Woody Blames Zach, But Owner's 'Budgetary Constraints' Led to Jets' QB Mess

Woody Johnson was quick to blame the New York Jets missing the playoffs on the lack of a competent backup quarterback. But, in the end, the owner made budgetary decisions to have Zach Wilson as the only option behind Aaron Rodgers.

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has never been shy to voice his displeasure when things aren't going right for the franchise. 

In The Athletic's report in late January, both Diana Russini and Zack Rosenblatt detailed an owner that would take the fanbase's opinion on Twitter to heart and would often bring it up to the coaching staff and front office. 

If Johnson is looking for solutions to the Jets' current 13-season playoff drought, the biggest person to blame could be found by looking in a mirror. 

No example of this comes close to the one that the owner showed Thursday night. 

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In front of reporters at the NFL Honors night, Johnson stated that while he was "angry" for the team's 7-10 mark last season, he chalked up a big reason for the struggles down to the fact that they "need a backup quarterback. We didn’t have one last year.”

But wait...if the Jets were just a backup quarterback away, why didn't the organization address the position immediately when Hall-of-Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers was lost for the season in Week 1? New York started 1-0 after all and had 16 more games to play. There was plenty of time to bring a top backup/starting-caliber player to help the offense. 

Therein lies the major issue surrounding their owner. 

Josina Anderson of FOX Sports detailed a week after Rodgers was lost for the year to a torn Achilles that the Jets did not want to address the position due to budgetary concerns. To Anderson, "acclimation is harder than people think" and that along with the already $280 million spent on the roster, it was too much money to dish out that Johnson was comfortable with. 

Simply put: if Johnson wanted to compete in 2023, all he had to do was pay extra money on a roster he felt was good enough to win a title before the season began. 

He didn't want to. 

When an owner is tentative to go "all-in" on a roster that he kind of already went "all-in" with, you get the kind of 7-10 mess that the Jets put forth in 2023. 

This isn't to absolve the issues head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas put forth on their merit. Even if Johnson kept the team from addressing the quarterback concerns, Douglas remained passive when addressing concerns at both the receiver and the offensive line. 

Issues regarding Saleh were also well documented in The Athletic's January report. 

To be fair, it's also a clear reason why Johnson decided to keep Saleh and Douglas as well. The long-time owner is essentially telling the staff that while he kept them back at times in 2023, those restraints won't stand in their way this season. Winning, to Johnson, will be the only thing that matters.

Or major changes are coming in the future. 

'We Have To Produce This Year!': Angry Jets Owner Woody Johnson Issues Playoff Mandate?

The more things change, though, the more things stay the same. Johnson was the one who held the team back from truly competing in 2023 with his money pinching into the regular season. For the Jets to truly hit their true potential as a contending team, that cannot happen in 2024. 

At least blaming backup quarterbacks for the team's demise won't be enough of an excuse. 

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