New York Jets: Heat should be on Mike Maccagnan for woes
The ire of the fans in the Big Apple are squarely on New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles, but the man who should be on the hot seat is Mike Maccagnan.
When the New York Jets hired Mike Maccagnan as general manager, he was highly touted as being a “football guy.” Many thought he’d stabilize the organization and finally get the draft right. Well, he’s done some good things.
However, this isn’t about his overall draft performance. This is about one position where he’s clearly failed, and it’s not just in the draft, it’s his overall failure at the position.
What makes good general managers great isn’t just being able to draft, it’s self-evaluation. When there’s a problem internally, you fix the problem. That seems to be an issue for Gang Green, and it pre-dates Maccagnan.
The offensive line is a huge issue, and it’s been the problem that has haunted Maccagnan since he got the Jets general manager job. Willie Colon, James Brewer, Ben Ijalana, Dakota Dozier, and Jonotthan Harrison were all re-signed by the team since Maccagnan took over in 2015. That’s five players. He’s either drafted or signed a total of six free agents, and he signed four offensive linemen as undrafted free agents. Clearly that’s been the Jets biggest issue.
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Sure, he made a great move to land the quarterback of the future, but that means nothing if your offensive line can’t protect him. We just have to look back at David Carr to see what happens to the psyche of a quarterback when he takes a pounding.
In today’s NFL, most people think that the quarterback is the most important position. In reality, the unsung heroes are the five men up front, and left tackle and center are just as important as quarterback — the signal-caller can’t win games if he’s on his back. Hence why edge rusher is a key position on defense.
Everyone has responsibilities. The general manager’s responsibility is to help the head coach put the best team possible on the field. The head coach has the ear of the general manager, but it’s still the general manager’s responsibility. It’s time we recognize that.
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It doesn’t matter that he made the move to get the franchise quarterback. He had no choice but to do that. Fans complain that for four years Bowles has made the same mistakes over and over on the sidelines. Well, it’s time for us to recognize this. Maccagnan has failed to address the offensive line for four years. It’s time to raise the temperature on his seat, too.