believe the Jets need a whole new offensive line. That’s hyperbole, and also, to a degree, appeasing the peanut gallery.
“The Jets offensive line is dreadful,” tweeted SNY Jets Insider Connor Hughes, who writes for a paywall-site called “The Athletic.”
In the same tweet, Mr. Hughes surmised the Jets might need three or four new starters.
First of all, I would never use the word “dreadful” when talking about people I cover. I am very careful with word selection, and that isn’t a word I would use when describing units or individuals.
Because if you describe a unit like that, aren’t you smearing the individuals who are part of that unit?
Was this line “dreadful” when the team went 6-2 over the second half of the season?
Look, I know the Jets need to add some pieces up front. I’m haven’t been living in a cave.
But Douglas needs to ignore the white noise essentially calling for a whole new unit. First of all they don’t need to do that, but secondly, if they do, how would ugly could things be early in the season with a whole new line, considering how little contact and practice time there is in the spring and summer?
After Douglas looks at the film, he might decide that LT Kelvin Beachum and LG Alex Lewis should be re-signed. He might decide that center Jon Harrison, who is under contract for next year, is a good answer at center. He might think that Chuma Edoga is a good option at right tackle.
And if that is the case we aren’t looking at a “complete overhaul” as Mr. Hughes wrote they need, but just finding a right guard.
If that is the case, clearly they should probably make a bee-line for Washington Redskins free agent right guard Brandon Scherff, one of the best in the business and a free agent. With his toughness and take-no-prisoners approach, he would be a great tone-setter for the entire Jets’ line. But this should be totally based on Douglas’ film study of Scherff and his medical tests.
Douglas knows offensive line talent as well as anyone personnel guy in the league, not just because of all his scouting experience, but because he played offensive tackle in college.
He has a good history of finding offensive line talent. We document that history in the latest issue of Jets Confidential Magazine, available on news stands now. The Jets are in good hands with Douglas handling their offensive line decisions.
So he’s just go to do his thing and ignore all the noise outside of 1 Jets Drive.
Because if he listens to the armchair experts, his team will likely be “dreadful.”
January 27, 2019
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