For the first time this season, Joe Douglas addressed the media on Wednesday.
Douglas had to face the music following the commencement of the 2019 NFL trade deadline. The Jets only traded Leonard Williams, but with reports circling of Douglas doing his due diligence by listening to offers on two of New York’s stars, he needed to do some damage control.
If anybody in this current organizational structure is going to stick to promises made, it’s going to be Douglas. It was time for him to stand in front of the media and he managed to add some stability to a sinking ship.
With that said, here are six takeaways from his post-trade deadline press conference.
Reaction to Christopher Johnson’s comments
Before Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars, acting CEO Christopher Johnson chatted with a small contingent of Jets fans.
“Hopefully, the team will actually show up this week,” replied Johnson, who was caught on a video thatwas later shared by a fan on social media.
Douglas, who spoke to the media on Tuesday, said he was already made aware of the video. Despite Johnson’s language being a direct shot at the team Douglas runs, he agreed with Johnson’s sentiments and said it has been echoed throughout the entire organization.
“My take was he seemed like he was a person like a lot of people in this building — passionate and frustrated about where we are at 1-6,” Douglas said. “I can tell you my feelings on Christopher haven’t changed one bit.
“Frankly, he deserves better than 1-6, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure we’re not in this position again in the future.”
The team is not rebuilding
Douglas acknowledged that the team was fielding offers for players such as Robby Anderson, Le’Veon Bell and Jamal Adams. Despite this, he refused to say the Jets are in rebuilding mode moving forward.
“I’m not going to classify this as a rebuild, tear-down,” Douglas told reporters.
The Jets have no interest in a rebuild at this time. Douglas insisted that the way he was brought up in the NFL, he was taught to always listen to what other teams have to say. The Jets did not put their star players on the block but were merely willing to listen if a team was desperate enough to meet their high price tag.
Douglas’ team is 1-6 and he is going to have his work cut out for him in the offseason to add to the young foundation that this team has already established.
Seal of Approval
Douglas gave his endorsement of Adam Gase for the foreseeable future, despite the head coach being in serious danger of losing his locker room.
While Gase has unnerved the Jets fan base and the local media, who have both called for his early removal, it doesn’t appear that Douglas intends to make his friend fall on the sword just yet.
“My stance on Adam hasn’t changed,” Douglas said. “I think Adam is a great coach and a great communicator.”
Douglas also disagreed that the Jets have been non-competitive under Gase’s watch.
“This team does not lack competitiveness,” he added. “It’s not reflecting on the scoreboard right now, but we are far from non-competitive.”
A believer in Sam Darnold
Douglas said the Jets have some untouchable players on their roster, especially when talking about franchise quarterbacks.
When asked directly if he thought he had a franchise quarterback in Sam Darnold, the Jets first-year general manager put faith in the team’s QB.
“I think we do,” Douglas said. “I think we have a young man who is 22 years old, who just finished his 17th game in the National Football League, and I think we see the growth. I think we see the ups and downs, but we see a guy who’s made of the right stuff, a warrior mentality. And we have to take care of him, we have to take care of him as an entire organization but playmakers, protection, everything. We have to wrap our arms around him because I think all you guys could see what he can do when he had that in the Dallas game.”
An unfortunate situation
Douglas opted to shed no light on the Jets’ ongoing legal battle with Kelechi Osemele.
“It’s not an ideal situation for either party,” the GM said, adding they made the best decision for the organization.
Douglas refused to go into detail about why the Jets cut Osemele. He emphasized that the Jets followed league rules and always stress player health and safety. Douglas also said he’s not worried about the bad PR influencing outside perception of the organization.
The Leonard Williams trade
Douglas broke a barrier with the Giants with his one and only trade this month, sending Leonard Williams to their roommates in exchange for draft compensation.
The Jets GM thanked Williams for his time with the team, calling him a “professional, great teammate and tough as nails.”
In addition, Douglas said that the Jets received “a lot of phone calls” for Williams. The Giants first contacted him about a potential trade a couple of weeks ago.
Douglas was happy with the unexpected picks the Jets received.
“We felt the picks we received for [Leonard Williams], really gave us flexibility for the future.”
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