Why did a week pass before news broke that Joe Douglas was the favorite to be named the G.M. of the Jets and the announcement that they’d finally hired him? It may be that the Jets initially tried to lowball Douglas with their initial contract offer.
Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that the Jets initially offered Douglas $1.5 million a year but ended up more than doubling that. Douglas has signed a six-year deal worth more than $3 million a year.
The Jets ultimately got their man, so it all worked out in the end, but lowballing their first-choice candidate for arguably the most important job in the franchise seems unwise. Douglas already had a good job with a good franchise, the Eagles, and trying to pay him below market rate could have turned him off to the Jets and made him decide to stay in Philadelphia.
Now Douglas has a six-year deal, which should make him feel secure that he’ll have the time to build the Jets’ roster his way.
