Content available exclusively for subscribers
Not a good time
for the 0-9 Jets as they are taking salvos from all angles. Bill Belichick in an interview with WEEI’s Christian Fauria today said about not taking the Jets’ job in 2000:
“That wasn’t a good situation for me and I didn’t want to be part of it, so I wasn’t,” Belichick said.
Not sure why this comment came up now, but it made me think about a pressing issue the Jets will be facing coming up.
One of the reasons Belichick reportedly backed out of the Jets’ job was he wasn’t comfortable with the owner.
The owner at the time was Woody Johnson. Yes, Christopher, and the late Betty Wold Johnson, also had a piece of the team, but the way it was set up, Woody had the biggest piece, and he was the up-front owner.
And for some reason, Belichick wasn’t entirely comfortable working for Woody. Look, there were other reasons that Belichick wanted out, like Bill Parcells still being in the picture, but a driving force behind Belichick wanting to go to New England, was he was more comfortable with Bob Kraft than the Jets’ new owner.
After what happened in Cleveland, where he fought constantly with owner Art Modell, Belichick wanted to make sure his next head coaching job was with an owner he was comfortable with.
Okay, let’s fast-forward to the 2021 New York Jets. I don’t want to get into politics at all, but I just have to bring this up within the context of Jets ownership. If Joe Biden officially defeats Donald Trump, once the legal stuff is resolved, Woody will be replaced as U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, so he will likely become part of the Jets scene again.
But it probably would be misguided for him to re-emerge as the Jets’ main owner. First off, you have that CNN report that he said some “sexist and racist” things. Woody denied it, as did Christopher, and the State Department investigation was dropped. But whether you believe that story or not, it might be hard for Woody to be the front man, in a league that is 75 percent black, after he was accused of saying something racist. Look. I’m not taking sides here, just keeping it real, folks.
Secondly, the Jets’ best asset right now is Joe Douglas, and he has a great relationship with Christopher, who leaves him alone to do his thing with no meddling. Christopher told Joe he was going to take “a soft touch” and let him do his job. Woody had a history of getting involved in player personnel, whether it was with the second Darrelle Revis signing, the Tim Tebow and Brett Favre trades, and trading up for Mark Sanchez. In my opinion, having a meddling owner would piss off Big Joe. The most important thing for the Jets now, to get this mess cleaned up, is to throw Douglas the car keys, and get the heck of of the way, and that includes him picking the new coach, if the Jets make a change.
So if Woody comes back, Christopher clearly needs to remain the front man. This is a no-brainer. Of course Woody can be involved on some level, and enjoy his team, but the Jets, for a couple of big reasons, they need to keep Christopher out front.
November 10, 2020
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Wednesday.