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You have heard it before, and you’re going to hear it again . . .
I’m talking about Joe Douglas (and most other GM’s around the league) who will tell you team personnel decisions are based on a “consensus” in the building.
Look, I understand that’s the easiest way to answer queries asking about who has the final say on free agents and draft picks.
But the Jets have a lot of huge decisions coming in free agency and the draft, and they should not be based on consensus. That is just happy talk.
Right now, the Jets don’t need their personnel department to hold hands and sing “Kumbaya.” They need Douglas to be making the decisions. That is why he’s “getting the big bucks” as they say. Douglas got a six-year contract for $3 million-a-year, which is considered a very generous deal in the GM world.
He needs to make the decisions, and he can’t worry about hurting feelings, whether those feelings belonging to his coach, or other personnel people in the room.
Yes, Douglas should listen closely to what others in the war room have to say, but he needs to make all personnel decisions. He can’t worry about his coach leaving the war room, which reportedly happened last year with the old GM.
The coach showed in Miami, he’s not the best personnel guy. Hey, a lot of head coaches have the same issue. Many of them are too reactionary. Hey, the greatest coach of the team Gase used to coach, Don Shula, wasn’t a good personnel guy. That’s a big reason they didn’t take more advantage of having a great QB like Dan Marino.
The jury is still out on Gase as a head coach, but as a personnel guy, the jury has ruled. He’s not a great personnel guy.
He got emotional and cut three offensive lineman after one game. He got emotional and traded Jay Ajayi and Jarvis Landry. He got reactionary and cut defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, who went to Buffalo and became a standout.
So to compliment Gase, the Jets hired Douglas, and he will make all personnel decisions. That’s how the Jets are set-up corporately. The GM picks the players and the coach coaches the team.
While I’m not a big Moneyball guy, I do think the Jets should take a Moneyball approach with their head coach and view him as a middle manager who doesn’t make personnel decisions, like with baseball managers.
Okay, none of this consensus stuff.
Douglas needs to make the decisions. No appeasement to the coaches and his underlings.
Of course he needs to bring in players with fit the systems on offense, defense and special teams. That’s a given.
But when the head coach wants to do something like trading for Demaryius Thomas, the GM has to say, “No, he’s too injury-prone right now, and I want to go younger at wide receiver.” The Jets traded for Thomas last year, and he was in and out of the lineup due to injuries. When the coach says he wants Luke Falk to back up Sam Darnold, the GM needs to say, “No, he’s got a pop-gun arm, We aren’t going there,”
Bottom-line – Douglas needs to pick the players and Gase needs to coach the team.
The heck with consensus.
March 11, 2020
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