Jets Players, CEO Are Confident That GM Joe Douglas Will Hire the Right Head Coach

The search for Adam Gase's replacement has already begun and both New York's players and CEO Christopher Johnson trust general manager Joe Douglas to make the right decision.

One day after closing out one of the worst seasons in Jets' franchise history, and parting ways with their head coach, Jets general manager Joe Douglas and the team's CEO Christopher Johnson addressed the team.

Their message—according to a slew of players who recounted the meeting's proceedings in their postmortem pressers on Zoom—was clear. 

New York's head coaching search this offseason may be a "broad and deep" process, but those in charge will strive to hire the best individual for the job, a coach that can lead this franchise back to contention. Further, while this is poised to be a group project, Dougas will have the most say in the decision.

"Joe has a lot of background, he has a lot of time in this league, he’s well respected and make no mistake, he’s going to be taking lead on this," Johnson told reporters on Monday. "While this is a collaborative effort, his opinion will be taken most seriously. And I think that the fans can feel safe knowing that we’re going to get this right."

Johnson may have faith that the second-year GM will get the job done, but do the players? 

The answer was a resounding yes.

"I’m very confident that he’s going to get the right guy in here," quarterback Sam Darnold said. "Joe D is about all the right things. He’s about character and he’s about winning, and that’s really what it takes. I know he’s going to find the right guy."

Sam Darnold Is 'Not Sure' If He'll Play For the Jets Next Season

"I am sick of losing. I am so tired of this."

- Christopher Johnson pic.twitter.com/0TlJfI5f4o

— Jets Videos (@snyjets) January 4, 2021

Johnson and Jets like Darnold have been here before. Whoever replaces Adam Gase this offseason will be New York's third head coach in the last four years. Therefore, in an effort to avoid a similar fate, preserving the longest active playoff drought in the NFL, the process will be different this time around.

He explained that the franchise won't pursue coaches like Gase, those that are focused entirely on one side of the ball. The plan is to narrow their search to a select group that's capable of working as "a coach for the entire team."

"I trust Joe D and Mr. Johnson 100 percent," center Connor McGovern said. "They're the reason I came here. Those two guys are the ones that made this job and this team attractive. So I definitely have full faith in them and I'm excited."

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The search began in earnest on Monday. New York has already requested interviews with a slew of candidates, including Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Regardless of who steps in next year, players articulated that as long as the individual has a clear vision, can assist in giving this team an identity going forward and will work to take this team to the next level, they'll be on board with the decision.

"I'm pretty sure they're doing their research and I'm pretty sure they're doing their due diligence to find the right person to come in here," defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi said. "My job is once whoever comes in here comes in, to buy in, and to go as hard as I can and to give a lot of effort and to make sure that we all stay on the same page."

At the end of the day, however, it's Johnson's faith in Douglas that fostered an underlying feeling of optimism on Monday. Describing New York's recent history paints a "dark picture," as the CEO said, but start to sprinkle in details about Douglas, draft capital, cap space and new head coach and that picture starts to dazzle.

"Joe is the GM we've been searching for," he explained. "If we can get this coaching hire right, and I think we will, I think we can be a team that no one is going to want to see on their schedule, even next year, and then we’ll see where we can go with that, but I see a very bright future with this team."

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