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New York Jets’ Rex Ryan Will Take Fall for John Idzik’s Mess

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By @GregSulik

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Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Well New York Jets fans, it is time to start preparing your goodbyes to Rex Ryan.

After such a promising beginning to his Jets’ career, the polarizing head coach is headed for his fourth consecutive losing season, and this one will be the one that finally costs him his job. It is fair to say that Ryan, an absolutely brilliant defensive coordinator, may be over matched as a head coach. However, he is going to take the fall for not digging his way out of the impossible situation he was placed in by the real culprit for the Jets’ disastrous season, general manager John Idzik.

Idzik is the man responsible for back-to-back poor draft classes, with Sheldon Richardson as the only consistent contributor right now. Dee Milliner, Calvin Pryor,and Jace Amaro have potential, but aren’t consistent yet. Equally importantly, Idzik has landed nothing of value in the middle rounds. Oddly enough, he’s hit on both his 7th round picks (Tommy Bohanon and Trevor Reilly), but good football teams receive significant contributions from the guys they draft in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounds. Brian Winters is the only player drafted in those rounds under Idzik who actually sees the field, and he is one of the worst starting guards in the NFL.

Idzik has also failed in free agency. His first signing, Mike Goodson, played a game and a half for the team and was released this offseason for repeated off-the-field transgressions. Antonio Garay, Antwan Barnes, and Stephen Peterman rounded out a disastrous first free agent class, though Idzik did at least trade for Chris Ivory in his first offseason.

This offseason, he did a better job with the signings of Eric Decker and Breno Giacomini, but Chris Johnson and Michael Vick look like busts. Idzik is also currently sitting on over $20 million in cap room, and he has left his team with huge holes at cornerback, wide receiver, guard, and outside linebacker. Idzik also passed on corners and receivers in the first two rounds of the draft despite those being by far the team’s biggest needs.

All coaches can do is the best they can with what they’re given, and Ryan and his staff are doing that. For a coach whose defensive schemes begin with having shutdown corners, Ryan is doing an impressive job with such a depleted secondary. Offensively, you can question some of Marty Mornhinweg’s play calling, but he is limited by having two struggling quarterbacks and only one healthy, starting-caliber wide receiver in Jeremy Kerley.

The Jets are going to miss the playoffs again, and heads are going to roll this offseason. To his credit, Ryan has accepted the blame for the Jets’ shortcomings, and it very well may be in the team’s best interest to go in a different direction. That being said, Ryan was set up to fail by Idzik, however unintentional that may have been.

The Jets simply don’t have enough talent to compete, and that comes from Idzik doing a poor job in free agency and especially the draft. The Jets’ failures this season start with him, but this is going to be another case of a good head coach taking the fall for a bad GM.

It is clear that hiring Idzik was a mistake, and that will haunt the Jets far longer than anything Ryan has done.

Greg Sulik is a New York Jets writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter@GregSulik or add him to your network on Google

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