New York Jets fire GM Joe Douglas as tumultuous season spirals further out

The New York Jets fired general manager Joe Douglas on Tuesday, the team announced.

Douglas, 48, was in the final year of a six-year contract he signed to lead the Jets’ front office in 2019. New York fired him after a 3-8 start to the season.

“I want to thank Joe for his commitment to the Jets over the last six years and wish him and his family the best moving forward,” owner Woody Johnson said in a statement.

The Jets hired Douglas after he spent three years as the Philadelphia Eagles’ vice president of player personnel. In the 94 games Douglas has been general manager, the Jets have a 30-64 record.

Neither of Douglas’ swings at the quarterback position have worked out.

In 2021, Douglas selected quarterback Zach Wilson with the second overall pick in the NFL draft. But Wilson was 12-21 in three seasons with the Jets, with a career passer rating of only 73.2. New York traded him to the Denver Broncos this offseason.

And before the 2023 season, Douglas traded for three-time MVP Aaron Rodgers, a move that has proved to be disastrous.

Rodgers tore an Achilles tendon only four plays into the first game of last season, forcing Wilson back into the starting role. New York finished the season 7-10.

This year, with Rodgers healthy, the Jets are on pace to finish with an even worse record. And Rodgers is posting career lows in several statistical categories.

Douglas’ dismissal is the second major firing by New York this season. On Oct. 8, the team fired head coach Robert Saleh after a 2-3 start. In the six games since then, the Jets have gone 1-5.

New York entered this season with high expectations, but things got off to a rocky start.

In July, the team fined Rodgers $50,000 after he skipped a mandatory practice in June for a trip to Egypt.

In the Jets’ third game of the season, Rodgers famously rejected a hug from Saleh after a second-quarter touchdown, instead giving him a light shove. (Rodgers and Saleh would downplay the incident as harmless.)

In addition to the Saleh firing, Douglas also tried to jump-start the team’s struggling offense by trading for receiver Davante Adams — Rodgers’ former teammate with the Green Bay Packers — in October. But Adams has caught only one touchdown pass in five games and has yet to record 100 yards receiving in a single game with New York.

The Jets will now need both a new head coach and a new general manager in the offseason. If the season were to end today, New York would own the seventh pick in the 2025 draft.