Here is a snippet from Joe Douglas conference call with reporters, and one of the questions pertains to perhaps communicating with players better:
Andy Vasquez – Bergen Record: At the end of last year, you said communication was something you wanted to work on, and Jamal, obviously, you guys weren’t on the same page with the negotiations. So how do you feel your communication was in the negotiations, and as a team, where do you guys think you are with that issue? Jamal isn’t the first player you had some disagreements with.
Douglas: I think the communication from my standpoint was pretty clear. I feel like in most cases, players rely on their agent to handle any talks about his future, and that is how we handled it with Jamal and his representative, and I feel like our communication was very clear from the very beginning. I feel like, look, there are going to be things we can constantly improve on – communication will certainly be one of those things.
Brian Costello – New York Post: Joe you spoke highly of Jamal from the time you arrived through the off-season. When we talked to you, you said you wanted him to be a Jet for life. Are you disappointed it came to this, and you had to trade him?
Douglas: It certainly wasn’t the plan when I first arrived here. It really was our plan to keep Jamal here, but when our conversations started with John (Schneider) and Seattle a couple of weeks ago, the focus became clear that his was a great opportunity for us and the franchise moving forward.
Connor Hughes – The Athletic: Joe, you obviously said you were having these conversations with the Seahawks the the last couple of weeks, but were there other teams involved in this as well? Was there a point it became just the Seahawks you were talking to or were other teams in it to the end?
Douglas: There were other teams that reached out and expressed their interest, but it became clear once we received phone calls, it was Seattle. They were aggressive in their pursuit of him and we were able to work it all out.
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