The Aaron Rodgers experiment is all but over with the Jets. Owner Woody Johnson fired GM Joe Douglas on Tuesday, leaving a fully interim set of leaders to play out the string in New Jersey.
The housecleaning came after a stunning 28–27 loss to the Colts on Sunday that all but extinguished the Jets’ faint playoff hopes.
Johnson announced the firing in a statement, saying senior advisor Phil Savage would take over as interim GM for the rest of the season.
Douglas had an extraordinarily long leash, overseeing the flameouts of multiple quarterbacks and coaches. He drafted Zach Wilson at No. 2 overall in 2021; Wilson’s career went so poorly that the Jets dealt him to Denver last offseason and brought in Rodgers.
Rodgers was supposed to be the savior of a franchise that has spent more than a decade in the wilderness, and the Jets gave him $75 million in guaranteed money before the 2023 season. (That was a pay cut from the $110 million Rodgers was set to receive from his Packers deal.)
Instead, it was a disaster. Rodgers tore his Achilles four plays into 2023, and he has been visibly diminished in 2024, fearing pressure and lacking mobility while setting career-worst marks in major categories. The Jets’ 3–8 record with Rodgers this year means the quarterback has a lower winning percentage with the team than Wilson or Sam Darnold. They are only one game ahead of the Jaguars for the worst record and No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft.
When Douglas was hired in 2019, he agreed to a six-year deal reportedly worth $3 million annually. That deal expiring in January surely made him a lame duck for the rest of this season.
But Johnson decided to accelerate the process, possibly because he is widely rumored to be joining the second Trump administration. (Johnson handed the reins to his brother Christopher from 2017 to 2020 while he was Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.)
Woody Johnson hired Douglas from the Eagles in 2019 after then-coach Adam Gase forced out GM Mike Maccagnan in a power struggle. Those Jets went 7–9, which would turn out to be the high-water mark for the Douglas years. Gase’s final team went 2–14 in 2020, and then Robert Saleh went 20–36 before Johnson unilaterally fired him in the middle of this season.
After the Saleh firing, Johnson expressed hope and let Douglas acquire Rodgers’s buddy Davante Adams. “Thinking is overrated,” Johnson said at the time. “You have to look forward.” Once again, all the Jets have to look at is the future.
