CENTER OF ATTENTION
IT HELPS having Sam Darnold as your quarterback, and it helps having an opportunity to start and continue to live your football dream after realizing you missed the game too much, and since it is always about the money, it helps that there was a one-year, $8.4 million contract sitting on a table in Florham Park.
But it also helps having a football man with connections, a football man who builds relationships, a football closer, to land the big fish. A football closer who knows what it means to be a Super Bowl champion, who knows what it takes to build a Super Bowl champion.
The Jets too often have been a three-ring circus. Now they have A Pro Named Joe who has three rings (two as a Raven, one as an Eagle).
This was the official start of the Joe Douglas Era.
“I got to get on the phone and talk with Joe, and I just really liked what he had to say,” new Jets center Ryan Kalil said Saturday, “and we talked a lot about offensive line play, obviously. And we talked about the teams I’ve been on in Carolina, and the teams he’s been on in Philly and Baltimore … we talked a lot about what made a winning team. And what I told Joe was the best teams I’ve been on had a really good balance of young experience and old experience. And so we both felt strongly that I could help out in that regards, that I could bring some of my experience here and help out in a few different facets.”
Douglas takes a bow here for finding a way to fill a glaring hole left behind by former general manager Mike Maccagnan. Kudos to Maccagnan for maneuvering to draft Darnold, the franchise’s crown jewel. But Kalil’s invaluable Pro Bowl experience will enable to him to help Darnold on the field more than even Josh McCown ever could.
Douglas’ relationship with super-agent Tom Condon got the ball rolling, and then he was able to get Kalil’s competitive juices flowing in overdrive. gles a destination to which players wanted to flock during their 2017 Super season.
“I think a lot of it just had to do with the energy around the team,” Douglas said, “and I think you guys have been out here through the first nine days and the practices, the energy out here’s been unbelievable. When you have the energy that a coach like Adam Gase brings, you see these guys out here competing every day, you can’t help but get excited. … Just to see how Adam has total control of this team and these practices, it’s been really awesome to watch.”
The relationship between playcaller and quarterback and between head coach and GM are the two most critical in the football operation. Gase and Darnold? Check. Gase and Douglas? Check. It won’t always be peaches and cream, but it’s a honeymoon as expected, all right.
Asked what he has learned so far about Douglas, Gase said:
“Very organized. Very direct. He’s done a great job as far as getting everybody on the same page. When things come up, there’s a line of communication that seems like nobody’s caught off guard with anything. It’s gone extremely smooth coming in this late and being able to do all that. It’s worked out well for us.”
The Jets’ locker room has occasionally been a toxic place. See Geno Smith versus IK Enemkpali. See Brandon Marshall versus Sheldon Richardson. See Captain Santonio Holmes. See Muhammad Wilkerson brooding.
“The locker room in Philadelphia, unbelievably tight,” Douglas said, “and I think that’s been one of the focuses for Adam’s. We’re trying to connect and build relationships with the players, but also the players are trying to make connections and build relationships. … You gotta have a tight locker room, because every year, every week, you’re gonna face adversity in this league. If you don’t have a tight locker room, if you go a month in October, you don’t score a touchdown like the 2000 Ravens did, it’s an opportunity for the locker room to splinter.
“When you have a tight locker room, there’s no obstacle that’s too big.”
A Pro Named Joe knows.