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The New York Jets have been one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL this season. New York only has four wins headed into Week 16 and they have already fired Robert Saleh and GM Joe Douglas. Jets fans are already feeling low, but they'll feel much worse after reading the latest article about their team on The Athletic.
Jets owner Woody Johnson is the focus of a recent article by Zack Rosenblatt, Dianna Russini, and Michael Silver at The Athletic. The article includes numerous examples of Johnson meddling within the football operations of the Jets. This includes several instances where he makes head-scratching decisions.
One of those revolves around former first-round quarterback Zach Wilson. Denver reportedly requested the final pick in the draft (257th overall) in return for Wilson. Johnson instructed Douglas to trade pick 256 instead. The rationale seemed to be that Johnson wanted to use the 257th pick to select “Mr. Irrelevant” even though that is one pick worse than what the Broncos requested.
“Can you believe that?” one source told The Athletic. “He thought he needed the Mr. Irrelevant pick to get a Brock Purdy (the final pick of the 2022 draft who has emerged as a franchise quarterback in San Francisco). I don’t think that’s ever happened in the history of the NFL: A team wanted a worse pick.”
The Broncos ultimately used pick 256 on guard Nick Gargiulo, who is currently on their active roster. The Jets picked Alabama safety Jaylen Key as “Mr. Irrelevant” and parted ways with him before final roster cutdowns this fall. He is no longer on New York's practice squad either.
Jets look like ‘most dysfunctional place imaginable' in recent article
The Jets organization does not come off good at all in this article. Many of the sources blame Woody Johnson for the organization's dysfunctional nature.
“There are organizations where it is all set up for you to win,” said a player with the team in 2023. “It feels completely different (with the Jets). It’s the most dysfunctional place imaginable.”
More than 20 sources within the organization spoke with The Athletic for the article. Many seem to believe that Johnson's impulsive decision making is one of the main problems with the team.
“They keep on doing the same thing over and over: they change the football people. The football people are not the issue,” one former Jets executive said. “It’s, ‘Hey, I have brain cancer.’ And, ‘Well, just cut off your foot.'”
The Jets look destined for another rebuild that will begin this offseason. As usual, it will be exciting to see how New York approaches another team building effort this spring.
Next up for the Jets is a Week 16 matchup against the Rams.
