The New York Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh last month, and are now parting ways with their general manager. Two days after their 28-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the Jets have fired general manager Joe Douglas.
Douglas was in the final year of his contract with the Jets, but team owner Woody Johnson chose right now to hand him his walking papers following a 3-8 start. Douglas had served as the Jets GM since 2019. During his time in charge, New York failed to register a single winning season, and never finished above third place in the AFC East. In all, the Jets went 30-64 during Douglas' time as general manager.
Johnson released a statement on his decision, and announced Phil Savage would serve as the interim general manager.
"Today, I informed Joe Douglas he will no longer serve as the General Manager of the New York Jets. I want to thank Joe for his commitment to the Jets over the last six years and wish him and his family the best moving forward. Phil Savage will be the Interim General Manager for the remainder of the season. We will begin the process to identify a new General Manager immediately."
The quarterback problem was the biggest issue of Douglas' tenure. Since 2019, the Jets have started eight different quarterbacks: Sam Darnold, Luke Falk, Trevor Siemian, Joe Flacco, Zach Wilson, Mike White, Tim Boyle and Aaron Rodgers. Things were expected to change when the Jets traded for Rodgers, but his 2023 campaign was lost to a torn Achilles suffered in the season opener, and 2024 has been a disaster. The 3-8 starting record is Rodgers' worst through 11 games in his entire career, and the Jets rank seventh worst in total offense (294.4 yards per game), and seventh worst in scoring offense (18.5 points per game).
However, Douglas did register some notable hits in the draft, scoring Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson II and Breece Hall all in the 2022 draft. However, Douglas did miss on his first two picks in 2020 with Mekhi Becton and Denzel Mims, and then, of course, the selection of Wilson at No. 2 overall in 2021 did not pan out.
Douglas, 48, broke into the NFL as a scout with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000. He served as the director of college scouting for the Chicago Bears in 2015, and served four years as the Philadelphia Eagles' vice president of player personnel. NFL Media reports that multiple teams think highly of Douglas, who should find his next job in the NFL soon enough. However, his time with the Jets is over.
As for finding replacements at head coach and general manager, the Jets must wait until the regular season ends before they can begin interviewing candidates currently on other teams.
