Just When I Was Starting to Believe in the Jets……

I'm not completely abandoning my belief in the Jets or my outlandish, oft-criticized prediction for the 2019 season (winning the AFC East) but man, this organization is making it really difficult to defend the team or bring believers into the fold.

General manager Mike Maccagnan made some really good draft decisions and free agent signings in the last two years. First round selections of Jamal Adams, Sam Darnold and Quinnen Williams. This offseason, New York added CJ Mosley, Le'Veon Bell and Jamison Crowder. All valuable pieces.

Jets ownership trusted Maccagnan to make those decisions and the hiring of new head coach Adam Gase, so why fire him now? I get that the answer is simple; Gase and Maccagnan didn't see eye to eye, but the fallout from this is dangerous. Forget slippery slope, this is a lightning-fast slip 'n slide. Jets COO Christopher Johnson sided with the head coach, who hasn't coached a game for his team yet, and is handing over what feels like unilateral power.

We now know this: there's no way the next GM of the Jets doesn't have the stamp of approval from Gase before he or she is hired. This is just another misstep in a long line of them in Jets' franchise management history. Why not fire Maccagnan when you fired former head coach Todd Bowles? Why allow Maccagnan make franchise-altering decisions, for better or worse, if you weren't going to stick up for him at the next sign of "trouble?"