GENERAL ADMISSION
Douglas: 'I have to do a better job'
Jets general manager Joe Douglas knows there are plenty of areas that need improvement with his team, including his own job performance.
Douglas is entering his third full offseason in the job and the Jets have gone 6-27 in the two years he has built the rosters. After finishing a 4-13 season on Sunday with a loss in Buffalo, Douglas met with the media Monday and pointed the finger at himself.
“For me, I have to do a better job,” Douglas said. “This is going to be my third offseason. I’ve got to do a better job, make better decisions moving forward and help coach [Robert] Saleh put this team in position to win more games.”
The Jets have gone 11 years without a playoff appearance and have now had six straight losing seasons. Douglas has not been around for all of that, but the weight of the losing weighs on the organization as it tries to pull itself back to relevancy.
The Jets are a distant fourth in the AFC East, having gone winless in the past two years in the division while the Bills, Patriots and Dolphins have all had winning seasons.
“Four wins, it’s not good enough,” Douglas said. “Six wins in two years, it’s not good enough. We have to be better, specifically in the division. We have to win divisional games. We have a lot of work to do moving forward. We need to get better across the board.”
Douglas has armed himself with ways to get better. The Jets have nine draft picks, four in the top 38 of this spring’s draft. They have the Nos. 4 and 10 picks in the first round. The Jets also will have about $60 million in salary cap space.
During the last two offseasons, Douglas has not been overly aggressive in free agency but the Jets need a talent infusion and that may lead to him spending bigger money this year. The Jets also could decide to trade some of those draft picks for a proven veteran, perhaps a wide receiver. In recent years, teams have acquired star receivers such as Stefon Diggs, DeAndre Hopkins and Odell Beckham Jr. in big trades. Could the Jets pull off a big move this offseason?
“I think with the position we put ourselves in we have great flexibility,” Douglas said. “We have great flexibility to really use these assets in different ways. I think you’ve seen teams do that in the past couple of years where they’ve used draft assets for proven players. Those are all things that coach and I are going to talk about.
“I think we’re always going to be aggressive if the right opportunity presents itself. The good thing is I think moving forward we can be in just about any discussion when it comes to player trades.”
The Jets have not even been in playoff contention late in the season since 2015. Douglas acknowledged that needs to change.
“The goal is to be playing very meaningful games as the season progresses next year,” Douglas said.
Douglas’ biggest move last offseason was the decision to move on from quarterback Sam Darnold and draft Zach Wilson with the No. 2-overall pick. Wilson struggled as a rookie and finished the season with the lowest passer rating in the NFL among qualified quarterbacks. He threw nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Douglas said he remains confident in Wilson despite his struggles.
“I saw a ton of growth from Zach this year,” Douglas said. “I think it’s difficult to be a rookie playing quarterback in this league. I know coach has talked about it all season. But I think the strides that you saw Zach make after coming back from injury and, on top of that, not always being in position to be playing with his starters at all the skill spots at wide receiver, tight end, running back, but to improve, but to keep the team in contention late in these games a little undermanned and, on top of it, taking care of the football. I think those are all very impressive things in the back half of the season.”