Joe Douglas just completed his second NFL Draft as the Jets general manager, as a young core constructed by his own brass is starting to come together.
With a wealth of young players looking to bring Gang Green into brighter days, Douglas hopes the days of New York trading away former first-round picks are gone. He wants to see those coveted picks stay in a Jets uniform and lead the team to the sustained success that franchise has been starving for.
“We want to be a player development machine,” Douglas told Boomer & Gio on Tuesday morning. “And that takes the right support staff, strength and conditioning, training and nutrition, sports science. The coaching staff is all in this together.”
Douglas and his staff came to the conclusion that their quarterback of the future would be Zach Wilson, who was taken second overall in an expected move that many anticipated for months, even before Sam Darnold was traded to the Panthers. Wilson amazed at his Pro Day with seamlessly effortless 60-yard strikes while on the move, which only added to his draft momentum after a historic season at BYU, where he threw 33 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Still, there are some questions regarding the legitimacy of his dramatic one-year improvement, and if the 21-year-old was battle tested enough within the Cougars’ schedule.
Douglas said Wilson checked those boxes for the Jets, and his ability to thrive under tough competition isn’t in question.
“I saw a young man go into an SEC environment in Tennessee and win that game, I saw him play a ranked team against USC as a sophomore and win that game,” Douglas said. “I saw him play big in clutch moments, in his freshman bowl game he went 18-for-18 and had a tremendous game. Obviously they didn’t win that tough game down in Coastal Carolina, obviously unique circumstances, I don’t think that game was scheduled until a Wednesday. We didn’t necessarily have those concerns, we see a guy that plays big in big moments.”
Of course, playing at BYU and playing under the bright lights of New York City are two very different entities, but Douglas isn’t sure if they’re all that different. At the very least, playing at BYU is a suitable tune-up for the expectations and scrutiny Wilson will face as the Jets’ latest hopeful savior.
“We always think about that,” Douglas said. “That’s going back to when I was in Philadelphia too. Playing in Philly and playing in New York, it takes a certain type of ruggedness, emotionally, physically, you have to be a rugged guy, and you have to have confidence. That was a cool thing about diving into Zach. Just doing the Zoom calls, you could see the intelligence and the confidence…in our talks leading up to the draft, just being with our assistant GM Rex Hogan, who was with Urban Meyer at Utah back in the day. We were talking about this transition from Utah to New York City, and I remember Rex saying ‘hey look, being the quarterback at the University of BYU is a heavy burden in that state and the Mormon religion. BYU has its own television network. There’s a lot of pressure that goes into it. Zach handled that really well…we feel really comfortable about the person we’re bringing in.”
Wilson highlights a draft class that also includes offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker and wide receiver Elijah Moore, the next group that Douglas hopes will represent the newest cog in the Jets’ player development machine.
“Definitely excited about these playmakers we’ve brought in,” Douglas said. “There’s a lot of chapters in this book to be written, but we feel good about the last few years, the speed, the playmaking ability and the explosiveness that we’ve been able to bring in here.”
Listen to Douglas' full interview with Boomer & Gio below!
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