Joe Douglas knows that his future with the New York Jets is uncertain, especially after the only head coach he hired was fired. He also pointed out that owner Woody Johnson didn’t consult him before making the surprise decision to fire the coach last month.
“Yeah, I mean we haven’t had a winning season, so we’re sitting here at 3-6 and so there’s a lot of frustration,” Douglas said on Wednesday, speaking to reporters for the first time since the start of the season.
“Obviously, it starts with me,” he added. “I can look back and there’s quite a few things that I could have done better. Obviously, when a situation happens like what happened four weeks ago, you have a lot of self-reflective moments on the things that you could have done better to keep that from happening.”
“But we’ve got an opportunity here with these last stretch games to change that narrative.”
Douglas emphasized several times during his nine-minute chat with reporters outside the team’s facility that he’s focused on helping the Jets make a strong second-half push, with hopes that Aaron Rodgers can lead them to success after a tough start to the season.
Since Douglas became the general manager in June 2019, New York has a record of 30-62, and the Jets haven’t made the playoffs during his time. They are getting closer to extending the NFL’s longest active postseason drought to 14 years.
Even so, Douglas, whose contract expires after this season, said he isn’t worried about his job security.
“No, I come in here every day and just want to do whatever I can to help this team reach its goals and reach its destination,” he said. “And whatever happens, happens.”
For the Jets, this season has seen just about everything happen.
After a 2-3 start, Jets owner Woody Johnson decided he had seen enough after three-plus seasons with Robert Saleh as the head coach and decided to fire him. It was the first time Johnson made a coaching change during the season since he took over the team in 2000.
Christopher Johnson, Woody’s brother, was the one who hired Saleh while Woody was serving as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Donald Trump. Woody could possibly return to that role if Trump wins another term.
However, on October 8, Woody decided to let go of Saleh and named defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich as the interim head coach. Douglas, who was left out of the decision, didn’t say if he agreed with the move to fire Saleh.
“Not going to get into any of the details or the conversations that happened before or after that,” Douglas said. “Woody and I talk every day, but at the end of the day — and I think (former U.S. Secretary of State) Colin Powell said it in a different arena — but I serve at the pleasure of the owner.
“So my single goal is to help this team get to the goal of a championship.”
Since Saleh’s firing, Douglas has been busy making moves. He traded for wide receiver Davante Adams and brought him together with his friend and former Green Bay teammate, Aaron Rodgers.
He also got edge rusher Haason Reddick onto the field after a long contract holdout, and sent wide receiver Mike Williams — a failed free-agent signing — to Pittsburgh before the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday.
The Jets are coming off a 21-13 win over Houston that ended a five-game losing streak, and now they are headed to Arizona to play the Cardinals on Sunday.
“I think Brick (Ulbrich) had a great message to the team on Monday,” Douglas said. “Just saying like: ‘Look, guys, none of this started the way we wanted to start it, but we still have everything in front of us. Every goal we wanted to accomplish, it’s still out in front of us.
“‘And it starts with a tough opponent in Arizona this weekend.’” Douglas didn’t say if he and Johnson had talked about his future, but he did say the two speak every day and are focused on the next game.
The GM did admit that the past month has been a tough ride for him and the entire franchise.
“Yeah, I mean a lot of ups and downs, obviously, a five-game losing streak is tough, losing Robert is tough,” Douglas said. “But I think there is a lot of resilience in this building and I think you guys saw it in the second half of Thursday night and I’m hoping it really propels us moving forward.”
