PHOENIX — Joe Douglas is very familiar with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Jets general manager spent three years as the right-hand man to Philly general manager Howie Roseman and won a Super Bowl with the Eagles before Christopher Johnson hired him to take over the Jets. As you watch the Eagles, you can see some of the tenets that Douglas has preached with the Jets. The Eagles have built the most talented roster in football under Roseman. If Douglas can apply the same principles with the Jets and get some luck along the way, perhaps the Jets could end their Super Bowl drought.
Here are the biggest themes you see in how Roseman built the Eagles and how Douglas is doing in trying apply them to the Jets:
Dominate the line of scrimmage
The Eagles have the best defensive line in football and maybe the best offensive line. They have pushed people around in these playoffs. The Eagles led the NFL with 70 sacks during the regular season and had four players with double-digit sacks. On offense, the line dominates. In the divisional round against the Giants, the Eagles line opened huge holes in the running game and gave Jalen Hurts time to operate in the passing game.
Douglas has done a good job building the Jets’ defensive line, which is key for coach Robert Saleh’s defense. The Jets can throw waves of D linemen at teams. Quinnen Williams, Carl Lawson, Sheldon Rankins and John Franklin-Myers lead the way, and young players such as Bryce Huff, Jermaine Johnson and Micheal Clemons also contribute as role players. The Jets had 45 sacks this season, well short of the Eagles’ total, and only Williams finished in double digits with 12. Douglas needs to extend Williams and to continue to look to add to this group. Roseman added Haason Reddick this offseason despite already having a formidable group. Saleh has said the Jets never will stop adding to the D line.
The offensive line rebuild has not gone as well for Douglas, but it is not for a lack of trying. He has used two first-round picks on the line with Mekhi Becton in 2020 and Alijah Vera-Tucker in 2021. He threw big money at Laken Tomlinson in free agency last offseason. Vera-Tucker looks like a stud, but he suffered a season-ending triceps injury in October. Becton has not been able to get on the field in two years. Tomlinson played well below the level the Jets expected.
Douglas likely will add a center and a tackle this offseason in free agency and/or the draft. This unit still needs a lot of help. The Jets have to hope Vera-Tucker comes back at 100 percent and Becton can get his career back on track. There are a lot of “ifs” with the offensive line.
Admit mistakes
Roseman took Carson Wentz with the No. 2 overall pick in 2016. Douglas took Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick in 2021. Neither quarterback move worked out.
Roseman admitted his mistake with Wentz and traded him after the 2020 season. Hurts took over in 2021 and he had a strong 2022 season on the way to leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl.
The Jets are not quite all the way there in admitting Wilson was a bad pick. Give them credit for not sticking with him as the starter in 2023. He is clearly heading to the bench. But the Jets are still talking about Wilson having a bright future and how they can still develop him. At some point, probably next offseason, the Jets will have to rip off the Band-Aid and cut or trade Wilson. It seems highly unlikely he will ever find success with the Jets, and the team needs to move on eventually — as Roseman did with Wentz.
Explore every avenue
There always is a huge focus on the first wave of free agency and the NFL Draft when it comes to roster building. But Roseman did a masterful job of using every avenue available to improve his roster in the offseason. He used free agency to get Reddick on a three-year, $45 million contract. Reddick had 16 sacks in the regular season and has dominated in the postseason. Roseman executed a huge trade on draft night, landing wide receiver A.J. Brown from the Titans to help his young quarterback. He then landed an immediate impact player in defensive tackle Jordan Davis and added depth in the draft. In post-draft free agency, Roseman signed cornerback James Bradberry to a reasonable contract after the Giants cut him. He then pulled off a trade on cut-down day for safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.
You can see Roseman’s influence on Douglas with how he approaches the offseason aggressively. It’s just that some of his moves haven’t worked. He has been active in the early parts of free agency in the past two years. Carl Lawson, Corey Davis, Tomlinson, Jordan Whitehead, C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Conklin arrived via that route. Douglas spent the early part of his tenure trading away players to acquire draft capital. But he showed last year he would be aggressive when he pursued Tyreek Hill from the Chiefs. He lost out to the Dolphins, but Douglas showed he is not afraid to swing big. This year, he may have to do that to land a quarterback. Douglas had a tremendous draft last year after mixed results in his first two drafts with the Jets. In post-draft free agency, Douglas has added Morgan Moses, Duane Brown and Kwon Alexander over the past two years. His cut-down day pickups have been strong, too, with Franklin-Myers and Braxton Berrios arriving in 2019 from that route and Quincy Williams getting picked up in 2021.
You clearly can see Roseman’s influence on Douglas’ approach to team-building. Douglas needs a strong offseason and has to land a quarterback. But Jets fans should be encouraged that the Eagles’ method has worked so successfully this season because Douglas has shown many of the same beliefs as Roseman.
Takeaways from a Week 2 rematch
I recently re-watched the Jets’ crazy 31-30 win over the Browns in Week 2. Here are some takeaways from seeing the game again now:
1. It was stark how much better rookies Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall played in this game than in the opener and how much more the coaches used them, especially Wilson. Wilson caught two touchdown passes, including the game-winner, and showed his potential. The Jets barely used him in Week 1 for some reason. Hall looked like a more confident runner after having a fumble and looking tentative at times in Week 1. The Jets still were pass-happy in this game with Joe Flacco, but Hall showed signs of what would come in October.
2. This was the worst game the Jets defense played all season. They gave up a season-high 405 yards and allowed 184 rushing yards, which would be the second-most they allowed all year. It turned out to be just some early-season kinks to work through. There was confusion in the secondary. Sauce Gardner might want to insist he did not give up a touchdown in his rookie season, but it was clear he missed his assignment on the Amari Cooper touchdown. The tackling was poor and the run defense was non-existent for stretches. But the Jets fixed these issues quickly in the following weeks.
3. The Jets were so lucky to win this game. This was an all-timer. The Browns could have run out the clock, but scored a touchdown instead. The Browns didn’t cover Corey Davis in giving up a long touchdown. The Jets recovered an onside kick. So many things went their way. Things could have gotten ugly if the Jets lost this game. They would have been 0-2 and facing the Bengals a week later. Saleh had just made his “receipts” comment, and fans would have been irate with him. It was not a pretty win, but it ended the Jets’ multi-year streak of September losses and gave the team some early hope.
Stat’s so
The Jets have not had a quarterback throw for 10 or more touchdown passes in a season since 2019, when Sam Darnold threw for 19. They have not had a QB throw for 20 or more since 2015, when Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a franchise-record 31 touchdown passes. This is a big reason why the Jets are again searching for a quarterback. They are hoping to find someone to land on this list or even to top it. Here are the top 10 touchdown passing seasons by a Jets quarterback:
1. Ryan Fitzpatrick, 2015: 31
2. Vinny Testaverde, 1998: 29
T-3. Mark Sanchez, 2011: 26
T-3. Joe Namath, 1967: 26
T-3. Al Dorow, 1960: 26
T-6. Ken O’Brien, 1986: 25
T-6. Ken O’Brien, 1985: 25
T-6. Richard Todd, 1981: 25
T-9. Brett Favre, 2008: 22
T-9. Chad Pennington, 2002: 22
