Executive VP/GM Candidate: Darren Mougey

Edition #788

☀️ Good Morning ☕

Just when I thought I was done writing these GM candidate profiles, the Jets decide to conduct second interviews with a trio of candidates I hadn’t got to.

Lance Newmark, Darren Mougey and Trey Brown are the three names that have surfaced as leading candidates for the role. Yesterday we looked at Newmark and today we’re going to look at Darren Mougey.

Reports indicate that the next Jets GM will come from this trio and to be perfectly frank, I’d be very happy with all three. Newmark has the better experience and track record in terms of his final years in Detroit and last year in Washington, but both Mougey and Brown are two of the best rising stars in the NFL executive world. All of them could succeed, all of them could fail. Unfortunately like the draft, the hiring process is littered with danger.

If I had to choose one, I think I’d go with Mougey. He’s the in-between candidate. He doesn’t have the experience of Newmark but he’s more experienced than Brown and has held a higher position within a front office for longer. I have a feeling the Jets may go with Trey Brown, but that’s based on gut feel and nothing else.

🟢 The Jets will introduce Aaron Glenn as their new head coach in an official press-conference on Monday. We’ll have all the quotes in Tuesday’s edition.

🟢 Liam Coen has done a 180 and agreed to be the Jaguars new Head Coach. That situation in Jacksonville is mad. Coen interviewed, was considered the favourite for the job. He then pulled himself out of the running and agreed a new deal to become the NFL’s highest paid coordinator. Jacksonville have second interviews with candidates and look likely to hire Robert Saleh. They then fire their GM and Coen agrees to become their new HC.

🟢 Talking of Robert Saleh, reports indicate that he has agreed to return to San Francisco to become the DC of the 49ers. It’s a great hire for them, but I’m not sure this is going to do much to prove to people that Saleh can worth with people other than his friends.

🟢 PFF picked out one free agent that the Jets simply can’t afford to lose and it’s Jamien Sherwood - “Sherwood emerged as a viable starting option this season after C.J. Mosley missed most of the year due to injury. If Mosley becomes a cap casualty and the Jets re-sign Sherwood, they would be keeping a player who earned a team-high 77.1 PFF run-defense grade this past season. At just 25 years old, Sherwood still has plenty of room to improve, too.” I agree with that, I’m genuinely excited to see Sherwood under the leadership of Glenn. My hope is that one of Glenn’s first calls after putting his staff together is to Sherwood and Reed.

🟢 PFF also projected one breakout star for each team in 2025 and for the Jets that man is Olu Fashanu. Based on what we saw in 2024, it’s hard to argue with that - “Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses are free agents this offseason, which means that both probably won’t return. That may not be a negative thing, because the Jets have Fashanu waiting in the wings. The Penn State product generated only a 61.2 PFF overall grade in his first year, but his allowing of only one sack on 372 pass-blocking snaps — while playing left tackle, right tackle and even right guard — is a sign of things to come.”

🟢 Sticking with those guys at PFF who have been putting out a lot of good content recently. They had an article which listed the best landing spots for the top 15 defensive free agents. They had DJ Reed ending up in Pittsburgh and Haason Reddick in Arizona. They also had Carlton Davis III landing with the Jets: “Before a broken jaw in Week 15 cut his season short, Davis was a standout in the Lions secondary. Through 15 weeks, his 11 forced incompletions ranked ninth in the NFL, highlighting his ability to disrupt opposing passing attacks. Reuniting with former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, now the Jets’ head coach, could be the perfect move for Davis. Glenn’s aggressive schemes, which often rely on press coverage, play to Davis’ strengths. He allowed only seven open targets in press situations despite playing a significant number of press snaps, showcasing his ability to thrive in a physical, one-on-one role.”

🟢 I’m not fully into draft mode yet with everything that’s been going on with the Jets and free agency looming. But here’s a little Friday mock draft that I put together for discussion purposes and to make things easy, I only picked with the selections the Jets currently have. If there is one name that I want to highlight on here it’s David Walker from Central Arkansas, I can guarantee you’ll hear his name hyped in the coming months, but I want to get in there first.

Darren Mougey was the 9th candidate to interview with the Jets for their vacant General Manager position, and he must have said something right in that January 11th interview because he’s being brought back for a second look.

This time the Jets will be able to ask him specific questions about how he’d work with new Head Coach, Aaron Glenn. Although I’ve always been in favour of hiring a GM before the HC, I actually like the idea of these guys having to sit down and explain how their vision is aligned with that of Glenn.

Mougey is quite an interesting candidate because he’s only ever experienced the Denver Broncos front office. After playing quarterback at San Diego state (he actually replaced current Minnesota Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell there) and having a pitstop as a player with the Falcons (2009) and the Cardinals (2010), Mougey started his front office career with Denver and he’s been there ever since.