Joe Douglas accepts plenty of blame for Jets' horrible season

Joe Douglas took plenty of the blame for the Jets’ awful season, saying he didn’t give Adam Gase or quarterback Sam Darnold enough talent and weapons to be successful this year.

Douglas, in his second season as a general manager, danced around some questions about the futures of Gase and Darnold. But Douglas ultimately backed both of them and said they’re part of the solution not the problem.

As of now, Darnold probably has the better chance of sticking.

"I have no problem saying he is our best quarterback and our quarterback for the future," Douglas said on a Zoom call Tuesday.

If the Jets finish with the NFL’s worst record and get the first overall pick, Darnold’s days as a Jet definitely could be numbered. It would be stunning if they didn’t draft Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

As far Gase, it would be even more stunning if he’s the Jets coach next year. The Jets are 0-8, the only winless team in the NFL, and their offense is historically bad. But Gase doesn’t report to Douglas. They each report to Jets CEO Christopher Johnson, who will decide Gase’s fate.

"This is not all on Adam," Douglas said. "I have to do a better job of surrounding him with better players and better weapons. We’re in this together. I’m going through and thinking of everything I can do to try and help Adam. The goal is to get this fixed together."

Later, Douglas said "yes" when he was asked if Gase was part of the solution.

"Ultimately, I have to do a better job for all these coaches and players," Douglas said. "The hope is that we can fix these problems together and be here together for a while."

Gase is expected to be the fall guy for this mess of a season. The only question seems to be will it happen during the Jets’ bye next week or after the season.

He was hired for his ability to lead an offense and help young quarterbacks. The Jets have produced one offensive touchdown in the last three games. They haven’t scored a point in the second halves of those three games. And Darnold seems to be regressing. He has thrown just one touchdown pass in his last four games.

But Douglas called Darnold "an ultra-talented quarterback" and "one of the toughest quarterbacks" he ever has been around. He wouldn’t commit to Darnold being the starting quarterback next year. But Douglas later said he’s confident that Darnold could lead them to the playoffs if he has the right people around him.

"Absolutely I am," Douglas said. "I feel like he has a different set of wide receivers every week. We’ve had almost a different set of offensive lineman out there every week. It’s important to surround any quarterback with talent. You see the flashes of what he can be and they’re really special."

But that may happen in another uniform, if the Jets keep spiraling to the NFL’s worst record and have an opportunity to draft Lawrence, who some consider a generational quarterback. But Douglas said he does not subscribe to the school of thought that the Jets should keep losing to get the best draft position possible.

"That’s not our thought process," he said.

Despite the fire sale that’s been going on in Florham Park, Douglas said the Jets’ focus remains developing young players and winning games.

The NFL trade deadline was Tuesday, and Douglas ended up standing pat. But he did work leading up to deadline. In a 15-day span, Douglas traded veteran nose tackle Steve McLendon to Tampa, linebacker Jordan Willis to San Francisco and linebacker Avery Williamson to Pittsburgh.

These moves, for draft capital, open up more opportunities for young players to get valuable experience. Douglas is evaluating everyone and everything, and doing some self-evaluating. He acknowledged that he has failed Darnold.

"I certainly haven’t done a good enough job of surrounding Sam with the weapons he needed last year or this year," Douglas said. "I’m looking at what I can do better moving forward in terms of making sure that we have the right skill players and the right protection for him."

Whether it’s Darnold or Lawrence, Douglas certainly needs to fix those areas.