Business Side of Owning NY Jets

Examine the decisions that the Jets owner has to make concerning the team and the implications.

Is Woody Johnson to Blame For Jets Failures?

August 31, 2017

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For starters, in 17 years under Woody Johnson’s ownership, the Jets are eight games under .500. This, by all means states inadequacy.

What caused this?

Let’s see.

Johnson hasn’t shown much dedication to football matters regarding the team like other NFL team owners (Jerry Jones) do. The first item that comes to mind is the idea of spending money to obtain better talent. He has sometimes gone on spending sprees while in other years, he has backed off from that philosophy for some unknown reason. Johnson hasn’t been consistent in this area which disappoints the fan base immensely. Successful teams stand by this type of methodology creating a pattern of indistinguishability and culture that fans can get used to for a long time but not the Jets fans, thus far.

The last three general managers under Johnson all had different management approaches. First was Mike Tannenbaum who was a very aggressive deal-maker but he always gave too much guaranteed money in contracts which put the team in cap hell for a number of years. Then there was John Idzik who was a slow-builder. He didn’t last long, either, and you can probably guess why? It wasn’t a good marriage with him and Coach Ryan and they really didn’t have anything in common, either. Mike Maccagnan is the current general manager who possesses both predecessors’ traits.

See what I’m getting at now?

Then the coaches Johnson hired all had different styles. First, there was Herm Edwards who was basically a players’ coach which is not exactly what the team needed at the time. Eric Mangini followed who many fans liked, including me. He had some good seasons and had the team going in the right direction. He drafted nice players but losing four of five games towards the end of the 2008 season dashed any playoffs hope, so the team fired him. Then the Jets went back to another players coach in Rex Ryan. He also started off good, took the team to two AFC Championship games in the first two years. Then, like the prior coaches, the team began to lose. Bowles is the current coach who is a disciplinarian, just like Mangini was. Most likely, he will be given another two more years, to see if he can right the ship. The only thing all the coaches had in common was that they were defensive-minded coaches. As you probably know, they didn’t get the team to the Super Bowl. This probably also explains why the Jets haven’t had a good quarterback in a while with these type of coaches. Another common thing amongst them was none had prior coaching experience, either. That would explain the struggles the team had during their tenure.

In 2015 and 2016, the Jets had the third largest cash payroll using the win-now approach but they had an older roster then. They ended up missing the playoffs again and again. This probably is the reason why they went with the youth movement in 2017 letting go of the last two veteran players on the roster in Eric Decker and David Harris which signified commitment to one plan. It was a plan that was never instituted by the New York Jets since the other strategies weren’t successful. Let’s see if this one is, because they are certainly running out of plans.

Woody Johnson Made Right Call Sticking With Maccagnan and Bowles?

August 15, 2017

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After a disastrous 2016 Jets season, going 5 -12 and not reaching the playoffs since 2010, one would think that letting go of general manager Mike Maccagnan and coach Todd Bowles would be the right thing to do?

The only thing is; they’ve been with the organization for only two years.

I know the team did fire former general manager John Idzik after only two years (2013 – 2014) while at the helm but that was because they sent Coach Rex Ryan walking at the time, too, but this was a different circumstance. Normally, if you fire the general manager, the coach needs to be relieved of his duties. The reason for their early firing was: the team started to decline after the 2010 season losing more games under Ryan. The belief was; you are what your record says you are, so they had to make a change.

Now, Johnson has a plan and he did not listen to the fans outrage but stood by what he believes was right for his football team in order to bring long-term success to the franchise. That is the name of the game. The team doesn’t want to be a one-hit wonder.

Bowles should be kept due to keeping to his belief that consistency helps to bring about success in the NFL. There are a lot of things that go into winning NFL games and the talent of the roster tops the list. You certainly need a good quarterback to win consistently, which the team hasn’t had in a while. You also do not need constant change because it doesn’t help. It just makes it more difficult.

I think Johnson has confidence in Bowles, who has a chance to improve on the team’s performance and to make them better in 2017 with a young crop of players mixed in with a few veterans in what they are terming it as a rebuild year. Both can judge performance in their own way each year, instead of embracing change.

So, it makes tons of sense for them not preaching reaching playoffs or Super Bowl this year. It just puts more pressure on the players and it distracts them, even though some may still think and believe that. With this idea in place, if the team starts out 0 – 4, there shouldn’t be no talk of firing the coach since Johnson said the team will not be judged by wins and losses but by the growth of their young players.

Maccagnan and Bowles were hired in the same year and two years is certainly not enough time to determine whether they are right for the job. Woody Johnson’s belief is that they will get it done together. We will see about that.