Joe Douglas' Offseason Thus Far

New Jets GM Joe Douglas has taken a different approach from years past. Over the last few offseasons, former GM Mike Maccagnan would try to make the highlight moves (trading for Brandon Marshall/signing guys like Revis & Bell), but wouldn't do the necessary things like signing offensive linemen. Yes the signing of Bell last year was great, but I feel like Maccagnan negotiated against himself which led to overspending. This is never a good tactic when trying to build a better your team.

As stated before, Joe Douglas has taken a new approach. Instead of jumping out & signing the key names to big/overpriced contracts, Douglas let the free agency field take its course & then he attacked. Usually, big time free agents will begin to "negotiate" with the Jets, just for them to use the contract their offering to shop it around to other teams. These players are usually known as, "Almost Jets", & there is a long list of them. You saw that this year when the rumor of Jack Conklin wanting to sign with the Jets surfacing a week before free agency began. This was a rumor definitely driven by his agent to drive up his value. Douglas most likely knowing this proceeded to not even entertain a Conklin signing & went in a different direction. This is something I like to see as JD is not going to let free agents use the Jets.

So what has Joe Douglas exactly done? First, he made the right move by releasing both Trumaine Johnson & Darryl Roberts (and rightfully so). I thought he would do the same to Brian Winters, but for some reason he hasn't (hopefully he still does). Most likely his big time plan was thrown out when the Patriots surprisingly franchised tagged Joe Thuney (good lord do I hate that franchise). I do believe JD was going to spend big money on him, & rightfully so. With Thuney out of the picture, JD still focused on the OL (new for a change) & made smart short terms signings. George Fant's contract says 3yrs., but really, it's a 1yr. deal that the Jets could get out of next off season. The same can be said about Alex Lewis' contract, a good but not great player JD resigned. Greg Van Routen had a down year last season but is a proven player who can bounce back & brings competition at the OG positions. The signing on the OL that I absolutely love is Connor McGovern. He's still relatively young (27) & is a strong player that finally brings stability back to the C position.

Douglas continued his trend of 1yr. deals with the re-signings of both Brian Poole & Jordan Jenkins. He let both players test free agency to gauge their markets & when they didn't get the offers they expected, they came back on pretty much "prove it deals". Yes he did the same with Robby Anderson & he left & signed with the Panthers, but I think with a loaded WR draft class, JD probably believes he get 1-2 WR's who can step in right away & produce for less of the cost.

The moves that I am curious about are all the signings/re-signings at ILB. The Jets already have CJ Mosley, Avery Williamson, & Blake Cashman on the roster. Even with those three, JD proceeded to bring back Neville Hewitt & James Burgess & then signed former Raven Patrick Onwuasor. That's a whole lot of ILB's, so it'll be interesting to see what JD has planned. Personally, I like Williamson a lot & hope that JD keeps him to pair with Mosley with Burgess & Onwuasor as backups.

Moving forward, I hope JD still addresses the CB & OLB positions. I do not want JD to draft CB/OLB early in the draft as I think the early picks need to be designated for OL & WR. There are still some talented players out there in free agency at both CB & OLB. A combo of Logan Ryan & Markus Golden on 1yr. deals would be ideal.

It's been a so far, so good offseason for new GM Joe Douglas. I love that he's addressing the offensive line, a unit that's been neglected for many of years & as stated previously, letting free agency come to him. There's still plenty more left to do, but I like the direction JD is taking the Jets in. #TakeFlight