Mike Maccagnan’s time with the New York Jets officially came to a close this week.
Maccagnan was brought in by the Jets in 2015 to be their new general manager after they let go of John Idzik. While Idzik was good with money, Maccagnan was supposed to be good at finding talent. Given his résumé as an NFL scout, many thought he was the right guy for the job. It didn’t work out that way, though.
Maccagnan drafted some high-profile names (Sam Darnold, Marcus Maye, Jamal Adams and Leonard Williams) and found some steals (Chris Herndon, Robby Anderson and Jordan Jenkins). But there were a whole lot of misses in the draft, including Christian Hackenberg, Devin Smith and Lorenzo Mauldin.
Maccagnan had some whiffs in free agency, too. He signed Darrelle Revis, Trumaine Johnson, Terrelle Pryor, Spencer Long and Isaiah Crowell. All are gone with the exception of Johnson, who is coming off a disappointing first season in New York.
Now the Jets will look for a general manager who can consistently find talent at all levels. With that search underway, here are six not-so-fun facts about Maccagnan’s time with the Jets.
Just as bad as Idzik
Idzik was portrayed as one of the worst general managers the Jets have ever had, yet Maccagnan finished with the exact same .375 winning percentage.
Idzik was with the Jets for two seasons and went 8-8 in his first season and 4-12 in his last. As for Maccagnan, he had four seasons to work with. He went 10-6, 5-11, 5-11 and 4-12.
Departed draft picks
Given his background as a scout, Maccagnan’s specialty was supposed to be the draft, but he didn’t draft well at all.
After Darron Lee was dealt to the Chiefs the same day Maccagnan was fired, only 11 of the 22 players that Maccagnan drafted in his first three seasons are still on the Jets: Leonard Williams, Jordan Jenkins, Brandon Shell, Lachlan Edwards, Charone Peake, Jamal Adams, Marcus Maye, Jordan Leggett, Elijah McGuire, Jeremy Clark and Derrick Jones.
That’s half of the players Maccagnan drafted in his first three seasons. The draft is a crapshoot sometimes, but you can’t miss on that many players in just three drafts.
Exiled draft picks
Not only are half of Maccagnan’s draft picks no longer with the Jets, but many are no longer in the league.
Maccagnan drafted seven players that are not in the NFL anymore. He had three in the 2015 draft: Devin Smith, Lorenzo Mauldin and Bryce Petty. In 2016, there was Christian Hackenberg. He has another three from the 2017 draft: ArDarius Stewart, Dylan Donahue and Chad Hansen.
Fired award winner
After leading the Jets to a 10-6 record in his first season as general manager, Maccagnan was named Executive of the Year in 2015. Unfortunately, there’s a long trend of Executive of the Years to be fired.
There were six winners of the award from 2009-2016 to later be fired: Bill Polian, Scott Pioli, Trent Baalke, Ryan Grigson, John Dorsey and Reggie McKenzie.
Maccagnan makes seven.
Patriot woes
Not many Jets teams have had much success against the Patriots, but Maccagnan’s teams were horrendous.
In four seasons under Maccagnan, the Jets played the Patriots eight times and only defeated them once. That came back in 2015 when the Jets took down the Patriots, 26-20, in overtime.
It also set the Jets up to get into the playoffs, but they fell to the Bills the following week. It was the closest Maccagnan’s Jets ever got to the playoffs.
8 Pro Bowlers
In the four years that Maccagnan was with the Jets, there wasn’t a ton of Pro Bowlers.
New York had four in 2015: Darrelle Revis, Nick Mangold, Brandon Marshall and Chris Ivory. The following year, Leonard Williams was the only Pro Bowler. They didn’t have any in 2017, but Jamal Adams, Andre Roberts and Jason Myers all made it in 2018.
To have success in the NFL, you need stars. Maccagnan didn’t have many of them.
