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Jacksonville Jaguars: Hiring John Idzik won’t hurt

By Robert Brewer

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The Jacksonville Jaguars have plucked former New York Jets general manager John Idzik off of the NFL unemployment line. After just two years on the job, Idzik was fired by New York after littering the Jets’ roster with terrible draft picks like Dee Milliner and Geno Smith, and disappointing free agent signings like Mike Vick and Chris Johnson.

The firing of Idzik was music to the ears of Jets’ fans who were calling for Idzik’s head during the 2014 season with “Fire John Idzik” rally towels. Jets’ fans even went to the extreme of organizing a “Fire John Idzik” airplane flyover campaign near the Jets’ practice facility. Given his proven track record of failure, why in the world would the rebuilding Jaguars be interested in the services of Idzik?

From my standpoint, John Idzik’s colossal failure in New York falls in line with a lengthy history of the Jets handing important responsibilities to unqualified individuals. Whether it was the hiring of Lou Holtz as head coach in 1976, allowing Rich Kotite to manage the team’s drafts in 1995 and 1996, or the Tony Sparano hiring as offensive coordinator in 2012, these types of continuous errors are the main reason why the Jets have not won a championship in the past 46 years.

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While Idzik had great front office experience in Seattle, Arizona, and Tampa Bay prior to his stint in New York, he had no prior experience as an NFL general manager. In Seattle, Idzik served as the Vice President of football operations where his focus was mainly managing the salary cap and team budget concerns. Once Idzik was given the additional responsibility of having final say on personnel decisions, it was obvious that Idzik was in over his head.

During Idzik’s tenure with the Jets, he managed to free up approximately $40 million in cap space. Granted, Idzik had no idea what to do with all the money he had freed up, which is one of the main reasons the Jets fired him. However, personnel decisions on who to draft and who to target in free agency will not be Idzik’s responsibility in Jacksonville. Instead, Idzik is being hired for a job he has much more experience with; managing the team’s salary cap. In this more familiar endeavor, Idzik will be working as a consultant with Tim Walsh, Jacksonville’s director of football administrations.

Understandably, the hiring of John Idzik may not exactly be the kind of news Jags’ fans were hoping for this off season. After all, Idzik’s 4-12 Jets didn’t do much better than Jacksonville’s 3-13 team last season. Furthermore, skeptics of this hire will point to the NFL buddy system being in play as Jaguars’ head coach Gus Bradley was the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator when Idzik was in Seattle.

All told, I don’t believe this is a move that will hurt the Jacksonville Jaguars in the long run because what Idzik lacks as a GM will not be exposed in his new venture with the Jaguars. Idzik has his strong points in a front office capacity as he was able to set up both the Seahawks and the Jets with plenty of cap maneuverability. I would advise Jags’ fans not to let Idzik’s tarnished reputation ruin your entire off-season. From the very start, John Idzik was simply unqualified for the job he was assigned to in New York. The Jets have been making foolish hires like that for generations.

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