Content available exclusively for subscribers
Joe Douglas continues to take a lot of heat for the Haason Reddick holdout, but my gut still tells me there is more to this story than meets the eye.
On the surface, it looks like Douglas traded for a contract dispute and is getting slammed for it.
“It’s actually trade malpractice,” wrote veteran NFL writer Armando Salguero. “Or negotiation malpractice. Someone within the Jets organization obviously didn’t foresee they were acquiring a player who was so entrenched he would not report all offseason unless he got a new deal and might not report even for the start of the regular season.”
Salguero’s wording is different than you would see in most places. He didn’t name Douglas, but said, “Someone within the Jets organization.”
I could be 100 percent wrong on this, but my gut tells me Douglas was not on an island with this one.
It just doesn’t seem like his modus operandi to make a trade for a contract dispute, and not seeing problems following that move.
Douglas was been part of three Super Bowl winners, two in Baltimore and one in Philadelphia. His first 15 years in the league, right out of the University of Richmond where he played offensive tackle, were spent working for one of the best general managers in NFL history – Ozzie Newsome.
Somebody who trained under “The Wizard of Oz” was not raised in the NFL world to trade for a contract dispute.
There is something amiss here.
Now, I have mentioned before I’ve heard that Reddick’s father is a big part of his team and decision-making process, so essentially this isn’t just the Jets having to deal with a player and an agent.
But aside from that, my journalistic instincts tell me there is more to this story than we have been told.
I’m not saying Douglas has been perfect as GM. Far from it. He missed on a QB and a left tackle, but overall he’s compiled a pretty good roster for the Jets. Everybody has misses, especially at the QB position. I suspect you are going to see a few in this year’s draft with six first-round quarterbacks.
I’m no special pleader for Douglas, but he’s a highly-respected personnel man around the football world (NFL and college), and it just doesn’t seem in his DNA to trade for this Reddick mess.
I’m telling you, there is more to this story than meets the eye.
And watching Douglas’ press conferences the last couple of years, to me, he’s changed little bit.
To me, he looks like a guy who was hired by one guy and is now working for another.
Many of us have been through that – being hired by one person, and then working for somebody else.
It’s different.
I’m not saying that the Reddick mess has anything to do with this, but I just don’t see the GM having exactly the same connection with his old boss as his new boss.
But my bottom line is simple – there are some blanks we need to fill in on this story, and hopefully we will able to do that at some point in the near future.
This story doesn’t pass the smell test.
September 3, 2024
Premium will return by 9:30 pm (or sooner) on Wednesday.
