Jets Rumors: Woody Johnson, Joe Douglas, Rex Ryan, New GM Candidates

The fallout from Jets owner Woody Johnson’s decision to fire GM Joe Douglas with several games remaining in the season continues to reverberate around the league, with revelations about the state of the organization.

Here is a collection of various reports on the situation:

Woody Johnson

• Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer believes Douglas has failed to hit quarterbacks Sam Darnold And Zach Wilson before adding Aaron Rodgers was a “big reason” that he will be fired.

• Ultimately, Breer believes it’s time to become Jets owner Woody Johnson considers himself the reason behind New York’s inability to create a winning team.
• Breer writes that Johnson has surrounded himself “too much non-football yes men,” and listens to them too often when it comes to football decisions.
• Breer believes Johnson’s track record will make it more difficult for New York to offer general manager and head coach candidates options elsewhere.

• Breer also reports that Johnson’s staff was informed of their decision within an hour of his firing, while he was co-director of player personnel. Greg Nejmeh has hired another “prominent role” the past few weeks.

Joe Douglas

• Dianna Russini and Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic report that Jets GM Joe Douglas lost some of its power during the 2023 season, with Johnson taking a more active role with the team.

• Douglas was reportedly willing to offer an expansion of EDGE Bryce Huff during the regular season last year, but owner Woody Johnson ultimately vetoed it.
• Johnson prevented Douglas from hiring replacements for assistant GM Rex Hoganwho was fired, and director of player personnel Chad Alexander, who left for a job as assistant GM with the Chargers. He had a good relationship with both men who were hired as part of his first staff in 2019.
• During the offseason, Douglas reportedly offered the Broncos a Day 2 pick and WR Allen Lazard for WR Jerry Jeudybut this was also ignored by Johnson.
• Multiple sources tell The Athletic they believe the Jets have signed OT Tyron Smith and W.R Mike Williams partly because “Johnson’s preoccupation with social media.”
• Douglas was reportedly warned by EDGE Haason Reddick‘s statement that if the Jets weren’t planning on signing him to an extension, they shouldn’t pursue a trade. Ultimately, Douglas felt they could work it out, as the asking price was a 2026 third-round pick.
• Johnson was unwilling to offer Reddick the extension, which ultimately led to the postponement.
• Johnson also urged Douglas to trade for the Raiders WR Davante Adams and in turn parting ways with a conditional third-round pick.
• The Jets also put S Tony Adams this past week “on behalf of Johnson.”

Rex Ryan

• Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says some people who know how Jets owner Woody Johnson operates are convinced he will try to recapture some of the past success the organization has had with his next moves.
• Florio speculates that this could mean hiring former HC Rex Ryan, who has worked for ESPN in recent years but is exploring a return to the coaching ranks.

Next Jets GM Candidates

• ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano note that while the Jets’ GM vacancy will have some question marks given everything that’s happened lately, ultimately there are only 32 of these jobs and GMs typically get a longer leash than coaches, so the Jets will be able to find a reasonably qualified candidate.
• They also point out that Jets owner Woody Johnson has always hired a new GM and not a renewal. Some potential candidates to fit that bill include Eagles assistant GM Alec Halaby, Bills director of player personnel Terrance Gray, Texans executive vice president of player personnel James Liipfert, Steelers assistant GM Andy Weidl, Chiefs assistant GM Mike Borgonzi, Packers VP of player personnel Jon -Eric Sullivan and Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds.