Jets GM Joe Douglas must find better production at quarterback
Jets general manager Joe Douglas at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, N.J. Credit: Noah K. Murray
Like every other NFL executive who drafts a quarterback in the first round, Joe Douglas hoped he wouldn’t have to seriously address the position again for a decade or so.
Oh, well.
Less than two years after selecting Zach Wilson with the second overall pick, he’ll spend this offseason at it again. This time he’ll juggle the dynamic of an organization that leans toward sticking with the 23-year-old and seeing if he can rise to a level of competence against the rest of a roster that has a strong nucleus of young talent but presently no one around whom it ought to revolve.
The fact that the Jets would not commit to Wilson as their 2023 starter on Monday — with Douglas saying the organization is in the “infant stages” of an “explore every single avenue” discussion on how best to address the position — indicates the primary competition for Wilson probably isn’t on the roster yet. The Jets will have to shop for him.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Douglas said.
Unlike others in his position who have whiffed on those career-defining picks and paid the price with their jobs — a handful were booted from their organizations on Monday — Douglas will have the rare opportunity to clean up his own mistake. He’ll get the chance to fix the decision he made on April 29, 2021 — one that, at this point, certainly seems misguided.
He’ll get a second swing.
There will not be a third.
Owner Woody Johnson undoubtedly is keeping a running tally in his head on how much money the Jets have wasted (at least thus far) on the first two of Douglas’ top picks since he was hired as GM. Mekhi Becton in 2020 and Wilson the year after have given them practically nothing but bad headlines and bad football.
Despite what seems to be a strong draft last year, Douglas needs to start producing wins and playoff appearances in order to stick around rather than offering only promise and optimism but ultimate disappointment, as this season brought.
For that to happen, he needs a quarterback on whom the team can truly rely.
It doesn’t even have to be an elite one, just one who can play at a consistently competent level. Douglas owns three Super Bowl rings that were won with Trent Dilfer, Joe Flacco and Nick Foles as the starting quarterbacks. That’s a lot of diamonds illuminating the path for the Jets.
“There are what, maybe four or five quarterbacks every generation who are that top-notch player,” Douglas said. “It’s a team sport, the ultimate team sport. Quarterback is, I stand by it, the most important position in all of sports, but ultimately it’s a team sport and you have to have a great group of people to support them.”
As the 2022 season wraps up, the Jets are much closer to having that surrounding cast in place than the centerpiece.
Douglas and the Jets certainly are free to think they still can salvage Wilson, and they seem hell-bent on turning him into the functional quarterback he has shown glimpses of throughout his two seasons in the NFL. But to rely on that development to take place in the next seven months is misguided.
And if he still needs more time to cook in the oven when the 2023 season opens, it’s hard to stomach even thinking about what this team will look like if Wilson is “developing” on the field on Sundays while the rest of the team is poised to win. It would be intolerable.
Another solid option needs to be added.
It may not be a quarterback who lets Douglas coast through a decade without sweating the position, but it does need to at least be one who will give the Jets the ability to be playing at this time next year . . . and a reason for the Jets to keep Douglas in his position next offseason.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
