NFL Draft: Jets GM Joe Douglas wheels and deals with the best
From left to right, Jermaine Johnson, Ahmad Gardner and Garrett Wilson speak at a New York Jets NFL football draft news conference Friday, April 29, 2022, in Florham Parrk, N.J. Credit: AP
Bill Parcells is known mostly for his brilliance as an NFL coach, leading the Giants to their first two Super Bowl championships and later helping the Patriots to a Super Bowl appearance and the Jets and Cowboys to playoff berths during his Hall of Fame career. But in what turned out to be the only year of Parcells’ work as general manager of the Jets, he made history in 2000, becoming the first GM to accrue four first-round picks in a single season.
It turned out to be a transformative event for the franchise, even if Parcells was there for only that season. With the trade of wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson to the Buccaneers for two first-round picks, the NFL awarding the Jets another first-rounder after Bill Belichick left to become the Patriots’ head coach and the Jets’ own draft choice, Parcells used the quartet of picks on defensive end Shaun Ellis (12th overall), linebacker John Abraham (13), quarterback Chad Pennington (18) and tight end Anthony Becht (27) to set the stage for a playoff team in the coming years.
Parcells wouldn’t be there to see it unfold — he resigned after one season and eventually became the Cowboys’ head coach in 2003 — but his first go-round as a football executive was both memorable and impactful.
Fast-forward more than two decades to Thursday and Friday nights, and Joe Douglas comes a close second to pulling off a comparable tour de force. He parlayed the Jamal Adams trade into the 10th overall pick in addition to the Jets’ own fourth choice, then traded back into the first round on the 26th pick and moved up two spots with the Giants on Friday night to get to 36 overall in the second round.
It remains to be seen whether Douglas’ draft-day mastery will bear results similar to the Parcells marvel of 2000, but the third-year GM did everything possible to position his team for a quantum leap in the not-too-distant future by wheeling and dealing his way to four excellent choices:
Cincinnati cornerback Sauce Gardner at fourth overall, Ohio State receiver Garrett Wilson at 10, Florida State edge rusher Jermaine Johnson II at 26 and now Iowa State running back Breece Hall. Douglas made a phone call to new Giants GM Joe Schoen to swing a deal to move into position for Hall, who now joins an offense that — at least on paper — is substantially better than it was when the Jets’ 4-13 season ended.
Let’s not pretend that this team suddenly can vault into Super Bowl contender status. Or even playoff contender status just yet. But in a league in which quick turnarounds are the norm more than perhaps at any other time in NFL history, Douglas has at least supplied coach Robert Saleh with a much broader talent base. And if this draft can have an impact similar to Parcells’ 2000 wizardry, the Jets can at least become relevant starting in 2022 and perhaps become playoff-relevant soon thereafter.
Even in the increasingly what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world of pro sports, roster-building can be a painstaking process that simply doesn’t happen overnight. As countless GMs have discovered over the years, you can’t spend your way out of mediocrity through free agency. The salary cap simply won’t allow you to cover all your needs by signing the best available players. So if you don’t hit on a high enough percentage of your draft picks, you eventually will buckle beneath the weight of cap limitations.
Mike Maccagnan found that out after the 2015 season, when he quickly assembled a roster by overpaying on the open market, only to see his team come within a win of making the playoffs that year and then blowing up to the point that Douglas replaced him.
Having been schooled in roster construction under Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome, Douglas understood that you must find yourself a young quarterback and then build around him. We still don’t know whether Zach Wilson can be the star player Douglas envisioned, but the GM has supplied enough weapons at the skill positions and along the offensive line to leave no room for excuses.
If Wilson can’t help transform this offense into a functional unit within two or three years, then it’s on him. But if he takes advantage of the help that Douglas provided through fiscally responsible additions through free agency and especially with his four high-round picks, we’ll know Wilson is the guy the Jets hoped they had. And yes, defensive players such as Gardner and Johnson will help the quarterback, because a competent defense always helps an offense through better field position and by keeping the score close.
Trader Joe Douglas has done his work.
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
