Executive VP/GM Candidate: Jon-Eric Sullivan

Edition #784

☀️Good morning☕

The NFL championship games are set, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more of a Washington Commanders fan as I am this morning.

I want both AFC teams to lose that Championship game and I don’t have much time for the Eagles either. Washington were outstanding in taking down the #1 seed Detroit on Saturday night, and they have all the momentum with Jayden Daniels playing at an elite level, not just physically but mentally as well.

I saw a lot of negativity around Aaron Glenn following the Lions defeat, which was disappointing but not surprising. Giving up nearly 500 yards of offence and 38 points (not counting the pick six) is always going to draw negative criticism. But one game doesn’t undo a 30+ year NFL career, and you’re hiring a head coach and not a DC. That game didn’t change the leadership qualities that made/make Glenn so appealing.

A lot of people decided to ignore the context of those defensive struggles as well, saying instead that people were making excuses for him.

Detroit this year have played over 30 different defensive players, they’ve had 18+ injuries on the defensive side of the ball. Heading into the game on Saturday they were missing 75% of their starting defensive line, which meant that had Glenn not blitzed Daniels, he would have had all day to sit back and pick them apart. During the game they lost Amik Robertson early and then Brian Branch was banged up and missed key series as well. They had to bring in a UDFA to play his first defensive snaps and Kliff Kingsbury went at him all night. By the end they were missing over 50% of their starters on defense and that’s adding to the fact they lost most of their depth too, Wingo, Houston, Rodriguez, Barnes, Melifonwu, Dorsey and Ennis Rakestraw Jr were all key backups this season and all were missing. That’s adding to them missing two of their best starters in Hutchinson and McNeil as well as starters Davis and Davenport.

So if you think I’m making excuses for Aaron Glenn, that’s absolutely fine. But I’ll tell you what, it’s one hell of an excuse in my opinion. If you’re out on Glenn, I don’t think there’s anything I can say to change your mind, but Saturday night didn’t change a thing for me, if the Jets turn around and hire him today…I’ll be delighted.

🟢 With the Texans and Lions getting eliminated this week, the Jets can start interviewing certain candidates in person. Aaron Glenn and Bobby Slowik are the two from those teams who they seem to have the most interest in.

🟢 The Jets announced they had interviewed Joe Whitt Jr. the Washington Commanders defensive coordinator. He was a huge reason the Commanders won that game in Detroit as he was able to force 5 turnovers.

🟢 The Jets also announced that they had completed an interview with Josh McCown, the current Minnesota Vikings QB coach, responsible for overseeing the renaissance of Sam Darnold.

🟢 We also completed an interview with Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley who coached Green Bay to the 5th ranked defense this year, Green Bay also had the 4th most takeaways, a problem area of the Jets. Hafley coached Revis back in college and has head coaching experience from Boston College. Interesting name.

🟢 The Jets signed WR Ontaria Wilson to Reserve/Future Contract. He was in the CFL this year and caught 71 passes for 1,026 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Blue Bombers. He was with the Chargers before that as an undrafted free agent out of Florida State where he registered 108 receptions for 1,521 yards and 12 touchdowns in 51 games.

The first GM hiring of the off-season has been made with Mike Borgonzi heading to Tennessee to try and help re-build the Titans. Borgonzi was my #1 candidate based on who’s interviewed for the Jets, but the Titans moved quickly to narrow their search down for 2nd interviews before striking to get their man.

Based on everything I’ve heard, the Jets liked Borgonzi a lot but weren’t ready to complete their search. Who knows whether he’d have preferred a move to New York and maybe we’ll never find out, but now we have to move on to other candidates.

My hope and preference is still that Ray Agnew comes over from Detroit, but with him not taking any interviews that seems unlikely. Another name that I really like is Jon-Eric Sullivan from Green Bay.

Sullivan is currently the vice president of player personnel for the Packers, and has spent over 20 years in a great organisation who knows about winning and consistency.

Sullivan has a wealth of experience in various roles including co-director of player personnel for four seasons (2018-21), director of college scouting for two seasons (2016-17) and a college scout for eight seasons.

As director of college scouting he would have had a big say in the Packers drafting Kenny Clark in 2016, and the 3x Pro Bowler is still with the team, Kevin King in 2017 who spent 5 years in Green Bay which included 7 interceptions and 30 pass defences and Aaron Jones who was grabbed in the 5th round.

There are misses in the years he was director of college scouting like Josh Jones in the 2nd round of the 2017 draft but that’s to be expected with every candidate.

Sullivan is a former college wide receiver who’s the son of Jerry Sullivan who started his coaching career back in 1971 with Kansas State and retired in 2021 with the Arizona Cardinals. So Sullivan not only played football at the college level, but he’s been around football his entire life from a coaching standpoint which gives him a certain perspective that some front office personnel don’t have.

He’s been with the Packers since 2003 and through that period he’s witnessed and been part of a championship team in 2010 (XLV) which he won with Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay have made 16 playoff appearances including 5 NFC Championship games. So if you want to find someone who has seen first-hand what it takes to maintain a consistent franchise, then he’s your man.

Acting as the vice president of player personnel for the Packers would set him up well to take a step up into a GM role. In that role with the Packers he’s not only overseen player acquisition through free agency and trade but he’s also worked with the salary cap and established relationships with agents. So when you combine his long scouting background, with his playing and coaching career, and then add his current role you get a very well rounded candidate. There’s a reason why he made it to the final round with the Tennessee Titans alongside Mike Borgonzi and based on everything I’ve heard, if/when the Jets announced their 2nd round of interviews, I’d fully expect him to be on it.

Interestingly Packers GM Brian Gutekunst was asked about Sullivan this weekend and he responded by saying “He’ll be missed” which would indicate that they’re aware he’s getting hired elsewhere. Sullivan only interviewed with the Titans and Jets, so with the Titans having filled the role it would seem the Jets are the favourites. Now maybe it was just a slip and he meant that if he were to be hired he would be missed, sometimes it’s far too easy to read too much into these things, but it’s worth watching.

Speaking of Gutekunst, here’s what he had to say about Sullivan in general:

"I can't imagine a better candidate out there. I'm certainly very, very biased, but whoever gives him an opportunity, he's going to do an outstanding job. He's really impacted our organization in so many different ways. He'll be missed, but we also have a lot of guys that I think are ready to move into that space and if that's the case. But selfishly, I'd like him back. But I think he's absolutely 100% ready for this opportunity and excited for him,"

If I can’t have Agnew and I couldn’t have Borgonzi, then give me Sullivan.