If you didn’t think this was Joe Douglas’ team before, believe it now.
Speaking at Robert Saleh’s introductory press conference last week, Jets vice chairman Christopher Johnson said the team’s organizational structure will change. Now, Saleh will now report directly to Douglas, who in turn will report to ownership. Previously, New York’s general manager and head coach both reported to ownership.
The change shouldn’t alter much in terms of what the Jets accomplish – a collaborative partnership between Douglas and Saleh is still expected – but the new structure signals the Johnson family’s unilateral support of Douglas’ ability to lead the team from a football operations standpoint.
The last Jets GM to have this type of power was John Idzik, and his tenure ended disastrously. Idzik was Rex Ryan’s boss and their relationship was so bad that it forced owner Woody Johnson to change the power structure. After Johnson fired Idzik and Ryan following the 2014 season, Johnson decided both would report directly to the top, according to the New York Post. This structure began during the Mike Maccagnan-Todd Bowles years and persisted with Maccagnan/Douglas and Adam Gase.
Now Saleh will report to Douglas, and that makes a lot of sense. Douglas has proven more than capable of running the team over the past 19 months despite the team’s 9-23 record over the past two seasons. He effectively shaped the team in terms of cap space, draft picks and player personnel decisions and now the Jets are in a great financial position to sign quality free agents, have a bounty of draft picks to either select valuable prospects or trade throughout the draft, and have a well-respected coach handpicked by Douglas.
Of course, Douglas will seek consultation from Saleh, his staff and other members of the front office. Douglas won’t rule the Jets with an iron fist like other general managers, coaches or owners do. But the freedom to make decisions comes with a certain level of comfortability for Douglas, who saw how the Eagles operated for four seasons with Howie Roseman owning control of the roster while Doug Pederson coached. Though that structure ultimately led to Pederson parting ways with the team, it did provide a certain level of continuity during the Eagles’ successful seasons.
There isn’t a direct correlation between reporting structure and Super Bowls, though. Almost half of the teams in the league – 15 – are organized the way the Jets used to be, where the coach and GM both report to ownership or management. The Kansas City Chiefs, who went to three consecutive AFC Championship games and back-to-back Super Bowls, are among them. Eleven other teams have the more traditional set up the Jets have now and five are without a general manager – either because the coach is the GM like Bill Belichick is with the Patriots, or the owner is the GM like Jerry Jones is with the Cowboys.
The key to it all is communication, collaboration and respect. If Douglas and Saleh have that, then the Jets will be fine with the structure. If they butt heads – or if ownership gets in the way – then there could be problems. For now, the Jets have decided Douglas will run the show and that amount of faith should inspire the rest of the team to follow the GM’s plan.