Joe Douglas brings winning mentality to Jets’ Front Office

The New York Jets introduced new General Manager Joe Douglas on Tuesday after a few weeks searching for a new GM.  Douglas has been tied to the Jets since the firing of Mike Maccagnan, as Douglas and Jets’ Head Coach Adam Gase have worked hand in hand for years.

We’ve agreed to terms with Joe Douglas to be our next GM. pic.twitter.com/tzQiWzNmkp

— New York Jets (@nyjets) June 8, 2019

Douglas brings a winning mentality to the Jets after being the Vice President of player personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles.  He previously worked with Gase while they were both in Chicago and before that was with the Ravens for 14 seasons.  Douglas has been a part of three Super Bowl teams (Ravens twice, Philadelphia) and brings a pedigree that Mike Maccagnan just didn’t have.

It may sound controversial but the pairing of Gase and Douglas may be the best thing for the Jets.  While Gase hasn’t had any sort of successful track record, Douglas does and will be able to gel with Gase.  The biggest issue that the Jets have had over the past ten years is that the structure of the front office is at best unconventional.

During the Rex Ryan and Todd Bowles years, both coaches and their respective GMs (Maccagnan, Mike Tannenbaum, John Idzik) reported directly to the Johnson family, rather than the Head Coach report to the GM in a traditional hierarchy.  Because of this, there was a lot of internal conflict between coach and GM as they could never get on the same page.

In this case, having a coach and GM that have already worked with each other is important for team success.  With Gase and Douglas on the same page, they can work towards a common goal.  That goal is winning and for the first time in what feels like forever the Jets seem to be in a good spot.  They made a good move by going after Joe Douglas.  He brings respect and a winning pedigree with him.  Now comes the hard part;  Can this translate to success on the field?