While the time seems appropriate for a mid-season report card, if the league office saw how many Fs I gave the Jets, they’d probably be forced to hold them back and make the team repeat the 2014 season, and no fan should have to suffer through the monstrosity a second time.
So I thought I’d talk a bit about “football men,” since everyone seems to think hiring one to replace John Idzik will somehow transform the Jets into an instant Super Bowl contender. While many concede Idzik is a wizard with the salary cap (I’ve got no idea if that’s actually true. If so, call me crazy, but sounds like a useful attribute for a guy running an NFL team.), conventional wisdom is that the reason the Jets -- and their GM -- have floundered so remarkably is that he’s not a personnel guy. So, by that thinking, for the Jets to turn things around, they need to fire Idzik and bring in a skilled talent evaluator -- a “football man” -- someone who makes smart choices in the draft and on free agents.
No argument here. Idzik has done absolutely nothing to justify keeping his job, and if I were Jets owner Woody Johnson, I’d be very uneasy about letting him make some incredibly important choices for the franchise in the offseason -- namely, who the team’s next head coach and QB are going to be.
In the NFL, like in all major pro sports, talent wins above all else. Therefore, the guy assembling the talent is the most important person in any organization -- with the notable exception of the New England Patriots, where Tom Brady is most indispensable. (If you disagree, I simply respond with this: 51-62 -- that’s future Hall of Famer Bill Belichick’s career coaching record without Brady as his starter). And don’t try Peyton Manning on me. The Broncos won a playoff game a few years back with Tim Tebow under center.
But finding the right guy for this all-important job is no easy feat. Some say ex-Chiefs GM Scott Pioli. Anyone want to know his record sans Brady? Or Chiefs current personnel exec Chris Ballard. We’re told in his official Chiefs bio that, as a scout for the Bears, Ballard “helped draft Pro Bowlers Matt Forte, Johnny Knox, Charles Tillman, Tommie Harris and Nathan Vasher.”
Helped? Didn’t Idzik help draft Russell Wilson, Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman?
Some say 71-year-old Bill Polian is the guy. Undoubtedly, his resume is as good as anyone’s who has ever done the job. But does he still have it? And, if so, does he still want it? Would you if you were him?
Johnson will have a very big decision to make when he decides who’s going to pick talent for the Jets. Given the owner’s own track record -- Terry Bradway (a football man who once selected Dewayne Robertson with the fourth pick in the draft), Mike Tannenbaum (a non-football man who chose Vernon Gholston sixth) and Idzik -- I’d like to know who’s going to help him with that pick.
