Going forward it will be interesting to see what he does with the QB situation. Rodgers buys him two maybe three years but the long-term solution at QB will be an issue if Zach doesn't improve.
Compared to some of the top GMs he's been lousy. Compared to other first time GMs he's been average. He's had 10 top 50 picks in 4 years,including 7 first rounders, and outside of the top 10 picks he hasn't scored a lot. It took him 3 tries to find a decent WR and RB, and we're still looking for a good tackle, edge, and LB. Even with that, if not for the Zach pick he'd be above average. That was a fork in the road and he took the wrong one. He's also had a record amount of cap to spend and most of it was burned on forgettable players. But DJ Reed has been a steal. Now we have Rodgers, but we were the ONLY team that wanted Rodgers. If Rodgers blows up, along with this season, he'll go down as one of the worst we've had. If we have a winning season with playoffs, than hes been okay - pending future results. If we go to the AFCCG or better, he's been great. Heck of a nice guy though.
I hope once we put a good winning season under our belt this whole discussion goes away forever. All the good JD has done personnel, cap management, and respectability wise, moving us from a laughing stock organization will be for not if we do not translate that into wins. We have 5 guys in the top 100 and a bunch of top notch youngsters ready to make a difference and that's a damned good start. But you are only as good as your QB. Fact remains if we had an NFL ready QB last year this discussion would have been over already. I frankly do not give a shit about the first two years, one in which he didn't even get to draft or change anything much. Over the last three with his team in place we slowly turn the quality of the players around completely short of a QB. Fact is the real problem from day one was we put a kid that wasn't remotely ready to lead this ship at the helm. Our Achilles heal, .and there were plenty of dirty hands along with JD to blame for that. To me two things remain to be corrected, and two things only; second, have a plan for a suitable QB ready to replace AR when the time comes. But first and foremost, enjoy the ride with AR, because by JD bringing him in, this team is in an absolute win now condition and able to go heads on against anyone. How far do we need to go back to remember how that feels?. Stop comparing to the prior two GMs, they were not even in the same planet, never mind GM status. We never had even an ounce of hope. Fuck it all. Can wait to get this season going. Just win baby. Comparisons to the past be damned.
"Great" turn around? No. Sustainable turn around? Hopefully. Yes, Parcells did turn the Jets around in 2 years, but it wasn't a long term sustainable model...as measured by playoff wins and SB appearances. From what I see Douglas has tried to build a team for long term success, a la the Steelers, Pats, Packers, and that takes more time than 1-2 years. But we're now in Year 5, and the team has to show that they're a winning team, not just a "one and done" playoff team, but one that consistently can contend for a SB. If they can't show that they're built for that at this point then it's fair to question whether Douglas has the ability to deliver that level of success. Barring major injuries - especially to Rogers - I think we'll see his blueprint begin paying dividends, and if that happens, and if the team can continue to pay those dividends for years, then it will be a great turn around.
I would echo a lot of these comments… First draft was shit…maybe it had to do with consulting with Gase as JD has said he likes to work with his coaches to identify players, and he may have drafted differently with a different coach…who knows…the choice of Becton over Wirfs looks bad now, but at the time, he went for a proven LT with massive potential vs. a solid RT…I’ll always defer to drafting Iowa OL if it were my call, but I understood the decision then, and Becton did look good his rookie year and did not have an injury history in college. But in hindsight, yeah it was the wrong pick He whiffed on 2 second round WRs…Mims and Moore…right in line with Jets team history of drafting total shit WR in round 2…Moore had potential but never achieved it here…we’ll see if either guy develops on their new teams, and if they do, then that’s more an indictment of our coaching staff than it is of JD I guess He’s whiffed on a couple of RBs too, but they were mid round picks…it happens Last draft was obviously franchise altering, but sure he did have multiple first round picks… I agree with the comments that the drafting will get harder going forward as our record improves so that will be the true test… Free agency has been more good than bad…in hindsight his early years strategy of drafting mid level OL didn’t help much…would have been better to go for higher end talent there, but all in all, he hasn’t given us any real back breakers…we’ll see our Tomlinson does…hopefully with a more settled OL around him he’ll get back to his former production And trades I think have been almost all very favorable, and some extremely so…the Jamal Adams trade was highway robbery. Especially after remembering Bradway getting hosed every single time, and Mac not much better, JD is killer here. I don’t hold the prior seasons records against him too much as he had a huge hole to climb out of and it’s hard to really turn around a roster in one year…sure Parcells did it here, but he is a legendary coach…we don’t have that. And honestly, I think that turnaround was due more to Parcells the coach than Parcells the GM…he had PLENTY of whiffs in his drafts, but he was such a great coach that he hid those flaws well But I do agree that the record needs to improve, starting now. You can’t go out and get Rodgers and come back with a 9-8 record I don’t think…I would consider that a loss…we need to win at least 10 games and we need to make the playoffs. If we don’t, that’s probably more on the coaching than the GM, but I do agree that at the end of the day, it’s about winning. And that worst in sports 12 year playoff drought needs to end now
The main reason the Parcells Jets weren't sustainable is that Parcells himself stepped down, and his handpicked successor Belichick left for the Pats. So we ended up with Herm Edwards and Terry Bradway running the team. And Pennington's injury problems were the other reason. But in terms of roster construction, the Parcells Jets were built for long-term success. And regarding the sustainability of this team, we're going to be back to square one at QB in most likely two years from now. There's legit young talent on the roster, but this is still very much a win-now team.
Wilson and Hall are a bit better than decent, no? He totally wiffed on Zach but i don't see how he doesn't take a QB in that position. Hindsight says trade down, but I just can't kill him for that. And I'm fairly certain that no matter which QB he picked at #2 we'd be in the same boat. His first draft was so bad. His only saving grace would be if Becton has a miraculous turnaround. His second draft wasn't much better but AVT is going to be a great player. Last year's draft was amazing but the jury is still out on this year's. I don't think either of his first two picks will see much action this year. JD is definitely a mixed bag but I think he's trending in the right direction. He's not great but he's not terrible. I'm not going to use our past GM's as the bar though. Douglas needs to get some wins on his resume. Hopefully that happens this year.
I'm in no rush to fire him. After a rocky start, he's got the Jets in a pretty good position. He built a team that Aaron Rodgers wanted to join. I give him some credit for that. He had an absolute whiff with the Zach Wilson pick. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. Having said that, I thought he did a good job recognizing that he made a mistake and pivoted. Unlike prior GMs, he's accumulating compensatory picks. I imagine that will continue with guys like Lawson and Davis becoming free agents. More darts to throw (or trade) come draft day is always nice. Overall, I'm not giving him some crazy extension. I don't think he necessarily earned that. But as I said, I'm in no rush to fire him and bring in some new unproven guy.
In other fanbases would a GM who whiffed so terribly on evaluating a no.2 overall QB that he had to trade 2 1sts and a 2nd for a 39 year old QB get so much praise?
Can't speak for other fan bases but if I had to guess I am sure there are a lot of fan bases that would be over the moon if they could replace their GMs with Douglas. He hasn't shown enough for an extension but he has me more excited for a season than I have been in a decade so I will throw him some love for that and if we finish with double digit wins an extension I hope would be in the cards.
He got a first back or did you forget that? So he traded a first and a second for Rodgers and a first. Additionally he traded a second that could be a first in the next draft based on certain conditions. Which QB should he have picked with the #2 pick? The correct answer is none of them.
Sorry, I should have clarified. By all accounts they should have multiple in 2024. That’s my bad. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Bill Walsh was 2-14 in his first season as San Francisco coach in 1979, went 6-20 in 1980 and 13-3 Super Bowl champs in 1981. Forty Niners were also able to sustain this high level success throughout the 1980s with Walsh. This is the bar and definition of one of the greatest turnarounds in NFL history for a franchise which was pretty much dog shit in the 60's and 70's. Anything short of a playoff appearance for the Jets in 2023 will be construed as spinning their wheels. At least the hopeium is in abundant supply.
Might have something to do with a guy named Joe Montana. Possibly. That 26 game season in 1980 must have been a bitch.
I wouldn't say great. We haven't come close to playoffs on his watch and he's whiffed on some big picks. But this roster is better than it has been in a very long time. There's great depth and talent at many positions, especially compared with how bare this roster seemed to be for so many years. That 6 players were claimed at cutdowns last offseason, more than any other team, speaks to the quality depth he's put together. Looking at the roster now, I expect similarly this year. I'm still hopeful that the groundwork for a very solid team now and in the coming years has been laid and excited for this season, but really a big season now
