Jets Set to Embark on Their Near-Impossible Quest to Protect Aaron Rodgers

New York GM Joe Douglas has proven before he can gather multiple quality offensive linemen in one offseason. The question now is: Will he be able to do it again?

Staring down a season that has come with an all-but-cemented playoff mandate, having just lost both his director of player personnel and assistant general manager after cutting one of his three remaining starting offensive lineman meant to protect the 40-year-old starting quarterback coming off a torn Achilles playing in an offense with a great deal of lateral movement, the combine’s most theoretically stressed individual tried to make the task ahead look anything but exasperating.

If one finds a person in the professional football space traveling a more chaotic road in the coming weeks than Joe Douglas, send them a life preserver. The New York Jets general manager arrived at the podium on Day 3 of the NFL combine gearing up to sink or swim.

“We just had some unbelievable meetings with our coaching staff,” Douglas said. “Look, there's three different avenues we can go through for this: free agency, trade and the draft.”

Douglas took over as GM in the summer of 2019 :: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

Douglas is right, of course. And in his defense, his recent history before arriving in Florham Park, N.J., shows that coming up with multiple quality offensive linemen in the matter of one offseason is not impossible.

In 2016, as the vice president of player personnel with the Philadelphia Eagles, Douglas oversaw the drafting of Isaac Seumalo and Halapoulivaati Vaitai, as well as the offseason signings of Brandon Brooks and Stefen Wisniewski. After Douglas became a scout for the Ravens in 2000, Baltimore drafted multiple offensive linemen across a handful of seasons. For example, back in ’07, Douglas’s job in Baltimore involved cross-checking the offensive line prospects. The team took Ben Grubbs in the first round. Grubbs was an All-Rookie team honoree his first year and went on to make two Pro Bowls amid his eight NFL seasons. In the third round, the Ravens selected Marshal Yanda, one of the greatest players in team history and a soon-to-be Hall of Fame player. In ’09, the team drafted Michael Oher in the first round and signed Matt Birk, a six-time Pro Bowl center, in free agency. In ’12, the team drafted Kelechi Osemele and signed Bobbie Williams, who ended up starting six games during Baltimore’s most recent Super Bowl run.

The question is: Can Douglas do the same right now?

In talking to multiple people at the combine about this year’s draft class, the consensus seems to be that the top 12 to 15 players available are very good. However, some teams view a dropoff in talent between the 90 to 110 player mark—the culprit, of course, being that many players are choosing to return to college, therefore thinning out the overall talent pool. This could ultimately impact Douglas’s ability to secure a quality starter in the mid to late rounds, which, one could wisely argue, is the most critical part of this quest for offensive line stability.

The obviousness of New York’s need also places a bit of a target on Douglas’s back heading into the draft. Every team is aware of the Jets’ current disposition. Anyone infatuated with a tackle prospect could try and move up ahead of them. If there is not a run on quarterbacks to start the draft like many expect, that also pushes the quality tackles further up the board.

As for free agents, the best available include a still-excellent, 33-year-old Tyron Smith; the versatile Mike Onwenu; Robert Hunt, who has valuable experience within the offense; and John Simpson, who Douglas, given his Baltimore ties, would be able to get some solid information on.

Like the draft, the obviousness of New York’s need—exacerbated by the owner’s comments, which were not technically a playoff mandate but made clear an expectation of “a lot better than seven wins”—could embolden some agents to believe they have a higher potential financial ceiling when dealing with the Jets. Could they pay a premium?

Douglas also mentioned the trade market. The 2025 free agency class is packed with quality offensive linemen, though the Jets lack a second-round pick in ’24, and have three seventh-round picks which, as we mentioned earlier, may not be seen as valuable given the thinness of this year’s draft class on the back end. Though the Jets could also borrow from draft equity to come, which could take on a heightened value especially in the midst of this April’s draft.

Of course, Douglas would not have signed up for Aaron Rodgers in the first place if he did not understand the totality of the match he was lightning. Rodgers means immediate expectations for victory, even after losing last year to an Achilles injury. The rest of the world will not understand that Douglas’s offensive line was (relatively) weak and injury prone when tucked inside the narrative that this team possesses Rodgers, Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner.

And so, this week marked the official starting time for Douglas to begin worrying about the preparations. He did not seem like someone without a plan, even if the success rate of any plan is dependent on myriad factors bent on not allowing the Jets an easy path toward protecting Rodgers.