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He continues to come through in tough situations . . .
The jury might still be out on Christopher Johnson as a football owner based on the record of the team since he took over in 2017 when Woody became the ambassador to Great Britain.
Surely he would be the first to admit it. Like Bill Parcells liked to say, you are what your record says it is. The Jets were 5-11, 4-12 and 7-9 the last three seasons.
Perhaps one thing in defense of Christopher is that he inherited the the duo of GM Mike Maccagnan and coach Todd Bowles, a combination suggested to the team by a consultant, who was close with Maccagnan.
It took Christopher a while to realize how poorly this team worked together. First he fired Bowles, and then, eventually, Maccagnan.
But with the hiring of GM Joe Douglas in June of 2019, Christopher perhaps made the best hire, GM or coach, in the 20 years the Johnson family has owned the team. It looks like he knocked this hire out of the park.
So perhaps Christopher’s football fortunes are about to turn.
But one thing Christopher has been great at from the get-go is relating well to players.
He handled the first wave of anthem-kneeling with aplomb, joining the players in linking arms instead of kneeling.
And after the George Floyd tragedy, which has players pondering what action they should take, with kneeling a possibility again, Christopher has stepped up big-time again, addressing the team in a video conference call.
“[Christopher] came on the video call and expressed his concerns and let us know that anything we needed he was there to help,” said Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley. “He gave out his personal info, and if anybody wanted to call, or anybody wanted to get together to work something out, he was there to help. That definitely meant a lot to me, I’m pretty sure to everybody else for him to go out of his way.”
Christopher Johnson is probably the right owner for the Jets at this time.
Not just because of his tour-de-force hire of Douglas, but because he probably connects with the players a little better than his brother, Woody.
I don’t mean that as a personal affront to Woody. It’s not that he’s bad with players, but Christopher is a little better.
And right now, if Woody Johnson left his post as Ambassador to Great Britain, and came back to take over for Christopher, not sure how that would play in the locker room.
Fair or unfair, a lot of NFL players don’t seem to love President Trump. We all know his battles with the Player’s Coalition over kneeling during the anthem.
So if Woody would were to come back at some point in 2020, and take over the team again, leaving his post, that might not be ideal for the Jets, from a owner-players standpoint, due to who his boss has been.
Christopher has a great bond with the players, and continues to do a terrific job dealing with some very difficult player issues.
From a player-relations standpoint, he’s probably the best guy to own the Jets right now. The players love him.
And so does Douglas, who Christopher is letting do his thing without meddling.
If Woody came back and started to meddle, Big Joe might not react very well.
Bottom line is you can make a strong argument that Christopher is the right owner for the Jets right now.
June 11, 2020
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