Sunday will be 660 days since the Jets hired Joe Douglas as general manager.
Since June 7, 2019, Douglas has made major changes to the roster, but it still feels like he needs to make his mark on the Jets. In some ways, it still feels like he is new to work. His biggest move to date has been a subtraction, not an addition: Jamal Adams’ trade last summer.
That is all about to change.
It becomes clear that Douglas is about to take on BYU quarterback Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, moving on from Sam Darnold.
It’s a move that will strongly dictate how the next few years – and possibly longer – will go for the Jets. It’s a move that will determine Douglas’s tenure. It’s a move that carries a lot of risk and will have devastating consequences for the Jets and Douglas if he gets it wrong.
That six-year contract he received two years ago is not a lifetime appointment. At some point, the Jets must win on Douglas’s watch. They are 9-23 in his two years with the team. At the time, former GM Mike Maccagnan and former coach Adam Gase were most blamed for that record by fans and media. However, those days are almost over. Maccagnan’s influence on the roster will be felt for another year. Gase has been replaced by Robert Saleh, who was handpicked by Douglas.
Now it looks like he’s going to line up his quarterback. It is of course possible that the Jets will decide to stay with Darnold, but everything indicates that they are ready to move on. People from the competition have been whispering that for weeks. Douglas, Saleh and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur made the trip to Provo, Utah, on Friday to see Wilson pitch during BYU pro day to show how serious they are about the quarterback.
Then the 49ers and Eagles executed trades indicating they knew the Jets were planning to take Wilson at number 2. San Francisco moved to No. 3 and reportedly didn’t even make an offer to the Jets, perhaps because they knew the Jets. ‘plans are already in place. The Eagles reportedly moved up to No. 3, but only to draft Wilson. Philadelphia decided to go back to 12, probably knowing that Wilson won’t be there after the Jets pick.
The 49ers and Eagles are two teams with close ties to Jets Brass. Saleh and LaFleur have just spent four years with the 49ers. Douglas was an Eagles executive before taking the Jets job. Those teams probably know better what the Jets think than most.
If the pick is Wilson, the move involves more risk than any other Douglas here has done. He was usually happy with singles and doubles, but this is a swing for the gates. If it works, he’ll be Babe Ruth. When it fails, he looks smaller than Dr. Ruth.
Wilson, 21, isn’t a slam dunk. A year ago it would have been laughable to see him as the number 2 choice. Wilson had 11 passing touchdowns and nine interceptions in his 2019 season, competing for the runway last year. But after throwing 33 touchdown passes and being intercepted three times in 2020, he shot up the draft boards. There are questions about the level of competition he faced, and he has already had shoulder surgery.
As the Jets saw when they fielded Darnold in 2018, it’s embarrassing when you pick the wrong quarterback. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson have proven to be better players than Darnold in their first three seasons. The Jets, choosing Wilson, would risk Justin Fields, Trey Lance or Mac Jones becoming a star.
Then there is Darnold. If he moves on to another team and turns the potential that we’ve glimpsed into a full-length production, Douglas could get a red face.
The first two years of Douglas’ tenure felt as if they were building towards this moment in which he could master the selection of the Jets. The next two years will be determined by how this decision turns out.