PALM BEACH, Fla. — Joe Douglas has spent his first three years as Jets general manager working on positioning. Now, he’s hoping it’s time for the payoff.
Douglas inherited a mess of a roster when he took the job in June 2019. He has worked to rid the team of bad contracts, fix its salary cap and pile up draft picks. After winning just six games in the last two years, Douglas has high hopes for 2022.
“We need to be playing meaningful games in December,” Douglas said Tuesday at the NFL’s league meetings.
Douglas feels like the team has improved through free-agent additions on both sides of the ball and the young players they played last season should take a step forward, meaning the team should be improved after last year’s 4-13 campaign.
“Being able to bring in some quality veteran free agents that are still young,” Douglas said, “that are still in their prime and have played in championship moments to really add to these young players and help this entire locker room grow and develop and just going through what we did last year, playing all the young guys and knowing there were going to be some bumps along the road, hoping that the payoff starts now with this year moving forward.”
Douglas did not break the bank in free agency, but added some quality players such as tight ends C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Conklin, guard Laken Tomlinson, cornerback D.J. Reed and safety Jordan Whitehead.
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Douglas diverted from his usually deliberate approach last week when he tried to acquire wide receiver Tyreek Hill from the Chiefs. The move would have cost the Jets in draft picks and money for a new contract for Hill. Douglas has not handed out any market-setting deals as Jets GM, but would have for Hill. The trade did not happen because Hill preferred to play for the Dolphins.
Jets GM Joe Douglas Bill Kostroun“This was a unique opportunity,” Douglas said. “I think when you’re putting a team together when you want to be at the top of the market, ideally you want to be on the top of the market on a homegrown player, but in a circumstance that was this unique, this type of player, we felt it was a good time to be aggressive. It ultimately didn’t work out but we feel good about our intent and we’re going to be in a lot of conversations moving forward.”
It sent a signal that Douglas is ready to make that kind of move if the opportunity arises. There is talk that another wide receiver could become available before the draft such as the Titans’ A.J. Brown or Seahawks’ DK Metcalf. Douglas was asked if he anticipates another opportunity coming along like Hill.
“You hear about rumors,” Douglas said. “Until those opportunities become a little more concrete, that’s what they are, just rumors. We weren’t expecting the opportunity to pop up that happened last week, but when it became available, we were ready. In a situation that might be another player, another position, I feel like our pro staff, our personnel staff, they do a great job of keeping everybody prepared personnel and coaches to get the evaluations in so when those opportunities happen, we can jump right in and be aggressive.”
After the Jets missed out on Tyreek Hill, there could be trade opportunities for the Titans’ A.J. Brown (l.) and Seahawks’ DK Metcalf (r.). Getty Images (2)Douglas said he had no issue with how the Hill trade to Miami went down. The Jets had a trade agreement worked out with the Chiefs before the Dolphins swooped in to grab Hill, but Douglas said Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, and Chiefs GM Brett Veach were transparent throughout the process.
“We knew it was going to be an uphill battle,” Douglas said. “We wanted to make a really strong offer to try to convince the player and the agent that this was a good place to be. Ultimately, it didn’t work out. There was full transparency in the process.”
