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A lot of what he said is boiler plate at this point.
There are a lot of people going after Aaron Rodgers for going to Egypt instead of attending the Jets two-day mandatory minicamp, so what Eric Mangini said this week didn’t enter new territory.
But after running this quote from Mangini, I’m going to comment on something at the very end that I found particularly interesting that wasn’t Egypt-related.
“What’s disappointing about that situation is he was the one that talked about the importance of limiting distraction. He was the one that would talk about the importance of focusing on only football.
“Does it matter, in the grand scheme of things, in terms of him missing those two days is going to dramatically change how he performs, or the other group performs? No, but it’s more indicative of all the noise that’s brought into the building that’s so unnecessary and distracts from everything else that they’re trying to get.
“And at the end of the day, if he doesn’t win this year – he’s gone. The coaching staff is gone. And the Jets are starting – probably the GM is gone. Everybody’s starting over.”
“Probably the GM is done” caught my attention.
He didn’t hesitate saying Rodgers and coaching staff are done if they don’t make the playoffs, but did when it came to Joe Douglas he was hedging his bets.
Interesting choice of words.
Because it is possible, that if the Jets have a bad or mediocre season, most expect them to make a coaching change, but could Douglas survive and be involved with picking the next coach?
If Douglas wasn’t involved in another coaching search, it would likely just be people with business backgrounds making the choice, which can be risky.
But it’s also possible that Woody Johnson will think they had enough talent to win, but if they don’t have a good season, they didn’t maximize the talent they amassed.
And Douglas is the guy who amassed that talent.
Johnson has one of the most active Twitter accounts of any owner in pro sports. He’s constantly tweeting, and one constant is he’s always raving about the team’s talent.
I’m not saying he’s connecting these tweets to Saleh in any way, just saying he’s always tweeting about how good this guy is, or that guy is.
So if he feels this way, why would he eliminate the man who assembled the roster?
Mangini might be on to something – Douglas could survive the chopping block, even if they have a bad season.
However, would he want to stay?
He signed up for one thing and got another.
He signed up for a hands-off owner and then got one who’s hands-on.
A big reason Douglas took the job was his past relationship with former Jets coach Adam Gase from Chicago, but also because of Christopher Johnson’s bedside manner.
Christopher was the quintessential hands-off owner. He let his GM and coach do their thing with little interference when he was acting owner.
That is what Douglas (and Saleh) signed up for.
But when Woody Johnson came back from England, that changed.
Look, Woody can run his team however he wants. He’s the owner, but Douglas came in under one ownership style, now has another.
The overarching point of this post is how Mangini addressed the possible changes if the Jets have a bad season.
The coaching staff may be gone and Douglas stays.
You have to admit, this team has a really good roster right now.
July 12, 2024
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