The New York Jets were eliminated from the playoffs a few weeks ago for the 14th straight season. They're 4-10 and never really had a chance this year. It's clear to many people that there are issues in the organization. It looks bad from the outside, but how bad could it really be?
Answer: incredibly, unimaginably bad. And it all appears to flow from team owner Woody Johnson, the 77-year-old heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune who has owned the Jets since 2000.
According to Zack Rosenblatt, Diana Russini, and Mike Silver of The Athletic, Johnson's hand-on, meddlesome approach to ownership has been hobbling the team, especially over the last few seasons. They spoke with 20 current or former Jets players, coaches, and executives, who were all granted anonymity so they could speak freely.
“There are organizations where it is all set up for you to win,” a player with the team in 2023 told The Athletic. “It feels completely different (with the Jets). It’s the most dysfunctional place imaginable.”
Johnson reportedly nixed Jerry Jeudy trade due to Madden rating
One of the most eye-popping, head-scratching, brain-bending parts of The Athletic's extensive report on Johnson is what he did in March when then-GM Joe Douglas was about to make a trade for wide receiver Jerry Jeudy. Douglas reportedly had everything ready to go with the Denver Broncos, the team Jeudy played for in 2023, and only needed Johnson's approval to set things in motion and bring in a player who could have been a huge offensive weapon for QB Aaron Rodgers.
But instead of giving his approval, Johnson reportedly nixed the trade and the deal never happened. Why?
Douglas told the Broncos that Johnson didn't want to make the trade because the owner felt Jeudy's player rating in "Madden NFL," the popular video game, wasn't high enough, according to multiple league sources.
Real NFL stats are used to create Madden ratings, but they are calibrated for use in the video game itself, in which the digital players can do things the real, human players can't possibly do. It's not clear of Johnson knows the purpose and intent of Madden ratings, or if he's ever played the game himself.
Brick and Jack, Johnson's teenage sons, reportedly influence their dad's decisions
According to The Athletic, Johnson's fixation on Madden ratings are due to his teenage sons, Brick and Jack. They reportedly have their father's ear, which is why he's taken to sharing posts from social media platform X and other media outlets with team executives.
"When we're discussing things, you'll hear Woody cite something that Brick or Jack read online that's being weighed equally against whatever opinion someone else in the department has," one Jets executive told The Athletic.
A Jets spokesperson did not agree that Brick and Jack influence their father's decision-making.
“It is used as a reference point; it is not determinative,” the spokesperson told The Athletic. “It’s really sad that an adult would use a misleading anecdote about teenagers to make their father look bad. It’s ridiculous, quite honestly, the idea that this was used to influence the opinion of experienced executives."
Yet before the 2024 season, Douglas reportedly told close friends "I answer to a teenager."
Those teenagers impact more than their dad's opinions. Johnson reportedly allows his sons and their friends access to the team locker room, where only players, coaches, and other team personnel are typically allowed. According to The Athletic, Brick and Jack have been heard bad-mouthing Jets players in the locker room after games. And Brick's presence led to a deflating moment in the locker room following the team's win on Halloween, their first under interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich.
Rodgers had a game ball in hand to give to Ulbrich, a tradition when a head coach notches their first win. But that did not happen.
But before Rodgers could speak, Brick Johnson took another game ball and awarded it to wide receiver Garrett Wilson in a profanity-laced exclamation, which the owner's son later posted to Instagram. Woody Johnson then gave Ulbrich the ball Rodgers had been holding. Multiple players said the energy felt drained out of the room.
"It was the most awkward, cringe-worthy, brutal experience," one player said.