New York Jets Owner Stopped Trade For Star Wide Receiver in Spring

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson's meddling in roster decisions cost the team a potential star during the offseason.

New York Jets cornerback Brian Poole (34) tackles Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy (10) in the second half. The Jets lose to the Broncos, 37-28, at MetLife Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, in East Rutherford. / Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The New York Jets made another splash this week when they announced general manager Joe Douglas had been fired.

It was the second huge in-season personnel move the team made, as head coach Robert Saleh was fired after their Week 5 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London. That means this offseason there is going to be a busy one as they look to fill both positions.

However, it is fair to wonder how many of the top coaching and front office personnel will seriously consider the Jets, given the presence of owner Woody Johnson.

Earlier this week it was reported that he unilaterally fired Saleh, believing he wasn’t doing enough with the talent on the roster. Douglas, whose power shrunk by the day after Johnson took a more active role in 2023, seemed to be a dead man walking.

Seeing how those firings were handled may not entice the top candidates to want to work with the Jets. Johnson needs to let the football people he hires do their job, as his interference set the team back ahead of the 2024 campaign.

As shared by Zack Rosenblatt and Dianna Russini of The Athletic, it was the team’s owner who nixed a deal that would have greatly helped the passing offense, upgrading the skill positions around Aaron Rodgers.

After a difficult 2023 season, Saleh and Douglas wanted to change things up. Seeking to avoid older players or ones with injury history, they engaged the Denver Broncos in trade discussions circled around wide receiver Jerry Jeudy.

A first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Alabama, he has shown some real flashes despite underwhelming quarterback play and some nagging injuries. An incredible route runner, he would have brought more youth and explosiveness to a Jets offense that was lacking both beyond wide receiver Garrett Wilson and running back Breece Hall.

As shared in the report, “Douglas pursued a trade with the Denver Broncos for wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, offering Allen Lazard and a Day 2 draft pick, according to a league source, but Johnson nixed it. Jeudy was instead traded to the Cleveland Browns.”

That was a major missed opportunity that ended up costing New York dearly.

For starters, having Jeudy in the mix likely means the Jets would not have signed veteran Mike Williams in free agency, who gave the team little before being traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he promptly scored a touchdown in his debut.

The Browns are having quarterback issues of their own this season, but Jeudy has caught 39 passes for 560 yards and two touchdowns.

His upside is much higher than that of Lazard’s and would have given New York another long-term building block, along with Wilson and 2024 third-round pick Malachi Corley. Even if the season went off the rails, the Jets would have one positional group they were excited about heading into the future for a potential new quarterback to work with.

Had Johnson allowed that trade, New York likely wouldn’t have doubled down by acquiring Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders. The conditional third-round pick the Jets gave up was more than other teams paid for other wide receiver additions ahead of the deadline.

Adams has been okay with Gang Green, but hasn’t gotten close to replicating the level of dominance he and Rodgers had with the Green Bay Packers. It looks to be another ill-fated move the owner pushed for that has dug their hole even deeper.