Some big news in the NFL on Wednesday morning as the New York Jets fired longtime GM Mike Maccagnan.
That could be huge news for the Eagles because a possible replacement in New York could be Eagles VP of player personnel Joe Douglas. This might be more than possible - it might be likely.
Douglas has a good relationship with Jets head coach/interim GM Adam Gase from their time together in Chicago and the connection between Douglas and the possible vacancy with the Jets had been a poorly kept secret for weeks or more.
Several national reporters have also mentioned the connection.
Eagles' vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas is close to Jets' HC Adam Gase and has been discussed in league circles for a while now as the potential GM for the NYJ.— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 15, 2019
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The Eagles hired Douglas from the Bears in 2016 and he's been a huge part of their front office. Douglas came up in Baltimore under Ozzie Newsome and is considered to be on a short list of top GM candidates across the league. Because they were still in the playoffs in January 2018, the Eagles blocked the Texans from interviewing Douglas for their then-vacant GM job.
Just last month, before and after the NFL draft, Douglas and Howie Roseman raved about the working relationship between the two of them and in the building in general. But it also seemed like it was just a matter of time before Douglas got a GM-type job with another team. Douglas brought director of player personnel Andy Weidl with him to Philly and if Douglas leaves, it would make sense if Weidl would leave for an assistant GM job with the Jets too.
This offseason, the Eagles did add Andrew Berry as their VP of football operations and it seems likely the Eagles have been preparing for the eventual departure of Douglas for some time.
"At some point, we are going to lose executives," Eagles owner Jeff Lurie said in March. "When you're winning, you're going to lose executives. I think we're in a great position to be able to deal with that. We don't want to put a cap on how many good executives we have in football operations. That would be a competitive mistake."
But even if the Eagles have been preparing for the loss of Douglas, actually losing him would be big. In fact, when Roseman was reinstated into power a few year ago, one of the main conditions was that he hire a top-notch personnel guy. After a long search that paused for a while, that guy was Douglas. There had been a perception before that moment that Roseman was hard to work with. But since then, Roseman and Douglas have worked extremely well together.
"We're both extremely passionate about this game and we want nothing more than to win championships at the highest level," Douglas said earlier this offseason. "I think what makes our relationship work is that we're not afraid to have tough conversations. Oftentimes we can set our egos aside and come up with the best solutions for the Philadelphia Eagles."
Losing him would be a blow.
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