Sep 11, 2023; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets owner Woody Johnson on the field before the game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Well Jets fans, welcome back to day number one of rebuild number…twenty? Thirty? Forty? Fifty? If you haven’t lost count by now, you haven’t been doing this very long.
With the firing of Robert Saleh last month and Joe Douglas yesterday, owner Woody Johnson officially goes back to the drawing board. The owner, who is 56 games under .500 at 171-227 since purchasing the team in 2000 wants a full reset with his team sitting at 3-8.
The problem for Johnson? He’s got to convince a desirable head coach and GM tandem to take on what will easily be one of the worst situations of all the job openings expected to pop in in the coming months.
What’s so bad about the Jets job? Let us count the ways.
Aaron Rodgers will probably leave:
Don’t expect Aaron Rodgers to sign up for another year of this circus which would leave the Jets without a quarterback. The future Hall of Famer came to New York for familiarity with since-demoted Nate Hackett as his coordinator and his “good vibes” with Douglas and Saleh.
With Hackett no longer calling plays and the Douglas/Saleh duo gone, the Jets would be asking Rodgers to start all over at age 41. While not impossible, we don’t love the odds of him signing up for that. And if Rodgers does want to come back, should the Jets even let him?
Aaron Rodgers also might stay:
Yes, you’re seeing that right. There’s downside to Rodgers no matter what he does. Aside from not having a QB if he goes, there are salary cap ramifications that we’ll get to in a second.
But if Rodgers stays, will he object to the team using their first round pick on anything other than a player who will start and help the offense on day one? Will the new regime even take this in to account?
Once the games start, will the elderly QB struggle to move around and throw the ball beyond 10 yards just as he has done this season? It’s been ugly at times and there’s no reason to expect it to get better as he turns a year older.
The salary cap:
Just how much the Jets will have to spend over the next two years is a complete unknown right now, but if Rodgers were to leave, it’s safe to assume Davante Adams would depart as well.
Those two alone would account for almost $60 million in dead cap space. Add in the void years of a few other departing players along with likely cut CJ Mosley and the dead cap space may top $80 million. The Jets could opt to spread the hits out, but no matter how you slice it they’re going to be limited in what they can spend.
Woody Johnson:
Following the firing of Douglas we saw reports leaked to The Athletic that levied a bevvy of charges against Johnson for meddling in his team’s affairs. Some claims appeared to be downright ludicrous (insisting Rodgers be benched for Tyrod Taylor ???) while others appeared more obvious. Take for example the claim that Johnson pushed for the team to give up a third-round pick for Adams and stalling the negotiations with Haason Reddick.
Is a highly sought after GM candidate going to be in a hurry to come work for an owner who just took over personnel and tried to bench a Hall of Fame QB? Unlikely. And that’s how you end up with candidates such along the lines of John Idzik and Mike Maccagnan.
There is some belief that Johnson will depart in favor of working for the President elect, which would leave his brother Chris in charge of the team’s day-to-day operations. While more comfortable with the media than his older brother, Chris is the same person who brought the Jets Adam Gase and Robert Saleh.
There are some lesser issues such as high state taxes, playing their home games in the world’s largest air conditioner and a long-running tradition of being a complete laughing stock franchise that may dissuade potential hires.
No matter the issues, with Douglas and Saleh gone, Woody Johnson is now on the clock…again.