The New York Jets have fired general manager Joe Douglas, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Jets senior adviser Phil Savage, who is a former GM of the Cleveland Browns and defunct Arizona Hotshots, has been named the interim general manager.
Douglas was in the final year of his contract after being hired in 2019. The Jets are 3-8 in a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations with a healthy Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. But the team struggled to a 2-3 start, and owner Woody Johnson fired coach Robert Saleh on Oct. 8.
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The Jets decided to also part ways Tuesday with Douglas, the person told the AP on condition of anonymity because the team didn’t announce the move. SNY first reported that Douglas was fired.
The beginning of the end of Joe Douglas’ tenure with the New York Jets
Douglas, who was 30-64 in his tenure with the Jets, was not consulted by Johnson when the owner made the decision to dismiss Saleh and replace him on an interim basis with defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. That was a clear indication that Douglas’ job could also be in jeopardy.
“I come in here every day and just want to do whatever I can to help this team reach its goals and reach its destination,” Douglas said two weeks ago when asked if he was worried about his job status. “And whatever happens, happens.”
The Jets were 3-6 at that time and Douglas insisted the team could turn things around and make a late run.
“Obviously, it starts with me,” Douglas said. “I can look back and there’s quite a few things that I could have done better. Obviously, when a situation happens like what happened four weeks ago (Saleh’s firing), you have a lot of self-reflective moments on the things that you could have done better to keep that from happening.
“But we’ve got an opportunity here with these last stretch games to change that narrative.”
The Jets have since dropped two more games, including a humiliating 31-6 loss at Arizona two weeks ago followed by New York blowing a late lead and losing 28-27 to Indianapolis last Sunday.
And Johnson apparently thought it was time during the Jets’ bye-week break to complete what is a major overhaul rather than wait until the end of the season — when it appears likely the franchise will miss the playoffs for the 14th consecutive year, the longest active drought in the NFL.