While most NFL front offices will be beginning their vacations, Joe Douglas will be getting to work over the next few weeks.
There are plenty of tasks for the new Jets general manager to complete. The roster needs work. Two draft picks remain unsigned. He must hire his staff.
But Douglas’ top priority must be bringing some harmony to an organization that has felt like high school at times in the past decade — with gossiping, backstabbing and finger-pointing.
The Jets’ playoff drought is at eight seasons. They have had one winning season in that time. Part of that is due to poor play, poor coaching and poor decision-making, but part of it is also because the Jets have not felt on the same page for much of that time. They have not had a strong GM-coach relationship since Mike Tannenbaum was fired after the 2012 season.
That is why allowing coach Adam Gase to play a critical role in the selection of Douglas was a wise move for team CEO Christopher Johnson. Gase and Douglas have worked together before and clearly have an affinity for one another. That is a good place to start for an organization that needs to have everyone pulling the rope in the same direction after living in a tug-of-war recently.
The 42-year-old Douglas is highly respected and well liked. It is impossible to find anyone to say a bad thing about him around the NFL, a rarity in the league. His 15-plus years with the Ravens gave him a strong base as he learned from longtime GM Ozzie Newsome, considered one of the best personnel evaluators ever. He then went on to the Bears for a year and the Eagles, where he helped them to a Lombardi Trophy two years ago.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie called the hiring of Douglas “the pivotal moment of the last year” in March 2017, the year the Eagles would go on to win the Super Bowl. The Eagles were still dealing with the fallout of the Howie Roseman-Chip Kelly war and wanted someone to oversee personnel under Roseman. That was Douglas, who then played a critical role in bringing in some of the players who helped the Eagles win it all.
He is more than just a scout, though. Douglas is able to connect with people, something the Jets desperately need. Their last two GMs — Mike Maccagnan and John Idzik — had spent a long time in NFL scouting departments and front offices but neither was viewed as a “football guy” on the same level as the coaches. Both were bookish and never really connected with the coaches.
Douglas is a mountain of a man who was an offensive lineman at the University of Richmond and still looks like one. He has credibility with coaches and scouts alike.
“There is a connection, because of the quiet confidence that he has, between Joe and other scouts — and maybe, even more importantly, between him and the coaches and players,” Raiders GM Mike Mayock told the Philadelphia Inquirer last year when Mayock was still an NFL Network analyst.
“Some guys don’t translate to the other side of the building. Joe does. The players know that Joe knows. The coaches respect him. And that’s not always the case. In fact, it’s fairly rare when you get universal [respect]. I think it goes back to that quiet confidence he has and people being drawn to that.”
Douglas now must hire some lieutenants under him to help him carry out his vision. ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay told the network Douglas is considering him for a position. Sources said former Browns GM Phil Savage and Ravens assistant director of pro and college personnel Chad Alexander are other possibilities. People around the league are also curious if the Eagles allow director of player personnel Andy Weidl, whom Douglas brought with him to the Eagles, to follow Douglas to the Jets.
Gase has spent plenty of time over the past five months getting to know the inner workings of the Jets and connecting with people. Douglas will now join him at the steering wheel.
Roster building will start soon, but team building inside the Jets has to come first.
