CEO Christopher Johnson and the Jets have signed Joe Douglas, the Philadelphia Eagles' vice president of player personnel, to be their new general manager.
Douglas was in his third year with Philadelphia after joining the Eagles in May 2016 and helping to fashion the roster that less than two years later defeated the New England Patriots, 41-33, in Super Bowl LII. He comes to the Jets after the team conducted a number of interviews over the past two weeks to fill the position after Mike Maccagnan, their GM since 2015, had been dismissed.
Douglas has some significant connections to Jets personnel. He has known head coach Adam Gase since the two worked together in Chicago for the 2015 season, Gase as the Bears' offensive coordinator and Douglas as their director of college scouting.
Before Chicago, Douglas worked in Baltimore's personnel department from 2000-15, and during those 16 seasons he was instrumental in acquiring a number of key performers. One of those was linebacker C.J. Mosley, the Ravens' first-round pick in the 2014 draft who in March signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Jets.
Other players Douglas had a hand in bringing to Baltimore included QB Joe Flacco, G Ben Grubbs, LB Pernell McPhee, K Justin Tucker, CB Lardarius Webb and G Marshal Yanda. Mosley, Grubbs, Yanda and Tucker combined for 10 Pro Bowls with the Ravens.
Douglas served as Baltimore's national scout (2012-15), Southeast area scout (2009-11), East Coast area scout (2008) and Northeast area scout (2003-07). After he was first hired by the Ravens, he was a player personnel assistant for three years. He was responsible for fall and spring scouting assignments, college workouts and draft visit coordination, managing the team's college video library, and assisting the pro personnel department with special teams evaluations of club opponents and unrestricted free agents.
As a player, Douglas started 45 games at tackle for the University of Richmond and was an All-Atlantic 10 selection, then became a volunteer assistant coach with the Spiders football team in 1999. In high school, he was a two-time all-state offensive lineman at Lee-Davis HS in Mechanicsville, VA.
He and his wife, Shannon, have two daughters, Addison and Leighton, and a son, Thomas.
