This is one in a series of articles that will also appear in the New York Jets 2024 Yearbook, which will be published later this summer.
A couple of weeks shy of the start of the NFL's new league year, Jets general manager Joe Douglas was asked about the journey he was set to embark on in free agency and the draft.
"I like the position we're in," Douglas said at the Combine in February. "There's a lot of talent coming back to this team — we have to add more to it. We know exactly what we have to do. The pressure is always intrinsic in this job every day, but I can tell you that we're not stressed. We're prepared to answer the bell here with the decisions that have to be made moving forward."
Biding his time in free agency, Douglas added three starters with the signings of LT Tyron Smith and G John Simpson, and he reacquired RT Morgan Moses via a trade with Baltimore. He signed QB Tyrod Taylor to back up Aaron Rodgers and got Rodgers a big X receiver in Mike Williams. Douglas also tinkered on the defensive line with the signings of tackles Javon Kinlaw and Leki Fotu.
"The primary objective this offseason was fortifying the offensive line. I think that was goal one," Douglas said at the NFL's annual meetings in March. "I feel good about what we were able to accomplish there and a few of the other objectives leading into the offseason, but still a lot ahead."
Hours later, Douglas dropped a finishing move in veteran acquisitions with the trade for Haason Reddick.
"He has been one of the most productive pass rushers in the league for the past four or five years and an electric presence off the edge," Douglas said of the Eagle who headed north. "A guy that is a consistent finisher and not only finishes at the quarterback but gets the ball out usually when he does, an explosive element. And we feel like we already have a lot of supercharged hellcats on that defense that can roll."
But Douglas wasn't finished. His seven-player draft class was headlined by the selections of Penn State T Olu Fashanu (No. 11 overall) and Western Kentucky playmaker Malachi Corley (Round 3, No. 65). With a healthy Rodgers returning to the lineup, the Jets will field their best roster in a long time.
"I feel like we had a plan," Douglas said. "We tried to keep the main thing the main thing throughout the offseason. I feel like we stuck to what we tried to do and tried to avoid distractions and not waver from our process.
"Look, we're excited about the team and excited to get this thing going."
