The Job of Joe Douglas

Edition #133

🌟 Good morning.

Happy schedule release day. We already know who we’ll be playing but tonight we’ll find out when we’re playing them. There has been a leak of the Jets’ schedule and they tend to be on the button, so we’ll dive into a couple of aspects of that below.

If you missed my Sauce Gardner deep dive yesterday, you can read that HERE. You can also read the Garrett Wilson & Breece Hall deep dives. I’ll be getting a tweet out soon to vote on the next one, so make sure you’re following me over on Twitter.

1️⃣ I’m one of those really boring people who don’t care about player numbers, I rarely buy jerseys now with the rate of player turnover, and when I do it’s usually a classic. A Curtis Martin or a Nick Mangold. However, there was some excitement yesterday when Sauce Gardner revealed he’d be wearing the #1 jersey, with DJ Reed giving up the number and taking #4. So if you want a Sauce #1 jersey, it’s safe to get that order in.

✂️ Former Jets running back Josh Adams was cut by the Saints yesterday. Adams was with NY between 2019-2021. He had a couple of touchdowns while with the Jets, but we would like to forget those years as quickly as possible.

📢 Two players met with the media yesterday and there were a couple of really good quotes:

Carl Lawson called the defensive line room “a breeding ground for absolute monsters” - Adding Jermaine Johnson and Micheal Clemons will do that.

Lawson on if he will be ready for camp “I'll be ready to go at any time. Even when I was on one leg, I was ready to go." - But he did confirm he’d leave it up to the training staff.

C.J Uzomah was speaking about the youth “The young guys in here...I have not seen a work ethic like that in a while." - Young and hungry.

Uzomah on what he’s seen from Lawson "He's built like an action figure. If you go on Madden and build a player, that is Carl. He's a freak."

📅 Let’s briefly touch on the leaked schedule release. Now, this isn’t confirmed, but these leaks tend to be mostly accurate. They have the Jets starting the season at home on Sunday Night Football against the Patriots. I mean I’d love to kick the Patriots’ ass to start the season but is it just me or is that just a bad game to start with. They then have the Jets playing on Thursday Night Football against the Jaguars in week 15 and Monday Night Football against the Dolphins in week 9.

I’ve actually seen 3 variations of schedules now, but here is the one that I saw first.

Week 1: vs Patriots (SNF) 🙄
Week 2: @ Browns 🔶
Week 3: vs Lions 🦁
Week 4: @ Dolphins 🐬
Week 5: @ Vikings ⚫
Week 6: vs Bills 👀
Week 7: BYE Week
Week 8: @ Steelers ⚫🌟
Week 9: vs Dolphins (MNF) 🐬
Week 10: vs Bengals 🐯
Week 11: @ Broncos 🐴
Week 12: @ Seahawks 🪶
Week 13: vs Ravens ⚫
Week 14: @ Packers 🧀
Week 15: vs Jaguars (TNF) 🐆
Week 16: @ Patriots 🙄
Week 17: vs Bears 🐻
Week 18: @ Bills 👀
PLAYOFFS: You know it!

⌨️ The Job of Joe

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the structure of the Jets’ re-build, and how for the first time in a long time I genuinely believe in the philosophy behind it, the logic, and I’m convinced that it’s going to result in a lot of wins for Robert Saleh and the Jets organization.

The #1 aspect of the rebuild that I’m all in on is the support being provided to Zach Wilson. “The biggest thing I want to tell you, just remember this. This organization is going to lift you. Not the other way around” - Those were the words of head coach Robert Saleh to Zach Wilson moments after they drafted him, and the proof is in the pudding.

✍️ SIGNED: Corey Davis (WR), Laken Tomlinson (OG), Tyler Conklin (TE), C.J Uzomah (TE), Braxton Berrios (WR), Tevin Coleman (RB)
🎓 DRAFTED: Alijah Vera-Tucker (OG), Elijah Moore (WR), Michael Carter (RB), Garrett Wilson (WR), Breece Hall (RB), Jeremy Ruckert (TE)

Those are the major additions to the offense over the last two off-seasons. Packed with playmakers. You could also argue that all the defensive additions that have been made will lift Zach as well, he won’t be forced to play from behind all the time, he won’t be forced into trying to score 21 points in three drives because we’re down by 30.

Joe Douglas promised the fanbase a rebuild that we could get behind. He promised Zach Wilson that he would support him and give him the tools he required to be the best player he could possibly be. The truth is we don’t know if Zach is the one, he’s flashed some good and he’s flashed a fair amount of bad. But if Zach doesn’t make it, it’s not going to be for a lack of a supporting cast.

I’m over here looking at that starting offense for the Jets in 2022, and I’m practically giddy. On paper that’s the best offense, we’ve seen in NY for a long time. I believe in Zach, I believe in his potential and I believe the Jets have put him in the best possible place to succeed.

Now contrast that with what we’ve seen from the Chicago Bears in support of Justin Fields. Now, this isn’t a Bears newsletter, but I believe that looking at the work of Ryan Poles will give you a better appreciation for the job that Joe Douglas is doing. This is the first off-season for Poles in Chicago after taking over from Ryan Pace, and for that reason, I’m going to put in brackets what years the players were signed/drafted.

✍️ SIGNED: Damiere Byrd (WR, 2021), Marquise Goodwin (WR, 2021), Damien Williams (RB, 2021), Byron Pringle (WR, 2022), Equanimeous St. Brown (WR, 2022), Lucas Patrick (C, 2022), Dakota Dozier (OG, 2022)
🎓 DRAFTED: Teven Jenkins (OT, 2021), Larry Borom (OT, 2021), Khalil Herbert (RB, 2021), Dazz Newsome (WR, 2021), Velus Jones Jr. (WR, 2022), Braxton Jones (OT, 2022), Zachary Thomas (OT, 2022), Trestan Ebner (RB, 2022)

Take a look at that list, is there anyone on there that scares you as an opponent? St. Brown is probably the best of the bunch and he had 37 receptions in 3 years playing with one of the best quarterbacks on the planet in Aaron Rodgers. The Bears had two picks in the second round this year and they spent them both on defense, Gordon and Brisker are two fine players, but can you please support your 2nd year QB. George Pickens, Skyy Moore, and Alec Pierce were all available at both their picks.

There is a lot of internet chatter at the moment around the Bears and their lack of support for their young QB. The offensive signings are quite frankly offensive, and the drafted players on the offensive side of the ball are either lineman or late-round skill position players. Maybe some of them work out, but if I were Justin Fields I’d be feeling let down right now. Partly with who’s come into the building and partly who’s left.

Allen Robinson was allowed to walk out the door to sign a contract with the Rams, and James Daniels a 4-year starter on the offensive line is now in Pittsburgh. I know it’s only year one of the Poles regime, but they’re leaving Fields out to dry in 2022 with that lineup. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m sure glad we have Joe Douglas who is hell-bent on making his QB’s life as easy as humanly possible.

Jermaine is ready to work

The Jets’ third first-round pick knows it won’t be easy and in a recent interview with the official Jets website he gave us an insight into his mentality:

"My mindset is violence," Johnson said, via the team website's Jack Bell. "There's no pretty boy work in the trenches. It's fun to sack the quarterback, but first and second down are primarily runs, so you have to earn the right to rush the passer. You have to be violent."

The pass-rush for the Jets has been rather underwhelming for a long time, and the Jets finally have some exciting depth on the line. Johnson will be joining prized 2021 free-agent acquisition Carl Lawson next season and he can’t wait:

"I talked to Carl and told him how excited I am to get to work," Johnson said. "And he's available. It speaks to who he is and how everyone speaks about him. That's all I need to know. What people say about you when you're not around is what's important and I'm blessed and excited to learn under a guy like that. I'm blessed to be in a room like that, with these players and these coaches."

With John Franklin-Myers sure to get some reps outside, Vinny Curry back in the building, and the addition of Micheal Clemons through the draft, Johnson knows that nothing will be handed to him and he’ll need to work for every snap:

"Elite rush, get off fast, have a plan and supreme confidence," he said. "You're not going to win every rep, but you have to keep going and keep going. I go to every football field believing I'm the best player on the field. You have to have that elite plan and confidence."

I’m going to start doing a few different things with the GTO segment of the newsletter. I’ll still include articles I’ve enjoyed, but I’m also going to start including things I’ve seen on Twitter (see below) and some people/accounts/channels that I’m digging. I get a ton of support for this newsletter and so I want to put some of those good vibes back into the universe and as GreenBean said in one of his recent videos, the Jets have a ton of great fan content creators, so let’s shine a light.

🌟 TWITTER - I just had to bring some attention to this graphic, produced by @DLO87 on Twitter (Head over to his Twitter to check out some others). I mean look at it, awesome job man, love it. I’m secretly hoping that Micheal Clemons wins the vote for the next deep dive, the more I look into him the more I love that selection.

▶️ YOUTUBE - GREENBEAN JETSFAN - I’ve been loving GB’s videos, and while I can rarely watch them live due to the time difference his “After Hours Jets Fest” series is outstanding. If you want some no BS, informed and positive outlooks on the Jets then you can’t go wrong here.

▶️ YOUTUBE - Frankie from Flatbush - Another YouTube channel that puts out consistently good content, and Frankie is a huge supporter of TJW but that’s not why he’s featured here. Frankie is another no BS YouTuber who always has something positive to say and that’s how it should be, there is a ton of positives around the Jets right now and it’s not always you can say that.

▶️ YOUTUBE - MattOLearyNY - Final Youtube channel of the day, I’ve only just subscribed to Matt’s channel but I’ve been watching his videos for a long time. It’s only since having my own subscribe option that I’ve realized how important it is to hit that button. Matt produces a ton of quality content and while he does offer longer more details discussion videos, it’s his bitesize 10 minutes or less Jets takes that I personally love.