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I think Mike Maccagnan is a very smart football man, but in one regard, I find him to be an enigma, and we will find out more about him this off-season . . .
While he’s a cerebral football man, what kind of leader is he?
I don’t want to make press conferences the be-all, end-all in evaluating the persona of a coach or general manager.
But when he talked to the press after the season, he was underwhelming.
He really didn’t make any forceful statements.
He didn’t show a lot of emotion about how the season ended.
At one point of the press conference, Newsday’s Kimberley Martin lashed out at him for not saying anything.
Martin: Are you going to tell us anything we don’t already know?
Maccagnan: To be fair with you guys, everybody else in the league is trying to figure out what everybody else is trying to do right now. Again, I like all you guys. I personally, I do actually do I’m being serious. I get it, it’s like this game because part of it’s like I know you guys have a job to do and part of it from my standpoint is I want to be informative, I really do. If you guys ask me a question, I’d like to give you something that gives you some insight.
The press conference was like a bad college lecture where you were falling asleep in the back of the class room.
So what is my point?
First off, I want to reiterate, it’s not important for Maccagnan to win press conferences. It’s more important to put a winner on the field on Sunday.
I’m just saying, in these press briefings, I can’t discern what kind of leader he is. He comes across as an Ivy League professor. Very smart, but I’m not sure about his leadership ability.
Look, he could do a 180 in meetings and become George Patton.
We will find out more about his leadership this off-season. There are a lot of tough decisions coming up for the Jets.
He needs to be forceful and decisive this off-season.
One thing he did last off-season made me wonder a bit about his ability to pound the table and be a martinet.
Clearly the owner wanted Darrelle Revis back.
But giving a 30-year-old cornerback $39 million guaranteed was a bad football and business decision.
Now you might say, “Is he supposed to go against the owner – his boss?”
I would say, “Yes, to a degree.”
Let me explain.
Maccagnan was hired shortly before the Revis decision. The ink was hardly dry on his lucrative, long-term contract.
It’s his job to turn around the Jets.
He knows darn well, from his 20 years in NFL personnel, that giving a 30-year-old cornerback that kind of money is bad business.
Since he just got there, if he had told Woody it was a bad idea, would have the owner fired him? He just got there.
When you first get the job is a great time to take strong stands. The ice is very thick.
At the very least, he should have pushed Woody to play hard ball with the Revis’ camp.
Honestly, no matter what was being leaked by the agents to the media, there weren’t many suitors for the corner. The interest was embellished.
How about $8-9 million a year instead of 13 million?
I might be in the minority, but I thought the Maccagnan regime got off to a rough start with that bad contract right out of the gate.
This off-season, he needs to be powerful leader and forceful with his opinions.
No more decisions like the Revis contract.
This off-season will tell us a lot about his vision and leadership ability.
February 11, 2016
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