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Woody Johnson said on Monday:
“I have to look in the mirror and I have to be a better owner.”
But can he do it, and what will that look like?
Johnson announced on Monday both the GM and coach will report to him again.
Will this make him a better owner?
Essentially, they are going back to the old way of doing things, that was going on for most of his ownership tenure, dating back to 2000.
The GM picks the players, the head coach coaches the team, and they both report to him.
The Jets moved away from this for a couple of years when Christopher Johnson put the GM over the head coach, essentially making him the football czar.
But now they are going back to the old way, which some would argue led to a lot of dysfunction, like we saw between the likes of GM John Idzik and coach Rex Ryan, GM Mike MacCagnan and coach Todd Bowles (who were not speaking for several months) and then MacCagnan and coach Adam Gase, and Gase essentially executed a coup, getting the GM fired.
These arranged marriages where they hire the GM and coach separately and have them both report to the owner equally have had some dubious results.
And now they are going back to that format. Perhaps it will go better this time. We shall see.
You get the sense he is not going to be as iron-fisted lording over personnel decisions as he was recently with things like making the Davante Adams trade and according to “The Athletic” not wanting to trade the last pick in the 2024 draft, choosing to keep the “Mr. Irrelevent” pick.
You’d have to think, even though he’s going back to his old role, essentially as the football czar, with the GM and head coach, he’s going to take a lighter approach with player personnel, at least out of the gate.
He made it clear that new head coach Aaron Glenn and GM Darren Mougey will decide on Aaron Rodgers’ future.
And Glenn is taking a hardline approach, treating the evaluation of the QB, just like that of defensive tackles.
“This thing is not about Aaron Rodgers, folks – this is about the roster,” Glenn said. “We plan on building the best roster that we can. So, whatever that may be — guard, tackle, defensive tackle — that’s what we’re evaluating.”
I’m not going to lie, I don’t get this one. Who thinks QBs should be evaluated like every other position on the roster? It’s a QB-driven league.
Think about it, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears just hired head coaches because of the QB.
Now, granted, those are young quarterbacks, but it’s illustrative of the importance of getting that position right.
Just look at that AFC Championship Game – KC-Buffalo – these two teams were there because of their QBs – Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen
Rodgers threw the same number of touchdowns as Allen this year – 28.
So on one level it’s good that Johnson is empowering his GM and head coach to make this decision, but is this evaluation truly tantamount to that of a guard?
Maybe Johnson, who picked the GM and coach, should have told the candidates, we’d like to roll with Rodgers next season, and we also want to pick the QB of the future, to take over in perhaps 2026-27. Maybe that is Jordan Travis.
Who does Glenn have in mind to replace Rodgers? Sam Darnold? Jaxon Dart?
The Jets QB play this season wasn’t perfect, but it’s the best I’ve seen around these parts in a long time. What is it that Glenn needs to evaluate?
Now it’s possible the Rodgers will retire, so this is all a moot point.
So it’s good if Woody defers to these football people more moving forward, but this Rodgers evaluation should have been done by all candidates before their interviews, don’t you think?
But getting back to the original point of this article which is about Woody saying he will try to be a better owner.
In the song “Freebird” the singer keeps repeating the lyric – “Lord help me, I can’t change.”
Most people can’t.
We will see if Woody can, but going back to the old corporate hierarchy, where the HC and GM are equal and both report to him, makes you wonder how much will really change.
January 30, 2025
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