Woody Johnson has a few regrets and he was sure to mention several of them during his Black Monday press conference regarding the departures of General Manager John Idzik and coach Rex Ryan.
Near the top of the list was the decision to hire Idzik before the 2013 season while keeping Ryan on board, a move that may have limited interest from some other candidates for the general manager job and one that Johnson says he thinks about differently “in retrospect.” Johnson said that he’s not sure if there was a disconnect between Ryan and Idzik, but intimated that things didn’t work well when he said that the relationship between the men in those jobs has to be “mutual” and that Ryan didn’t get players that fit his scheme.
Johnson also expressed some regret about the team’s offseason work. He said that Idzik had a plan that led to the team having a mountain of cap space, but that the team “probably” should have spent more money. Johnson said there was no directive not to spend money and identified one player that he would have liked to spend that money on, although said he passed because of past experiences with Darrelle Revis’s agents.
“If I thought I could have gotten Darrelle for [what New England paid] I probably would have taken him,” Johnson said. “I’d love for him to come back.”
Revis can be a free agent after the season, which may make that comment one that gets forwarded to the league for tampering. In the meantime, Johnson, Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf will lead the search for a new coach/G.M. combo. Johnson said it was likely the Jets would go for a G.M. with more personnel experience than Idzik had and that he was looking for a coach who could “manage” as well as inspire the team.
The Jets have contacted the top candidates they’ve identified for the general manager job and interviews are expected to start soon. Johnson said the team would prefer to hire the G.M. first and promised transparency about the direction that the search moves in over the coming days and weeks.
