Gang Green Nation
The Athletic posts another bombshell story on Jets dysfunction.
Over the last year, The Athletic has published a number of explosive articles about Jets dysfunction behind the scenes. The latest piece in the series came out on Thursday.
There are numerous claims within the article. None caught my eye quite like one about the influence of owner Woody Johnson’s teenage sons on football operations.
“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,” said one Jets executive.
What’s notable here isn’t just the claim. It’s that a Jets spokesperson actually responded to it on the record. And the spokesperson didn’t quite say it was false. Instead, they seemed to argue it isn’t a big deal that the owner’s teenage sons have a degree of sway in the team’s football operations.
The Jets spokesperson disputed the idea that Brick and Jack’s observations impact the organization’s decision-making process. “It is used as a reference point; it is not determinative,” the spokesperson said. “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.
“(The sons) have no roles in the organization. It’s completely ridiculous to suggest that any outside info is intended to replace the opinions of (Woody Johnson’s) staff.”
I would counter that if you are saying Woody Johnson is using the opinions of his kids as a “reference point” for anything, it means that his kids clearly have a role in determining the direction of the organization.
The spokesperson here seems to be using an old PR trick. He or she gives a rebuttal to a claim that was never made. Nobody said that if Woody Johnson’s kids say the Jets should do something, they automatically do it. The claim is that they have influence on the franchise’s direction, which the spokesperson seems to confirm.
It seems like the spokesperson is also trying to be clever here by noting that neither of Woody’s kids has an official job or title with the team. Again, that claim was not made in the article.
I don’t know whether the word “insane” does this justice.
This is not the first time a suggestion that Woody’s sons have influence on the way the Jets run their team, but the team making a statement like this on the record is something else.
I just wanted to point that out because I think people will lose track of how significant that is given all of the other crazy stuff in the article. That includes Woody Johnson vetoing an offseason trade because of a player’s Madden rating.
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