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Florham Park – This is a perfect example . . .
. . . of why the Jets need a football czar,
. . . like Joe Douglas, who would oversee the entire football operation, including the coaches.
The way the Jets handled their safeties against Baltimore wasn’t pragmatic, and there was probably a need for an intervention before the game. But the way the Jets are currently set up, Douglas isn’t empowered to tell coaches who to play, and Adam Gase is hands off with the defense.
You needed a football czar to jump in here and say, “What the heck are you guys doing?”
I’m not sure the Jets’ safety situation could have been handled worse in Baltimore.
They moved Marcus Maye out of position to replace the injured Jamal Adams at strong safety, and they moved a cornerback (Darryl Roberts) to free safety. So you had Maye playing out of position with a short week to prepare, and then to use Roberts as a free safety, with three veteran safeties on the roster, was a major head-scratcher. They basically broke two positions instead of fixing them.
And the Jets safety play in Baltimore was an issue.
The GM went out and got three veteran backup safeties, and you have an injury, but move a cornerback, who has so-so coverage instincts, to safety instead?
Maye should have stayed at free safety, and one of the three veterans safeties Douglas signed should have started at strong safety, otherwise, why are they on the team?
I’m telling you there is some kind of disconnect between the personnel department and the coaches and/or Gase and Williams.
In order for the Jets to take the next step as a program they need everyone in their football operational singing from the same hymn sheet.
This is why you need a football czar overseeing the entire football operation to get everyone rowing in the same direction.
Right now Douglas and Gase are equals and both report to Christopher Johnson, so theoretically Douglas can’t say “boo” to Gase (or Williams) about how they’re the personnel he acquires.
This is far from an ideal set-up, and the Jets desperately need one central football boss to help them avoid something like that safety mess in Baltimore.
Christopher Johnson is a good man. I’ve met him many times. He’s intentions are pure, but he doesn’t have the skill set to go over coaching blunders like this with the coach during the week. It’s really not his wheelhouse, which is more on the business side, where his acumen is much stronger.
IT’S TIME FOR A FOOTBALL CZAR IN FLORHAM PARK . . .
Douglas continues to try to get a head start on the heavy lifting he’s going to need to do in 2020 to fix the Jets’ broken roster.
He has quietly added a bunch of players during the season with an eye toward the future, especially on the offensive line. And yesterday, he signed Kenneth Dixon, a running back he loved from his days in Baltimore. Dixon was a 2016 fourth-round pick of the Ravens in the 2016 draft, who Douglas was very involved in scouting. He has nice size, is super tough (doesn’t back down from contact) and is an excellent receiver with soft hands. He got an injury settlement during the summer from the Ravens due to a knee issue, and now he’s healthy. If the Jets trade Le’Veon Bell in the off-season, this guy has the talent to be a candidate to replace him, as does another player Douglas added, from his days in Philly, Josh Adams. Watching Adams in practice, this dude is smooth as silk as a runner, and also has soft hands as a receiver. I saw him catch a pass way down field in a recent practice, and I thought at first I was watching a receiver . . .
The Raiders signed linebacker Ukeme Eligwe off the Jets’ practice squad. Perhaps the fastest linebacker they had in the building, Eligwe could have helped the Jets, who are a little speed challenged in the front seven right now.
December 19, 2019
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