J-E-T-S JOKE! JOKE! JOKE!
Gang Green a punching bag — and a punch line
THE JETS aare the laughingstock of the NFNFL, and they have not even lost a game yet in 2017. People arounaround the league — from coaches to fronfront office executives to player agentsagents —— are cackling about the state of ththe Jets franchise and the team’s latelatest moves — releasinging veteran linebackerlin David Harris and planning tot dump wide receiverer Eric Decker by either a trade or his release.
In several coconversations over the past two daysdays, NFL people have wondered whewhether the Jets actually have a plan, hohow much dysfunction there is inside the organization and why they waitedwaite until June to dump one of theirtheir momost respected players.
All of it reflereflects poorly on owner Woody JohnsoJohnson and general managerager Mike MaMaccagnan, the architectstects behind tthis complete roster teardown (let’let’s not call it a rebuild until we actuactually see evidence of building).
Coach Todd Bowles is a sympatheticpathetic figure around the league, viewed as somsomeone who ultimately will pay the prprice for a 2017 season that looks like it will be filled with failure.
“They have the worst roster in the league, andan it’s not close,” one executive said.
A roster that looked bad got even worse with TuTuesday’s news of the departure of Harris and imminent departure of Decker. Harris was the heart and soul of the Jets’ defense, a player twice voted as the most inspirational player on the team and once as team MVP in 2010. Decker impressed teammates with how he looked this spring after shoulder and hip surgeries and was clearly the best receiver the team had. Clearly, Johnson wanted to save some money
by ge tt i n g rid of Harris and his $6.5 million — a shortsighted, ill-conceived decision. Harris was a respected voice in the locker room and one who could help shape second-year linebacker Darron Lee — who got himself into trouble over the weekend after an altercation with a woman at a music festival on Randall’s Island. Years ago, the Jets brought in guard Alan Faneca, whose greatest contribution to the Jets might have been teaching young players Nick Mangold and D’Brickashaw Ferguson how to be pros. Harris could have done the same for Lee.
The Jets are going with a youth movement, but teams still need a few veterans to point the way. Harris and Decker could have been those veterans. You don’t think Decker could have helped along young receivers Robby Anderson, ArDarius Stewart, Chad Hansen and Charone Peake?
Many people around the league are scratching their heads at the timing of these decisions, particularly Harris. Why would a team treat a player who spent 10 years representing the organization well and doing the right things like this? The time to make a request for a salary cut or to release him was in February or March, not after the eighth OTA.
“It’s like they have no plan,” one agent said.
The time to rebuild was in Year 1 of the Maccagnan/Bowles regime in 2015. Instead, they went on a spending spree to be competitive, and now they are left in this strange no-man’s land where Bowles and Maccagnan have been here for 29 months already with little to show for it. It feels like the last two years were wasted.
That leads to questions about who can survive this season. The consensus seems to be Maccagnan probably is safe unless the team goes 1-15 or 0-16 and Johnson succumbs to public pressure. Bowles is viewed as a goner by nearly everyone. His contract expires after the 2018 season, and NFL coaches usually do not go into a season as a lame duck, meaning Johnson either has to fire or extend Bowles after this season. How can he extend a coach if they go 3-13 or 4-12 and have missed the playoffs for three straight seasons?
Bowles showed the first signs of frustration with the direction the team is going Tuesday. The Harris cut clearly hit him hard. The microscope will be on his relationship with Maccagnan this season, because the two appear to be operating off different game plans.
The Jets are viewed as team that is years away from contending again, with all the pressure falling on Maccagnan and his scouting chops. There are questions about those after two drafts that have produced Leonard Williams and a whole bunch of question marks.
On Tuesday night when Maccagnan met with reporters, he looked as somber as he ever has publicly since taking over as GM in 2015. Smiles and laughter are hard to come by around the Jets’ offices these days. It is hard to laugh when you’re the NF L’ s punch line.