New York Jets decided for a surprise shakeup of their front office on Wednesday and said goodbye to general manager Mike Maccagnan. The move was confirmed by CEO Christopher Johnson, who also announced that head coach Adam Gase will serve as interim GM until Maccagnan’s replacement is found.
The Jets also parted ways with vice president of player personnel Brian Heimerdinger in a related move.
The move comes as a shock especially since Maccagnan played a big role in Gase’s hiring and overlooked both the free agency, highlighted by the signing of Pro Bowl running back Le’Veon Bell and the 2019 NFL Draft.
“There’s never a good time to do this,” – said Johnson during a conference call with reporters. “This is about more than one draft or one free agency, even two. As I educated myself about this process, it became more clear to me, the deeper I got in this building, that it was time for a change and a time to move on.”
Several names already came up in Jets’ search for a new GM but Philadelphia Eagles’ executive Joe Douglas is reportedly the leading candidate for the job.
According to various reports, the reason for why the Jets decided to fire Mike Maccagnan is that he and Adam Gase didn’t agree on several offseason moves including Bell’s signing. Gase reportedly didn’t like Maccagnan’s decision to give Bell a four-year, $52.5 million contract with $27 million guaranteed, considering this to be too much for a running back.
