SPORT NEWS: Joe Douglas firing should mark the beginning of major offseason overhaul for Jets.giang

Things have not gone well for the New York Jets in 2024, and more change is underway for a franchise that has already fired its head coach this season.

On Tuesday, the Jets fired general manager Joe Douglas, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The move comes roughly a month and a half after the team fired head coach Robert Saleh, and it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Douglas was in the final year of his contract and unlikely to return. The 3-8 Jets are the unquestioned biggest disappointments of the 2024 season. Someone had to pay for the debacle, and with Saleh already gone, Douglas was the obvious candidate.

His firing is the latest significant move made by a New York team looking to start over, but it won’t be the last. Here, we’ll examine what lies ahead for the Jets in their impending offseason overhaul.

Franchise owner and chairman Woody Johnson—who isn’t going to fire himself—has likely been eyeing coaching candidates ever since he dumped Saleh. With all due respect to interim coach Jeff Ulbrich, who inherited a mess of a situation, New York won’t maintain the status quo.

Bill Belichick is the biggest name on the market, though it’s unclear if the Jets would have any interest in him. Belichick infamously resigned as New York’s head coach after just one day to become the New England Patriots coach in 2000. There has never appeared to be any love lost between Belichick and the Jets in the years since.

Mike Vrabel, who serves as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns, is probably a more realistic target. He has a track record of success, having delivered three playoff berths in six seasons as the Tennessee Titans head coach.

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores and Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph are other former head coaches who deserve second opportunities. Like Vrabel, though, Flores and Joseph have defensive backgrounds. After things failed to work with Saleh, Johnson may prefer to go in a new direction and target an offensive coach.

The Jets should also be looking to develop a quarterback of the future, so an offensive coach would make the most sense—though pairing Vrabel, Joseph or Flores with a seasoned play-caller could also work.

The list of offensive candidates is headlined by Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. One of the league’s brightest young offensive minds (he’ll turn 39 in May), Johnson has helped turn Detroit’s offense into a powerhouse.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is expected to be available when his contract expires in the spring. He also has an offensive background, though this year’s Cowboys collapse could serve as a red flag.

Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt could be a sleeper candidate. He’s done an excellent job of developing rookie quarterback Drake Maye for the Jets’ rivals this season, and he’s quite familiar with the AFC East, having previously coached for the Buffalo Bills.

The wild card here might be Colorado head coach Deion Sanders. He’s done a masterful job of turnaround the Buffaloes program, and he’d instantly energize a franchise in need of a fresh start. However, Sanders still feels like a long shot to join the NFL ranks this season.

“I think Deion actually wants to stay in college. I know he’s been public about that as well,” The Athletic’s Dianna Russini told The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Tuesday.

Other potential candidates to consider include Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen and Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, who is in danger of losing his job amid a 2-8 season.

Let’s be honest. Saleh and Johnson appeared to have New York on a solid path before the Jets pivoted to quarterback Aaron Rodgers and caused things to unravel. They did struggle to develop quarterback Zach Wilson, but the Jets had the league’s fourth-ranked defense in 2022, along with Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year, Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner.

Things began to spiral once Rodgers arrived ahead of last season, and Johnson must blame himself for allowing it to happen. Regardless, New York will need a new general manager with Douglas out.

Identifying top general manager candidates can be tricky because franchises rarely publicize how big of a hand executives have in team construction.

However, New York should start by examining franchises that have either had sustained success or that have taken big jumps in recent years. Adam Peters (San Francisco 49ers) and Joe Hortiz (Baltimore Ravens) are two examples of executives from the first category who were hired in 2024.

Peters and Hortiz are now the general managers of the Commanders and Los Angeles Chargers, respectively. Those teams’ success this season could prompt New York to follow a similar strategy.

Kansas City Chiefs assistant GM Michael Borgonzi should be high on the Jets’ wish list. It helps to have Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid leading the team, of course, but no franchise has done a better job of sustaining success while building through the draft in recent years than Kansas City.

Philadelphia Eagles assistant general managers Alec Halaby and Jon Ferrari should also draw attention. Philly has largely remained relevant under general manager Howie Roseman, and the Eagles did an excellent job of overhauling their roster this year. Of course, the Jets may not want to dive back into the Philadelphia well after hiring and firing Douglas.

Buccaneers Director of Football Research Jacqueline Davidson deserves some consideration as well. While Tampa hasn’t enjoyed long-term success, it has navigated the post-Tom Brady era exceptionally well.

Given the recent turnaround of Detroit, Lions assistant GM Ray Agnew headlines the list of executives in the second category. Sustained success has never been synonymous with the Lions, but here we are, viewing Detroit as possibly the best team in the NFL.

Agnew should be a hot commodity in the 2025 general manager market.

Pittsburgh Steelers assistant GM Andy Weidl, who was hired away for the Eagles this past offseason, might also be a candidate. The Steelers are always playoff-relevant and have taken huge strides this season, thanks in no small part to the acquisition of quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.

Bills assistant GM Brian Gaine, who began his career as a Jets scout in 1999, might also be on New York’s radar.

Other potential candidates include Ravens Vice President of Player Personnel George Kokinis, Green Bay Packers Director of Football Operations Russ Ball and Seattle Seahawks assistant GM Nolan Teasley.

Trading for Rodgers ahead of the 2023 season wasn’t the biggest mistake the Jets made. Though the soon-to-be 41-year-old hasn’t played well since returning from last year’s Achilles tear, he’s a future Hall of Famer who was worth a gamble to a quarterback-starved franchise.

The mistake was giving Rodgers so much power within the organization. The Jets won’t admit it publicly, but there’s probably no way that they would have hired Nathaniel Hackett as offensive coordinator in 2023, brought in players like Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb or made this year’s trade for Davante Adams if not for Rodgers.

This is Rodgers’ team and has been since before the trade to acquire him was executed. Much of its dysfunction can be traced back to the quarterback himself.

Do you remember when Rodgers skipped mandatory minicamp this past offseason and the Jets were perfectly fine with it? That’s not the example a franchise should want from its de facto team president, and it sent an extremely poor message to the rest of the team ahead of this year’s all-in campaign.

Rodgers is under contract through 2025, but New York needs to move on from him. It hasn’t worked with him behind center, and, if anything, Rodgers’ presence has actively hurt the locker room.

“It’s like Aaron Rodgers has completely sucked the air out of the building,” former Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason said recently on WFAN’s Boomer and Gio. “…since he has come here, every player on this team has deferred everything to him.”

Secondly, the Jets will have a hard time attracting any quality coaching or GM candidates if Rodgers remains at the center of their power structure. At this point, we’d have to believe that the list of candidates lining up to work with Rodgers would be exceedingly short.

McCarthy and Van Pelt have ties to Rodgers, but a fresh start is needed. It seems that New York feels the same way.

“This organization does prefer a change at quarterback, and this hammers that home,” SNY’s Connor Hughes reported on Tuesday.

The good news is that the Jets do have an out with Rodgers’ contract. While it will include $49 million in dead money after this season, New York can save $9.5 million in 2025 cap space by releasing Rodgers with a post-June 1 designation.

The win-now window with Rodgers has closed. While teams like Detroit and Washington have shown that turnarounds can happen quickly, it’s time for the Jets to trim salary and work on extending the deals of younger players who will be with the franchise long-term.

Gardner and Wilson, for example, are already centerpieces who will be extension-eligible in 2025. Running back Breece Hall is another, while impending free agent and 28-year-old cornerback D.J. Reed has earned a new deal.

Keeping players, though, requires cap space. New York is projected to have just $31.3 million available in the upcoming offseason. There are franchises in worse situations, but New York can and should trim the proverbial financial fat.

Dumping Rodgers would be the first step. The Jets can probably part with Adams too, especially since the soon-to-be 32-year-old may not be thrilled with the post-Rodgers era—just as he eventually became unhappy after the Las Vegas Raiders dumped Derek Carr.

Releasing Adams would save $30 million in 2025 cap space.

Cutting Lazard, another of Rodgers’ guys, would save $6.6 million in cap space, or $11 million if done with a post-June 1 designation.

New York can also afford to say goodbye to older—and potentially pricey—impending free agents like pass-rusher Haason Reddick, tight end Tyler Conklin, left tackle Tyron Smith and right tackle Morgan Moses.

The Jets have enough young talent that a rebuild shouldn’t require stripping the entire roster down to the studs. However, New York must focus on keeping young contributors, finding new ones, and using its youth as a foundation upon which to build the future.

With Rodgers set to be a part of the Jets’ past, it’s time to target a new quarterback of the future in the 2025 draft. Things didn’t work out with Zach Wilson or with Sam Darnold before him. However, those draft busts seem to be the result of organizational failure, not necessarily the players themselves.

Darnold has been above-average as the Vikings’ starter this season, while Rodgers has been no better than Wilson.

If the season ended today, the Jets would have a top-10 selection, putting them in prime position to make a quarterback move. Miami’s Cam Ward, the top-ranked quarterback on the Bleacher Report Scouting Department’s draft board, represents a good place to start the search.

“Cam Ward is among the most gifted throwers in the NFL draft class,” Dame Parson of the B/R Scouting Department wrote. “The combination of arm talent, mobility/athleticism, and accuracy is growing among NFL scouts.”

Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders is also trending as a top first-round selection. While he might not possess Ward’s ceiling, the precise pocket passer may carry a higher floor.

Other quarterbacks to consider early in the draft include Georgia’s Carson Beck, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe.

If the Jets have a preference among the top QB prospects, it’ll likely come from the incoming front office. New York could take a flier on Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields, perhaps, but the draft should be the franchise’s first choice for a quarterback. Fields has shown flashes, but, ideally, the Jets won’t be drafting in the top 10 again for the foreseeable future.

Regardless of who the Jets select to be the QB of the future, it would be wise to add an experienced mentor to the quarterback room. Rushing Darnold and Wilson onto the field didn’t work, and New York needs to leave room for a more patient approach.

Retaining Tyrod Taylor or signing a quarterback like Jacoby Brissett, Taylor Heinicke or Andy Dalton would make a ton of sense.

Most importantly, perhaps, the Jets need to pave the way for a young quarterback by bolstering their offensive line. The line has remained an issue this season, even if the 26 sacks allowed don’t seem egregious.

Preparing rookie Olu Fashanu to start full-time at left tackle should be at the center of the game plan. Targeting a versatile offensive lineman like Arizona’s Jonah Savaiinaea in the draft would also make a ton of sense.

Savaiinaea could be a candidate to start at right tackle or kick inside to guard.

The Jets may also need to make a tough decision on the future of guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, who is set to play on the fifth-year option in 2025. Vera-Tucker has been mostly dependable when healthy—though he’s allowed four sacks this season, according to Pro Football Focus—but injuries have been an issue for him.

New York might be smart to try Vera-Tucker back at right tackle, where he spent time in 2023, and pursue a top free-agent guard like Kansas City’s Trey Smith, the second-ranked player on B/R’s 2025 free agent board.

Finding a new coach and quarterback will be a given. The Jets must also focus on forging a line that can allow both to thrive in 2025 and beyond.