Rex Ryan and John Idzik Fired by the Jets, Now New York Needs a Coach and GM

Rex Ryan, the chubby, affable coach of the Jets, has been fired after six seasons. John Idzik, the team’s general manager for the last two years, was also canned by team owner Woody Johnson this morning. Neither move is a surprise, and one could argue Ryan’s departure is a year late and Idzik should have never been hired in the first place.

Ryan finished his tenure with a 46-50 record, bottoming out at 4-12 this year, though most of that can be pinned on Idzik. Most fans will remember the portly Ryan as one of the best coaches in franchise history, guiding the team to two straight AFC Championship games in his first two seasons. (Or perhaps his foot fetish was more memorable?)

Idzik was basically a 2-year disaster in New York, but it’s more complicated than that. His predecessor, Mike Tannenbaum, left the team in salary cap hell, and Idzik, who previously was a numbers guy in Seattle, was hired to clean it up. Idzik did get the Jets in a good financial place heading into 2015: They’re around $20 million under the salary cap.

Now, the bad news.

Because Idzik isn’t a ‘football’ guy, he made several poor decisions to save money, and the Jets were left devoid of talent in the secondary, at linebacker, and at wide receiver (until they traded for Percy Harvin). Idzik’s 2014 draft – as far as on-field production – was horrendous. At best, his 2013 draft could be described as average, and that’s only because of how great Sheldon Richardson has been. (Rex Ryan has long been a defensive line mastermind, especially in the playoffs, so you have to wonder how much credit Idzik deserves for that pick.)

I won’t fully pin the QB disaster on Idzik – had Ryan not put Mark Sanchez back in a meaningless preseason game two years ago, he doesn’t tear up his shoulder, and Geno Smith isn’t forced to play as a rookie, and who knows what happens next. This much is true: Rex Ryan’s big struggle in six years has been at QB. (Which is why he makes a lot of sense in Atlanta, or perhaps Chicago.)

How attractive is the GM job? Well, New York has a top 6 pick, and a couple decent players on offense – center Eric Mangold, playmaker Percy Harvin, wide receiver Eric Decker and running back Chris Ivory. Defensively the Jets are loaded up front, but are in dire need of help in the secondary unless Dee Milliner can overcome two rough first two seasons and rookie Calvin Pryor radically improves.

A new era begins, but it’s unlikely the new coach will have as much early success as Ryan.