LISTEN | Joe Douglas Talks First Draft, Jets Picks & Roster (4/29)

especially when you consider the unusual circumstances. To say the least, Green's patient, calculating, well thought out. I thought the Jets to a man, they raved about the communication heading up to the draft. Their preparation was on point. I think the collaboration between Joe Douglass and his personal staff and Adam Gaze and the coaching staff was tremendous. I think the guys felt very good heading into the weekend, and then Joe Douglas had every reason to feel very good

about improving his roster after the weekend. That his first draft class is general manager in the New York that's nine players, uh, and he also traded for one. So yeah, I consider a time person class. But I just thought Joe was patient and the other thing that he did he never reached. That's what it felt like throughout the draft, Greens, and we saw him make three trades, so we thought going into it, yeah, he probably make a trader too,

but three trades very interesting. So um And and when you trade down, Greens, you have to have confidence in your selection of players, in the prop that you've had, because when you trade down, that means that some players are gonna obviously go off the board. So you have to have a group of players you're comfortable taken. And uh, I think Joe Douglas is every reason to feel very good about what transported. Let's hear from the headman himself before we talk about this roster anymore. Here he is

Joe Douglas, one on one. Joe, how special was your first draft as general manager of the New York Jets. It was great, It was It was a great process. I think the best part was getting getting in with our our scouts and our and our coaching staff and having that weekend meetings and you know, hearing everybody's rankings and hearing everybody's reports and the discussions that we had that kind of that led us into last weekend's draft. It was I thought it was a great process and

everything everything works smoothly. We were able to upgrade the talent of the team. First virtual draft in NFL history. Your wife, she had an offered to keep the kids in the basement, but you decline. When Addison hugged hugged you, when Eddie hugged you, and Tommy and Lulu were there.

Can you describe that moment? Yeah, that was surreal. Um, you know, they wanted go down the basement because they didn't want to be too loud, but it was such a it's such a unique thing to have your family this close to you during the draft, and with them being in the room opposite and then having the call with McKay and how excited he was and his family was,

and so that that gets you fired up. And then in walks uh your children and you know they're hugging you and telling you how proud they are, and you know, um, you've worked so hard for for a moment like this, and it really put things in perspective. It really hit

me like this, this is truly a special evening. Speaking of perspective, if you had an emphasis on the offensive line, a need for speed and playmakers around your quarterback Sam Donald, the quest for position flexibility, and you wanted to shore up some needs. Just how far has this roster come since January? When you look at it from the perspective, not only is just the draft, but free agency as well. You know, I think from the from the start, UM, our focus was going going to be to improve the

protection and playmakers on offense. I feel like we address that in free agency. UM. And then the draft was another opportunity to address it as well. And you know, the pieces that we're able to bring in over the weekend, both offense and defense. UM, you know, the the explosive playmakers, guys that can play multiple spots. UM. What we're able to do in free agency, Uh, you know, offense and defense bringing back some key some key players from last

year's team. UM. You know, I feel I feel good about where we are, UM go after after free agency in the draft, but we also know we have a lot of work to do as well. UM. You know, any opportunity we can to shore up any any position group, we're gonna look into it. Mackay Beckton and when did he jump on your radar during the pre draft process,

McKay jumped on my radar probably around October. UM, just you know, are our scouts send in a little stock up stock down report every every week just from the places that they've been, the players they looked, and you know, mackay was a stock up guy, and UM scouts were excited about him and as a possible underclassman that was gonna come out early and just going out to practice and seeing seeing how big he was and how he

moved around. So um, just seeing that that that report from our area area scouts and over the top scouts

and then putting the tape on. I think the first game I watched was the Notre Dame game, and you just see this this hulking uh left tackle that moves moves so easy and he's able to just um, you know, snap snap defenders heads back every time he hits them, and he lifts guys off there, you know, in in in uncomfortable positions and put put putting guys on the ground and it's uh, it's eye opening and says, Okay, this guy has some unusual traits that get you fired

up at the tackle spots. So that was really the genesis of how mackay got on my radar, Joe. I know the film is so important and that doesn't lie. But when a guy goes to Indianapolis and you're sitting there at the combine six seven four pounds and he runs a forty yard dash in five point one seconds, have you ever seen anything like that before? Yeah, you knew he was a good athlete from watching the tape.

You knew he could, he knew he could slide his feet, you knew, you knew he could mirror defense, uh, edge rusher's um in pass pro Uh. But when you saw, when you saw the forty, it just confirmed everything you saw on tape that this is a big athletic man that can do that, can do a lot of things. So, um, it was certainly it was certainly impressive to see a man that size moved out well, But but it was it wasn't out of it wasn't out of character for for for many thing we saw on tape. Okay, right

prior to the drafts. I think it was a day prior you gave McKay a call. Can you give us the nature of that conversation and why you came out of that feeling good? If that guy's on the board. He might be in New York chet. Yeah. You know, with with some of the things that had come out, you know, there there were questions that you know, we wanted answers on, and um, you know, I can tell you that the conversation that I had with McKay was a great conversation. And uh, there was upfront. He was

up front. Um, there was there was honesty, he was authentic. Um, you know, he took he took ownership, and you know, it was it was a really it was a really good conversation. And you know, just being able to spend a little extra time with him one on one on a FaceTime call, it was a it was a good experience. I'm gonna go through the dry player by player. I talked to you about a bunch of these guys over

the weekend. But when you think about a foundation pillar perhaps and McKay back then developmental piece along the offensive line, a playmaking receiver to versatile highly skilled athletes for the defense, backups for a pair of signature players on offense, a pair of cornerbacks and U punner, six team captains in all, how do you think this class of two thousand twenty potentially can help build the foundation of what you're trying to do here. Yeah, we'll see, We'll see down the

road how all these guys pan out. You know, we're obviously excited about the character and the ability we were able to add. Um, I think all these guys have great opportunity to come in and compete and really make a name for themselves with this training camp. Um, you know, I'm I'm excited about our process how it played out. But you know, this, this is a this is a group.

You know, we were we were fortunate. Um, we were able to acquire some extra picks and trades and we were fortunate on how the board fell and we were able to get get get the right guys. Um that that are good players. So, um, they're gonna they're gonna have opportunity. That's all you can ever ask for, and they've got they each of them have great opportunity to

make an impact on this year's roster. That's how strong has the collaboration been throughout the offseason despite this un precedent of time with not only you and your personnel staff, but your staff with Adam Gaze and the coaching staff. Yeah, I mean there's so many good people in this building. And you know, I know I've mentioned Murph and Steve in the I T group and how they really helped us with h with the video teleconferenceaing and getting our

coaching staff and personnel staff set up. But then you know, when you have guys like Dan's Vowski, you know who's who's our director of who as our director of personnel coordinator, he does he does such a phenomenal job of getting everybody on the same page and so um, you know, when we were able to get on the same page with teams, app get everybody in check in terms of the video conferencely with the players, and then come together for this this week of draft meetings that we have

with the coaches, and everyone was able to just put their opinion out there. Um, And if you did the work, you get a chance to speak your mind on the player. And we're always not going to agree, and but we're gonna hash it out respectfully and we're gonna we're gonna try to come to the best, uh, the best decision for the New York Jets moving forward. So I think

it was a good process. I think everybody, I think everybody was all in Um, you know, from from uh collaboration standpoint new Adam Gates going into this and then obviously you had last year to kind of watch the coaching staff and this and their players in action. But just how well have things worked between you two guys

this offseason. No, it's been good. I mean we've been able to either uh get on the team's app or call each other just about every day and check in and you know, bounce ideas off each other, and um, you know, these meetings were great, you know during during the week, and then the strategy meetings that we had leading up to the great leading up to the draft. You know, we we had a lot of a lot of conversation, you know, and even and even uh me and coach we didn't always see eye to eye on

exact rankings, but we talked it out. We had we had great discussions and I think I think both of us were really happy on how this this year's draft turned out. Joe, what do you think about the support you've put around Sam Donald. We oftentimes have talked about the offensive line and that was one area where you really emphasize. But you're bringing Rashod Perryman a free agency you raft Denzel Men's in the second round. You already

have Jameson Crowder here on campus, so to speak. Your tight ends include Ryan Griffin, who kind of did everything for you last year. You're hoping to get Chris Hernon back. At two thousand twenty, you still have one of the most talented running backs in football, and Levian Bell. You add la Michael p. Ryan to the mix. How much better do you feel about the offensive weapons around Sam right now? Yeah? I think I think I feel good about where we're heading up front in terms of in

terms of the other line. I feel like also that a lot of people forgot about Chris Herndon and how good of a player that he is. Um, you know, a little bit snake He was snake bit last year with the suspension and then the injury coming off of suspension. But you're talking about a tight end as a rookie that I want to say was the number two tight end in all of the NFL and explosive plays as a as a rookie. So, um, you know, not having

him last year it hurt. And so I'm really excited to get Chris back, and you know, with him, with Griffin and Ryan Ryan was a great addition, and then a young guy like west go. So Phil, Phil feel excited to see these tight ends come back. And um, you know, the depth that we've added at wide receiver, the depth that we've added at a line, the depth that we've added at running back. You know, I'm just excited to get these guys on the field. And and uh hopefully you know, we need to get on the

field and get some chemistry. But the there there's uh, there's talent that excites you. But I talked to you about this in Indianapolis and you said the need for speed you address both sides of the ball um specifically the wide receiver position. Brashad Perryman bring him in a free accene and then Denzel Men's we talked about him over the weekend, a long strider. But both of those

guys have sub four four speed. So how potentially cannot help Sam, because I know you've mentioned it before and Adam has two, is that you can't have the stress to all the time of matriculating the ball down the field, so to speak. With twelve plate drives, sometimes you got

to score quickly in this league. Yeah, I know we talked a little bit at the combine about the vertical aspect of an offense and and how we saw the two teams competed in the Super Bowl, how both of their offense feature a vertical passing gaming, how and how much pressure that puts on a defense. And so when you have guys like Perriman, Um, like like Prashad, like Denzel, who are two big guys that run really fast on the outside, Um, the those those guys can put a

lot of pressure on the defense. Um, you have you have to be on alert for them when it comes to the vertical passing game. And so the hope is that that opens up a lot of free space for Jamison, for love Um, for for Herndon, for Griff for Westco. So you you're you're hoping that this speed can really open up the door and pass game for a lot

of other people. Last question about offensive line real quick, How big was it for you in Baltimore that you had a Hall of Famer at left tackle in Jonathan Ogden, and then in Philadelphia you had Jason Peters, who I think is gonna definitely get Hall of Fame consideration. And we're not gonna put any kind of um projections I'm McKay, Beckton or anybody for that matter. But with that being said, how much can potentially a guy like who has talent

like that help an offensive line? Yeah, you just mentioned two unbelievable players, Um, both both. You know, Jo is the first pound of Hall of Famer. JP is going to be a Hall of Famer. Um. And you know those when you have when you have a tackle like at left tackle like that, you go into a game very relaxed in terms of in terms of protection. Just you know, havening't been in Baltimore as long as I was.

You you you went into games and you just you really didn't have to worry, um about about the other team's best pass rusher unless they moved into the other side of the formation, which oftentimes they did. So when you have a tackle like that, um, it takes. It makes you sleep a little better at night before a game. You know. And um, you know I I wouldn't. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna compare McKay um to those two guys. I mean, McKay has got to blaze his

own trail. Um. But uh, you know you're excited about the ability. You know, you're excited about about the traits that he has, the mentality that he plays with, and uh, you know, we we feel like he's a guy that could that could, that could be a difference maker for us up front. Where do you think the steam is a defensively you were side Jordan Jenkins and Brian Pool among others, but then in the draft you get a pair of highly athletic players who provide speed and versatility.

And that's the thing with all these acquisitions we're talking about with Joe Douglas right now, is the multiplicity of positions that these guys can play. Ashton Davis and Jabari's aninga. I think you should be perfect fits for a defense that employs so many different packages. With Greg Williams excited about the both those guys. You know, Ashton brings speed, ball skills, versatility. Um, he's a guy you can want.

You can throw the type tape on. You can see him line up over slot receiver and cover them in man coverage. You can see him line up as a high safety and range over to the sideline to make up play on the ball. You can see him attack the alleys in the in the run game. You can see him blitz so Um, what what we have with with Jamal, with Marcus and you know National letting him compete. Um, you know, the hope is that he can he can provide that that kind of versatility and playmaking to our

back end. Back end and a guy like Jabari's Aniga who battled injury this year. But another guy, uh, he can he can play the end, he can reduce inside and Nickel packages the lineup over guard. You know his suddenness, his explosiveness off the ball, you know his motor, his play temperament, how hard he plays, that jumps off the tape. So so Um, with those two guys, we feel like those are guys that can that can line up in in different positions on and he can play and you

know based on matchups and help us. So you know, we're just we're excited to add those guys. Something that's flying onto the radar here. I think externally, at least not internally, is the emphasis you put on special teams to Aston Davis was a very good kickoff returner at California. Michael p Ryan contribute on teams that have Florida and then we talked about it. Grandpore stood on the table for his partner of Brandon Man and you guys picked

him up in the sixth round. So, UH, shouldn't we think in terms of not just the way you're attacking offense and defense, but where some of these acquisition acquisitions UH will help in fact or in do special teams play? Yeah, the best teams are balanced teams across the board in all three phases, and they have depth and um, you know, we feel good about the depth we've had and on special teams, you feel good about something some guys that can compete to be contributors next year on special teams.

I know brands fired up about a few guys, but also you know, like you like you excuse me, like you mentioned on man Um a guy that we were excited about, I mean, and the things that he can do with his directional kicks, the leg strength, um, the ability to kick off if need be. So another guy that can that can really do more than one thing. The virtual off season program under way, Joe, what's going

to be the challenge ahead for UH? We talked about Sam's aren't a little bit a lot of new pieces on offense, but we don't know when you guys will be able to see the field, just like anybody in the National Football League. But uh, what do you think about your head coach, Adam Gates talking about he's got

to become an extension of the coaching staff. Now, yeah, you know, these these virtual meetings, Um, these virtual O t a s. They're big, you know, and just having the opportunity to jump into a couple of different meetings, seeing the interaction that's going back and put back and forth between the players and coaches. Um, you know, going over last year's tape, going over the things that we could do better, Uh, going over just the base the

day one basic fundamentals. Um, you know, there's there's an energy. You know, there's there's a lot of hungry guys. So I think I think the energy is there, hunger is there. And now the next step is us getting together and

building the chemistry. And so that's that's obviously there's uncertainty with what's going on around the world, but I think that's the next step when we get together again, is to really start building that chemistry that takes good teams, that can take you from being a good team to a great team. And so, um, you know, we we've got a lot of work to do like we said, But I think I think that's gonna be a big thing for us moving forward and we're able to get

back together under one roof. Do you think you guys took a step forward with the culture here in the off season because you targeted specific people and free agency not just the roles on the field, but what they would bring inside your room, and then you followed it up within the draft you selected six team captains out of your nine picks. Yeah. I mean, we're excited about the character that we added. Um. You know, I know

we talked about a little bit earlier. UM, you know, they're we're excited about the ability and we're excited about the character. You know. We we just we just have to get everybody in the locker room and and let that character show in the locker room, in the building, on the field. UM. So just just excited to to get everybody back to get everyone together. Um. But yeah, that I think we I think we drafted um and

brought in through free agency passionate guys that love football. UM. And I think I think we're going to see that really show when we get back together. And the final question here, do you think Adam gaze talks always that always in terms of we want to be a team that gets to determament and competes for a championship. I'm not asking for any playout predictions, which would be ridiculous or anything like that. More so, do you like where you're at and do you think you've taken a step closer?

And now it's got to come together, Like you were mentioning chemistry wise, we get on the field and see what happens. This roster is coming together the way you envisioned it. Yeah, I feel we talked a little bit earlier about about the character, about the ability, that that's really the baseline, that's the foundation. And then we and

then we had the chemistry of all being together. And then um, you know, I think once once we do all those things and we actually have we start stringing good practices, good good periods, good practices together, good good weeks together, good games together. And then that's when the last thing comes, and that's the confidence. You know that we can go out and compete uh weekend week out

with any team in the National Football League. And once once we have that chemistry and confidence, um, it's gonna be a powerful thing. You know, we we've we've just got to get together and build that, you know, and you know, to to get to our ultimate goal, you know, we we have to we have to get in the tournament, you know. And that's you know that you know, you're not gonna win a super Bowl unless you unless you

get into the dance. So and and if you're not trying to win a super Bowl every year, you shouldn't be in this business. So um, you know that's our goal every year. You know it should try to try to punch our ticket in this dance and uh and make some noise, you know. But again, like I said, we've got a lot of work to do. He a great insight from Joe Douglas as always, and let's take

a look at where this roster is now. You know, this defense has a chance to be kind of scary when you think about it, with C. J. Mosley and Jamal and a revamped secondary. And you know, we'll see what happens with Avery Williams and how he comes back from his a c L injury. But you know, this defense has a chance to really do something nice here in two thousand and twenty. I think I think it's gonna be very strong. I don't even think it's an argument.

C J. Mal is Lean Jamal Adams like two of the best players at their respective positions in the National Football League. Okay, uh, that defense is it should take a step forward. Remember it's year two for them too, and now Sam Donald will be staying in the same offensive system and the Jets have gotten better around him. We'll have to see how it all plays out at the wide receiver position. Thing is is Sam they have

embraced him offensively, putting him in position potentially to be successful. Now, how is it all going to play out with the virtual offseason program and when these guys actually can get on the field, And Donald's gonna have to be the extension of coaching staff. But yeah, I think there is reason for optimism right now. Remember this team one seven and nine last year. You don't get medals for when it going seven and nine, but you know they headed in the off season with the six and two stretch.

And now I think everybody you would talk to externally would even admit that this roster looks a lot better on paper than it did when it closed the year in Buffalo. I absolutely agree with that, and That is how we will close out this episode of the Official Jets Podcast powered by Amazon Web Services. E and I back tomorrow with a special edition of the podcast. Stay tuned