Woody Johnson Nixed Jets attempts to acquire Jerry Jeudy, obstructed Joe Douglas on Bryce Huff, Haason Reddick

The Jets are headed for their 14th straight season finish without a playoff spot, and their Robert Saleh-Joe Douglas the regime’s clarification points to ownership having a harder time filling its HC and GM positions in 2025.

Woody Johnson‘s interference has become a problem for the Jets. The longtime owner admitted he went around Douglas to fire Saleh, something that led to the sixth-year GM losing power during his final weeks on the job. Other Jets power brokers led the way Davante Adams trade and Haason Reddick settlement negotiations. Earlier this year, however, Johnson stood as a roadblock to Douglas’ efforts to improve the team’s roster in other ways.

We heard in March that the Jets joined the Browns and Patriots in pursuit Jerry Jewdy. The then-Broncos wide receiver, a trade block along with former teammate Courtland Suttonwent to Cleveland for fifth and sixth round picks. Denver may well have gotten more for the former first-round pick if Douglas had his way.

The Jets are believed to have offered a day 2 pick and Allen Lazard — a Broncos target in 2023 — for Jeudy, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini and Zack Rosenblatt, only to see Johnson opt out of any potential deal. Jeudy, entering his age-25 season, intrigued the Jets, who aimed to avoid aging players in this year’s free agency (subscription required). It didn’t end up happening, like Tyrone Smith and Mike Williams joined trade pickup Morgan Moses in joining the Jets in March.

It would have been interesting if the Broncos were willing to acquire Lazard, who was still owed a fully guaranteed base salary ($10MM) this year. Lazard was underwhelmed after receiving $22MM guaranteed upon signing in 2023. Denver ended up giving Josh Reynolds a two-year, $9MM deal; Lazard would have been more expensive. Jeudy, who wanted to join Garrett Wilson and potentially influenced the Jets’ interest in Adams, has since signed a Browns extension.

Weeks later, Douglas signed off on acquiring Reddick despite warnings from his camp. The Jets wouldn’t have to trade for the talented edge rusher unless they wanted to extend him. As it turns out, Douglas seemed more open to an extension than he initially let on. Reddick had expressed frustration with the Jets and believed they would revisit the extension negotiations. Douglas may well have been on board here, according to The Athletic, which attributes the resistance to extending the then-29-year-old EDGE to Johnson. Although Johnson helped bring Reddick into the fold in October, he certainly appears to have prevented his then-GM from extending him this offseason.

Before the Jets reset Reddick, they let Bryce Huff go. Huff joined the Eagles on a three-year, $51MM deal, but if Douglas had his way, the team may have made a stronger effort to re-sign the team’s 2023 sack leader. Johnson is believed to have blocked his GM from making an extension offer to Huff, which many teams pursued when the Jets put him on the market. We heard in early February that no offer had been made. This came months after Johnson is believed to have restrained his GM from making a stronger effort to replace Aaron Rodgers once the QB suffered an achilles tear.

Johnson also ran an effort to have security Tony Adams on the bench in Week 11, with Russini and Rosenblatt reinforcing the notion that the owner has placed too much emphasis on social media ratings of his team. Rumblings recently pointed out that Johnson listened to too many non-football officials when making decisions. This offseason also saw several high-ranking Jets football ops staffers being let go, with assistant GM Rex Hogan gets fired and then player personnel director Chad Alexander will be the Chargers’ assistant GM. Johnson prevented Douglas from replacing both employees, Russini and Rosenblatt add. (For what it’s worth, some in the organization believed that Hogan had been responsible for many leaks; however, a flood of leaks have come out in the months since). The owner’s actions prompted Douglas to tell some remaining Jets employees Johnson “just needs to fire me now.”

Also believed to have pushed for the Jets to bench Rodgers after the team’s Week 4 loss to the Broncos — to the point where one coach, according to The Athletic, asked if the owner was serious — Johnson will have a lot to answer for after this wildly disappointing Jets season.

The Jets are expected to part ways with Rodgers, who coaches feared would be embarrassed if Johnson had his way with the benching request. After all, Johnson played a key role in Rodgers agreeing to delay retirement and accepting a Jets trade last year. Sitting him for Tyrod Taylor so early in his Achilles comeback would have been one of the more shocking developments in recent NFL history.

This increased meddling won’t make it any easier for the owner to find high-quality GM and HC options in 2025, but even as the former ambassador to the United Kingdom is in the mix to regain that post under the second Donald Trump administration ( a step that would again leave Christopher Johnson as acting owner), Woody Johnson will lead the Jets’ search to replace Saleh and Douglas.