Jets general manager Joe Douglas and assistant general manager Rex Hogan have been around the block throughout their careers as NFL executives.
Douglas spent over a decade working in the Ravens’ front office before spending a year with the Bears and three with the Eagles. Hogan, meanwhile, spent 12 years working for the Bears and another two years with the Colts in between two separate stints with the Jets.
Both executives gained valuable experience elsewhere before electing to call One Jets Drive home, but Douglas and Hogan have not just parlayed their tenures with different organizations into high-ranking front office positions with the Jets. They have also used their previous homes to help attract free agents and to aid their dealings on the trade market.
New York’s roster currently features handfuls of former Colts and Ravens. Douglas and Hogan did not work directly with all of these players, but they played a major part in bringing most of them to the Big Apple.
When the Jets traded for Alex Lewis last offseason, Douglas used his relationship with Baltimore’s front office to his advantage in order to make the deal come to fruition. Douglas also discovered Joe Flacco when he was working for the Ravens, which played a role in the quarterback’s decision to sign a one-year deal with New York to serve as Sam Darnold’s backup. It’s safe to assume Douglas got to know linebacker Patrick Onwuasor pretty well in Baltimore before he signed him in free agency. The same goes for Bennett Jackson.
Hogan has used his relationships to his advantage as well. He played a major part in Pierre Desir’s contract extension getting done with the Colts in 2018 and factored into the equation yet again this offseason when Desir hit free agency. Hogan likely also had a key say in New York’s draft-day trade for Quincy Wilson and its trade for Nate Hairston last summer. Without a glowing evaluation from Hogan, Douglas probably does not make either deal. Matthias Farley probably isn’t on the roster, either.
As the old saying goes, it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know. When a player hits the open market, familiarity within an organization plays a major role in the decision-making process. Trades are also much easier when you are provided with reliable evaluations about a player from a former colleague.
The Jets are not going to build their team solely around players Douglas and Hogan have worked with in the past. That is just not the best way to go about putting together a roster. However, it should not come as much of a shock when players from their previous stops arrive at One Jets Drive. If Douglas and Hogan saw something in a player with a different team in the past, odds are they will do what it takes to make them part of their present.