Joe Douglas appears to be the overwhelming favorite to take over for Mike Maccagnan as general manager of the New York Jets.
The New York Jets are undergoing a general manager search at a bizarre time in the offseason. That much is clear. However, it appears like the Jets are close to hiring Joe Douglas, a highly qualified candidate who helped build the Philadelphia Eagles squad that won a Super Bowl in 2018.
According to Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network, Douglas to the Jets is pretty much a “done deal.” The Jets are still interviewing other candidates, but the writing appears to be on the wall.
“I had been led to believe all along that it would be very tough to pry Joe Douglas away from the Eagles…until last night,” Pauline wrote. “Someone I trust told me the word is Douglas is a done deal and the Jets are just going through the motions interviewing the other candidates. Seemingly, the Eagles are going to let Douglas walk. More than this coming from a reliable source, I’ve also heard this same thing from others since this morning so I believe there’s a lot of validity to it.”
Pauline was one of the first to drop news about a rift between former GM Mike Maccagnan and current head coach Adam Gase. The fiery coach dismissed those rumors as nonsense and tried to change the narrative.
However, Pauline was right on the money with his reporting. Maccagnan was later fired amidst rumblings about his poor fit with Gase.
Although anything is possible with the Jets, the highly qualified Douglas would be a great hire amidst difficult circumstances. Of course, the Jets’ own mismanagement is the reason for their ill-timed GM search, but if they hire the right guy, all can be forgiven.
