Jets fire GM Joe Douglas midway through 3-8 season: Why New York moved on now

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By Zack Rosenblatt, Amos Morale III and Jeff Howe

The New York Jets have fired general manager Joe Douglas, the team announced Tuesday. Senior football advisor Phil Savage will be the interim GM for the remainder of the Jets’ season.

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

The move comes two days after the Jets fell to 3-8 following a one-point loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday and six weeks after the team parted ways with coach Robert Saleh.

Douglas was in his sixth season as the Jets’ general manager, and the team has a 30-64 record during his tenure. New York hired Douglas — a former scout with the Baltimore Ravens and an executive with the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles — in 2019.

Douglas, who was in the final year of his deal, has not overseen a winning season in New York despite a stacked 2022 draft class and four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers joining the Jets in 2023.

Why the Jets moved on now

With the way the Jets’ season has gone, Douglas never returned in 2025 — so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the Jets decided to move on from him after six years. Douglas never came close to guiding the Jets to the playoffs in six seasons and actually finished with a lower winning percentage than both of his predecessors – Mike Maccagnan and John Idzik. Douglas’ tenure would ultimately be defined by a string of home runs — and crippling strikeouts.

Douglas inherited a barren roster talent-wise and built it into a, theoretically, playoff-caliber team with talent across the defense and some blue-chip players on offense. His 2022 NFL Draft class is impeccable – cornerback Sauce Gardner, wide receiver Garrett Wilson, defensive end Jermaine Johnson and running back Breece Hall. He made some shrewd free-agent signings like cornerback DJ Reed and claimed others on waivers that turned into key contributors like John Franklin-Myers and Quincy Williams.

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But his misses were great. It took him six years to build the Jets’ offensive line into an even league-average unit, his 2020 and 2021 draft classes both disasters — none more so than quarterback Zach Wilson. He was given the opportunity to continue even after it was clear Wilson had failed because the Jets had built a quality defense and thought they were a quarterback away from contention.

Rodgers was supposed to be that quarterback, and so far it has backfired spectacularly.

Ultimately, Douglas’ fate was sealed when Johnson took control of the decision-making and unilaterally decided to fire Saleh after five games without consulting his general manager — and then Johnson also pushed through a trade for wide receiver Davante Adams.

Douglas will land on his feet elsewhere, perhaps back with Howie Roseman and the Eagles, and the Jets will begin their GM search. — Zack Rosenblatt, Jets beat writer

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(Photo: Zach Bolinger / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)