Nick Saban pal, former Alabama football analyst named acting GM of NFL team

The New York Jets have announced their interim general manager. It’s a name that Alabama fans will definitely recognize.

A former Alabama football analyst, commentator and Nick Saban chum is the new interim general manager of the New York Jets.

Veteran NFL and college football mind Phil Savage was promoted to the role of interim GM Tuesday after the Jets fired outgoing general manager Joe Douglas following five-plus seasons.

Savage broadcast Alabama games with Eli Gold from 2009-2017. More recently, he had been a team advisor for the Jets. Savage was previously the general manager of the Cleveland Browns for four seasons before being fired in 2008.

He joined Gold and CTSN (Crimson Tide Sports Network) in 2009 and called four national championship seasons for Saban and the Crimson Tide. Savage worked during game weeks to provide data and scouting reports on Alabama’s upcoming opponents, he said in his 2018 book, 4th and Goal Every Day: Alabama’s Relentless Pursuit of Perfection.

Savage and Saban also worked in the same front office with the Browns in the early 90s. Saban was Cleveland’s defensive coordinator at the time while Savage was a chief scout for the organization.

Savage left CTSN in 2018 to become general manager of the Arizona Hotshots in the short-lived Alliance of American Football League (AAF). He joined the Jets as a front office assistant in 2019.

The Jets are in the midst of a disappointing 3-8 season and are tied for last place in the AFC East.

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