A little over a month ago, after New York Jets owner Woody Johnson had fired head coach Robert Saleh, I spoke to a source with ties to the organization and Johnson family. As the source was contextualizing the decision and framing it as an owner-driven move, he turned the conversation to the future of the franchise, mapping out what could happen to general manager Joe Douglas, interim head coach Jeff Ulbrch and quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The overriding belief: If the Jets could make a strong run the remainder of the season and get into the playoffs, it was possible all three would still be a part of the franchise in 2025. But stumble and fizzle out, and suddenly ever option was on the table, including a total reboot of every team’s holy trinity — general manager, head coach and quarterback.
In the midst of dialing in the thought process behind it, the source added an unexpected caveat.
“We’ll see how the [presidential] election goes,” he told Yahoo Sports. “Maybe that changes some things for everyone.”
The reference was to a potential election win by Donald Trump, which many in the organization have long believed could result in either a cabinet appointment for Johnson, or a renewal of his ambassadorial appointment to the United Kingdom, a post that was awarded to Johnson during Trump’s last presidency. Inside the Jets, there were definitely some who believed that Johnson prized another ambassadorship as much as he did the success of his football team, creating a perception where the yearning for one job pressed on the timeline and decisions of the other job.
In the moment, the whole crossroads of the two worlds hit a little differently — the idea that anything related to the Jets could tangibly be impacted by a political appointment. In truth, it had already happened before, when Jets co-owner and vice chairman Christopher Johnson took the controls of the organization and in Johnson’s physical absence, became the point man for the hiring of Douglas in 2019 and then Saleh in 2021. Woody wasn’t exactly in the dark on the moves, but both were interpreted as Christopher Johnson hires.
Now they’re both Woody Johnson firings, first with Saleh last month and then on Tuesday with Douglas. The framing for each is intriguing as they relate to timing. Saleh was fired after a Week 5 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London, when Johnson believed the team needed a spark for a make-or-break push under his interim choice, Ulbrich. At the time, the Jets were 2-3 but still playing solid defensive football, but struggling on offense. Six weeks later, with a 1-5 record post-Saleh and the defense now suddenly falling apart, the axe came down on Douglas.
While the timing felt odd momentarily to the outside world, the feeling inside the building was decidedly different. There was one last all-in push on making the acquisition of Rodgers work — including trading for wideout Davante Adams — and it had failed. With Douglas’ contract expiring at the end of the season and no appetite to bring him back, it was better to move on now for a multitude of reasons.
Among them, Woody was effectively hoisting the flag to prospective candidates, signaling two openings in the holy trinity and the third potential opening — at quarterback — likely to be handed off to whoever would take the job. On Tuesday, The Athletic reported that Johnson proposed benching Aaron Rodgers in a meeting with a handful of coaches and executives following an ugly 10-9 Week 4 loss to the Denver Broncos. Rodgers has gone on to start throughout the season, but with the removal of Douglas, his future is more uncertain than ever.
While the Jets can’t interview prospective candidates for the GM and head coaching openings, they can move forward with their chosen vetting process. Whether that’s ownership having back-channel conversations with the powerful agents who steer coaching and executives toward job openings, or engaging a search firm or trusted advisers to come up with lists, the process can now be thrown into high gear.
It also starts the clock on the total reboot getting all of the key pillars in place before Johnson’s potential appointment comes calling from the White House or Trump’s previously staked presidential hub at Mar-a-Lago. Make no mistake, Woody is going to want to be at the controls of getting everything cemented this time around. His decisions over the past five weeks make that much apparent.
This is where the next wave of potential job candidates should be paying attention because this is a messy brand of ownership that we’re seeing. First with the firing of Saleh, then with the placing of head coaching responsibilities on top of Ulbrich’s defensive coordinator job, and now with kickstarting a total rebuild that feels like it’s on a political clock.
And now Rodgers has to be factored into the middle of that wreckage from multiple angles: Woody’s opinion of him remaining on the roster (which likely won’t be positive), to the $49 million salary-cap hit that will be incurred if Rodgers is released, to the litany of players who will be jettisoned alongside him if he’s no longer in the plans.
Let’s unpack all of this. First, the firing of Saleh and shifting of duties to Ulbrich. As much as Ulbrich has the respect of players, it was not something seen as popular in the Jets’ locker room. Woody might have been out on Saleh. Maybe Rodgers was, too. But the change didn’t spark anything of consequence inside the organization. If anything, it may have contributed to the “flat” energy that Rodgers has occasionally talked about in the past six weeks. And on top of that, it was tactically unsound putting Ulbrich into a position he’d never held before, but also expecting him to fully handle the defensive coordinator job. In that dual role, the Jets’ defense has gotten worse.
As for kickstarting a remake of the organization, it’s going to be with the considerable foundation of young and very talented players whom Douglas drafted, which arguably will comprise the initial spine of the offense and defense of the next regime. That’s not to say there wasn’t an argument for parting ways with Douglas. He had nearly six years to get the organization in gear, and that time span was ultimately undercut by one significant draft mistake at quarterback and then an all-in on Rodgers that was poised to pay off right until the moment Rodgers tore his Achilles just a few snaps into the 2023 season.
Rather than re-litigate Douglas’ record, I’ll just say this: He made draft mistakes, but also had a wide spate of draft successes; he lost a few trades but also won some big ones, most notably sending safety Jamal Adams to the Seattle Seahawks for a bushel of valuable assets; he actively kicked trade tires on some major talents that the Jets ultimately didn’t land (Tyreek Hill and others); and he tried to remedy the biggest error of his tenure — drafting Zach Wilson in a class of horrendous quarterback mistakes — with the biggest swing he had available to him, Rodgers, which then superseded Wilson in the rankings of moves that went sideways.
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There were circumstances that were out of his control and poisoned his efforts, but such is life for all NFL general managers. Some survive it, others don’t. Some fade away into media jobs or get out of football altogether. Others leverage what they can on their résumé to get back onto the personnel ladder elsewhere. I think Douglas will be back.
As for who takes over the Jets’ football hierarchy, there is plenty to chew on from this season. Johnson became more involved than ever before inside of a season. First by firing a head coach in the middle of the season and then a general manager. Neither decision made him a better team owner — only a more involved owner. That is what he will be until he maybe isn’t, depending on how the poitical appointment winds blow in the next few months.
Stepping back, this is what the Jets look like: A team with some high-end talent, some pivotal holes to fill and no real answer at quarterback; an ownership rung that looks alternately desperate, hurried, and ambiguous when it comes to which Johnson will be calling the shots when next season kicks off; a fan base that would rather gargle battery acid than repeat another cycle of failure; and a general sense across the NFL that this is a bad organization that should be deprioritized if other good options are available.
All echoing the words of Bill Belichick on ESPN’s Manningcast in October: “That’s kind of what it’s been there with the Jets — barely won over 30 percent in the last 10 years. The owner being the owner, just …ready, fire, aim.”
Belichick is a coaching candidate in the next cycle. What he sees is what most will see. And that should concern anyone considering diverting their career path through this organization.
