Content available exclusively for subscribers
If you are going to have a structure like this,
it needs to operate a certain way to work.
I’m talking about the Jets’ football corporate structure where the GM and head coaching are on the same level and they both report to the owner.
In Florham Park, the GM doesn’t report to the head coach and the head coach doesn’t report to the GM.
They are equal and report to the owner.
Okay, if you are going to do it this way, the owner needs to be pretty involved in the football operation.
Now, before I continue, as you all know, I’ve never been a big fan of owners making football decisions. For most part, it’s not in their wheelhouse. Just because you made billions in business, doesn’t mean you are equipped to make football decisions.
Woody Johnson, who meant well, was very involved in Jets decisions like trading for Brett Favre and Tim Tebow, drafting Mark Sanchez and re-signing Darrelle Revis to a mega-bucks deal when he was over-the-hill. None of those decisions worked out that great.
So I don’t want to be a hypocrite and talk out of both sides of my mouth.
If I’m pushing for Jets acting owner Christopher Johnson to act like the late Al Davis, I would be a hypocrite, right?
Kind of.
But what I’m about to do is make a nuanced point, which is hard to do these days, especially on social media.
The Jets set-up right now is far from ideal.
The problem is with Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles on equal footing, who is going to force changes on the scouting side, or the coaching side, if they are needed.
Maccagnan would on the scouting side, and Bowles on the coaching side, but what if one of them has a blind spot in regards to their operation.
Like Maccagnan keeping all his draft picks the last two years whether they deserved it or not, or Bowles refusing to bench players who are hurting the team.
Who is going to step in and force them to make changes?
That would be Christopher, but I just don’t see him as that kind of guy, at least not yet.
Remember, he gave Bowles and Maccagnan two-year contract extensions coming off back-to-back 5-11 seasons, so each is signed for three more years.
And after giving them extensions, he described Bowles and Maccagnan as “quite extraordinary.”
But this set-up might not be “quite extraordinary” especially since Bowles and Maccagnan aren’t close.
I heard, from more than one source, they barely speak.
So the chances of them taking football suggestions from each other aren’t very good.
You saw that lack of communication when it came to Christian Hackenberg last year. Whatever you think of the former Jet, it was baffling why he didn’t get to play at all at the end of last year. To me, that was a Bowles power play over Maccagnan. You see, while Maccagnan has final say on the draft and the 53-man roster, Bowles decides who plays on the field.
And this is why the Jets need a football czar, like Jacksonville, who has Tom Coughlin, where the coach and GM both report to that individual.
The current Jets set-up is leading to some dysfunction.
Because if both guys report to the owner, not to each other, who is going to oversee the decisions each is making, if the owner is hands off?
July 5, 2018
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Friday.