Woody Johnson is on the precipice of making the biggest mistake of his tenure as New York Jets owner, and that's saying a lot.
Last week I wrote an article questioning why we hadn't heard any rumblings about John Idzik's job security with the Jets. Rumors have been running rampant on coach Rex Ryan, but Idzik seemed to be avoiding it, even though fans have been calling for his ouster. In that piece I questioned whether Woody Johnson would even be willing to pull the plug on Idzik and clean house.
Well, it appears that Idzik might be safe. According CBS Sports, Idzik is working with Woody Johnson on finding the next Jets head coach, something he would be doing if he were safe.
"La Canfora reports that, at this time, the organization isn’t using
a headhunter or a search firm to find Ryan’s potential replacement.
Only Idzik, Johnson and team president Neil Glat are discussing a new
head coach."
So the same General Manager who failed to spend $20 million of salary cap money on key positions for this team, and has become Public Enemy # 1 in the eyes of the entire fan-base, might not be going anywhere.
This is not good news and once again Woody Johnson appears to be thumbing his nose at paying customers. This is a big moment for Johnson, he needs to win back the loyalty of the fans, and legitimize the amount of money many hard working people forked over in Personal Seat Licenses (PSL's) over the past few years. Keeping Idzik does a lot of damage to that plan.
Idzik has done nothing but bring negativity to the franchise. Starting with the reports that Idzik has "alienated" himself in the front office, he has failed as the lead face of this franchise. From draft pick blunders to the aforementioned finances not spent, nobody really trusts Idzik moving forward. It is reasonable to ask 'can anyone trust Idzik with the new head coach, especially if he can't be trusted in putting together a roster?'
Chances are if Idzik does stay he will look to the Seattle Seahawks and their defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, or their offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell as the next HC of the NYJ, because Idzik hails from the Seahawks franchise where he was VP of football administration. He knows both gentleman quite well.
Either coach would bring some good credentials to the job. Bevell coached one of the more complete units in the NFL and managed to hone the skills of Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. Quinn, whose agent in former Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum (talk about irony), is a NJ native and has coached one of the top defensive units the past two years.
That being said, neither coaching candidate will receive the respect nor trust of the Jets fan-base because he is Idzik's pick. Fair or not, no head coaching candidate would want to walk into a situation like the Jets where the GM has his head on a silver platter. A 4-12 or 5-11 season in 2015 would almost certainly doom both Idzik and his hand-picked head coach.
Only CBS has reported this rumor, and if true would be a devastating mistake made by Johnson moving forward. The best thing Woody can do is fire Idzik along with Rex Ryan in two weeks. We shall see what happens very soon.
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