Modest goals for Woody, Jets

It took the better part of two decades for Woody Johnson to realize that quick fixes are fool’s gold in the NFL.

The Jets owner has taken a measured and wise approach to a rebuilding 2017 season that promises to be filled with plenty of pain.

Johnson has made it clear that there will be no playoff mandate for general manager Mike Maccagnan and head coach Todd Bowles in their third season together.

“Really, the way I want to be judged, hopefully from the fans’ standpoint, is just watch how we improve during the year,” Johnson said on ESPN radio on Tuesday. “Look at each individual on the team and if they’re getting better, that’s a mark of progress. That’s what we’re looking for.”

Johnson said after Gang Green’s miserable 5-11 season that he’ll gauge progress by the improvement he sees from the young players that Maccagnan has drafted.

It’s a smart approach for a team finally building a foundation the right way.

Johnson’s fan base has endured six consecutive seasons without making the playoffs (and nearly a half century since the franchise’s only Super Bowl). He’s hopeful that the diehards understand the current regime’s process.

“If you want to go to the promised land, you have to go in a certain direction,” Johnson said. “I think this is a direction we’ve never tried in the 17 years I’ve been associated with the Jets. We’ve never gone this way.”

Maybe that’s why the franchise has gone sideways for so long.

The owner admitted that the FitzMagic 2015 season was, well, a fluke. “Lightning in a bottle,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t something you could duplicate.”

“We’ve tried a lot of different things,” the owner said. “We’ve got to find a quarterback. That’s a goal. What we’ve done over the years is trade picks away and put too big an emphasis on free agency and not enough emphasis on developing our own.”

So the billionaire boss man wants fans to view this season like him: “Judge it by the progress,” he said. Johnson echoed Maccagnan and Bowles’ position on creating a new locker room culture. He also said that the Jets will indeed “build through the draft” and add “young free agents that a lot of guys don’t even pay attention, the guys who weren’t drafted.”

“A lot of good players out there play American football,” Johnson said. “A lot of them.”

Now it’s up for the two guys who Johnson entrusted to turn things around to actually find some of those players.