I don’t know much about Mike Maccagnan. In fact, I’m not even sure if that’s the correct spelling of his name and I’m even more clueless on the pronunciation. I know the stock photo of Maccagnan, who’s expected to be named the new general manager of the Jets in the very near future, shows him in one of those hats that have made everyone except Crocodile Dundee look like a grandma. But I’ll try not to hold that against him.
I also know that Maccagnan spent the past 15 years evaluating college players in various capacities for the Houston Texans, after being brought to the expansion team by his mentor and their first GM, Charlie Casserly. Casserly obviously thinks a lot of his protege, because otherwise he almost surely wouldn’t have gotten a look from Jets owner Woody Johnson, who, for some reason, thinks a lot of Casserly. But here’s what else I’d like to know:
Did he actually think David Carr, the Texans’ (and the NFL’s) first draft pick in 2002, would be a top-flight pro QB? If he did, he was far from alone, but still… David Carr? I mean… David Carr? No, really… David Carr?
Who did he think was the better WR prospect in the 2003 Draft: Charles Rogers, who went second overall, or Andre Johnson, who Maccagnan’s Texans picked one spot later? Since Johnson has had 976 more receptions than Rogers over his career, I sincerely hope it was him.
Did Maccagnan think that selecting Mario Williams over Reggie Bush with the first overall pick in the 2006 Draft was the right move? If so, he was one of only about four people in the world -- at least half of whom were Williams family members -- who felt that way. But they (and, much as I hate to admit, Casserly was probably among the four, although the Texans showed him the door not long after that draft) were certainly right.
Did Gang Green’s likely soon-to-be GM think Arian Foster, who Houston added in 2009 as an undrafted free agent, would be a better NFL running back than all but one of the 23 RBs that were taken in that draft (and it’s a toss-up with the one, LeSean McCoy)? I can’t imagine he did, but Maccagnan still deserves considerable credit for seeing something in Foster that the other 31 teams didn’t.
Lastly, did Maccagnan think J.J. Watt would become the best defensive player in football when Houston drafted him out of Wisconsin with the 11th pick in 2011 -- in a first round where 12 defensive linemen were selected? I doubt it, but the fact remains that 10 players were chosen ahead of Watt that year, including two DLs, and while several of them have become stars, they’re not Watt.
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We don’t know much about Maccagnan, but we do know this. He was a longtime key talent evaluator for a team that got it right more than many. That suggests he’s earned his right to be here. But lose the hat.
