Open Rants by Andy Q.

If any of you have seen HBO’s Deadwood you might be familiar with Al Swearengen’s famous declaration that his town “can be combative.” A similar statement could be applied to the new-look Jets coaching staff and the hirings of Adam Gase, Gregg Williams, and Joe Vitt ( the coach who testified against Williams in BountyGate). While I hope I’m wrong, I just get a bad feeling about the incoming staff. With that said, here’s what I’d do if I owned the Jets with a bonus 2019 “Dream Draft.”

Things I’d Do To Fix the Jets

1. Retain HC Todd Bowles

This is a hot take and one that’s bound to be unpopular with Jet fans. But hear me out! I acknowledge that Bowles might not be the most innovative or creative head coach in the NFL, however, there’s something to be said of the coach who took arguably the least talented roster in the NFL to a record of 5-11 in 2017, in addition to leading a Ryan Fitzpatrick lead squad to a 10-win season in 2015. Bowles was never, truly, put in a position to succeed, especially when starting a rookie QB in Sam Darnold last season. For the majority of his tenure, Bowles earned the respect of the locker room, and was generally seen as a player’s coach. It’s unfair to saddle a coach with journeyman veterans and a raw rookie QB and expect them to win at a consistent level. Though it certainly hasn’t been stellar, the defense has shown modest signs of improvement under Bowles with opponent QB ratings dropping every year he’s been in charge and the number of sacks clocking in at a respective 39 in 2018, a marginal improvement from the high 20s in years past.

While I thought he tended to be too conservative at times, relying too heavily on the run and failing to challenge opposind defenses downfield, I’d probably lean towards giving departed OC Jeremy Bates another year at the helm, as well, for the sake of stability. Sam Darnold’s development is critical to the franchise’s success and I think the core of Bates and de-facto QB coach Josh McCown should have been given the chance to germinate for a bit longer than a season. We’ve seen how a plethora of offensive coordinators can stunt a QBs development with Marcus Mariota and his 4 soon to be 5 (!) offensive coordinators over as many years. The Jets are still a couple of years away (at best) from being a legitimate title-contender so I see no harm in giving Bowles and his staff a longer leash than usual.

2. Hire Cowboys VP of Player Personnel Will McClay as GM

Mike Maccagnan is not the worst GM in the NFL. He deserves credit for trading up and selecting Darnold in addition to fortifying our once-decrepit secondary, however he does have a tendency to both miss in the draft and let genuine contributors walk. For instance, HB Isaiah Crowell is expected to be cut despite being under a three-year contract and averaging almost 5 yards per carry. Mac also let TE Austen Sefarian Jenkins, a talented TE, walk despite having the cap space to retain him. Jenkins and rookie TE Chris Herndon could’ve been a nice tandem to pair together.

That said, this move is mostly a reflection of my opinion on McClay as a talent evaluator. McClay has been the architect of a dominant Dallas defensive front-7 and has proven himself to be an exquisite scout drafting studs such as LB Leighton Vander Esch, DE Demarcus Lawrence, and OG Connor Williams. He has the potential to be a John Dorsey like hire, and I’m surprised he hasn’t been poached by any other front offices.

DREAM DRAFT

1(03) : OLB Josh Allen, UK - by retaining Bowles we stick with our 34 and Allen can be a plug and play starter rushing off the edge)

3 (68): WR Riley Ridley, UGA - a receiving threat for Sam Darnold.

3(94): OG Chris Lindstrom - I feel delusional thinking Linstrom could fall this far, but he’d be a great addition to our interior OLine.

4(99): HB Myles Gaskin, WASH - a pass-catching back that would compliment Crowell’s hard-nosed style really well.

Sources: https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/a7beh5/which_coaches_should_be_fired_the_firing_squad/

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/jets-isaiah-crowell-could-be-cut/