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Yes, he has final say
But he’s not an ogre who is going to force his will on the coach.
Yes, Joe Douglas has final say on all player personnel decisions, but he’s not a jerk about it. He’s not a “my way or the highway” kind of guy.
He’s taking a tremendous amount of input from Jets head coach Robert Saleh and his staff.
“It’s been unbelievable getting on the same page with [Robert Saleh] and his staff,” said Douglas recently.
Just look at the team’s last two personnel moves, first claiming San Francisco WR Matt Cole off waivers on May 5, and then claimed 49ers RB Austin Walter on Thursday.
Both guys worked with Saleh and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur in San Francisco last year, and both coaches like these two players, so Douglas claimed them and got them in the building.
Just like Douglas picked two big safeties in the draft – Jamien Sherwood and Hamsah Nasirildeen – and the Jets are making them linebackers. This an concept that Saleh really likes, taking over-sized safeties, and making them linebackers because of their range and coverage skills.
“Those are two very long, fast, versatile athletes that kind of fit the mold of what we ask out of our linebackers—the run and the hit and the speed and coverage ability,” Saleh said.
I know it’s early, but the working relationship between Saleh and Douglas seems strong. They are truly singing from the same hymn sheet so far.
And this is a good sign for the Jets in their attempt to turn around their fortunes.
A big problem over their 10-year playoff drought has been dysfunctional relationships between the GM and head coach.
Whether it was Rex-Ryan and John Idzik, Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan or Adam Gase and Maccagnan, there were constant issues.
Aside from the GM and coach often not being  in sync, the old set-up, where the GM and coach were both equals and reported to the owner, led to disharmony, because the GM could not tell the coach anything in regards to how he was using the players. Under the old set-up, the GM picked the players, but the coach wouldn’t have to play him if he didn’t want. And disputes like this can lead to a GM and head coach not speaking to each other for a stretch, like in the case of Bowles and Maccagnan.
So instead of the coach or GM having to run to the owner to complain about what the other guy is doing, now the coach reports to the GM, creating a much more streamlined set-up.
Also, Saleh and Douglas have a tremendous amount of respect for each other. Saleh knows Douglas is a heck of a talent evaluator, so there isn’t that resentment about the GM having final say, a dynamic that exists other places where the coach doesn’t respect the GM’s choices. That dynamic has existed in Florham Park, like when Gase didn’t respect some of the decisions Maccagnan was making, and this eventually led to a coup that got Maccagnan ousted.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, announced in May of 2019, that Gase believed the Jets overpaid RB Le’Veon Bell and LB C.J. Mosley. You know what, Gase might have had a point.
But those kind of disputes are less likely to happen now. First of all Douglas has shown he doesn’t give out many profligate contracts, and secondly, before signing players, Douglas makes sure he’s on the same page with Saleh about the player and his worth.
Look, I know it’s early, but it looks like the GM and coach are finally rowing in the same direction in Florham Park, and that certainly will be helpful if the Jets are going to turn around their program.
A house divided cannot stand.
May 14, 2021
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