Jets’ GM is exec of year

HOW’S THIS for a hot start?

Mike Maccagnan earned the Pro Football Writers of America Executive of the Year award after his very first season as a general manager. Maccagnan was officially introduced in his new role as Jets GM exactly one year before taking home the honor, which was announced Thursday.

Maccagnan was expected to be a candidate, even a favorite, for the award after turning the Jets around from a 4-12 disaster to a 10-win team that fell just shy of the playoffs. The rebound season came after a particularly aggressive offseason a year ago in which Maccagnan made several moves that paid major dividends for Gang Green.

Most notably, the rookie GM traded a fifth-round pick for Brandon Marshall and a seventh-round pick and also dealt a conditional seventh-round pick (which became a sixth-rounder) for Ryan Fitzpatrick. Marshall went on to break Jets franchise records in his first year with the team and Fitzpatrick had the best season of his career.

Maccagnan also dished out cash to sign free agents like Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie, Buster Skrine, James Carpenter and Marcus Gilchrist. Though Revis didn’t work out quite as well as the Jets hoped, the GM had so much money to spend last offseason that it’s still hard to criticize the move. Cromartie didn’t live up to his contract but can be cut at no cost this offseason. Skrine, Carpenter and Gilchrist were all solid additions.