Palladino: Jets' Next GM Has To Realize Jameis Is Bad Fit
By Ernie Palladino
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If Texans director of college scouting Mike Maccagnan indeed becomes the Jets' new general manager after Friday's second interview, he will step into a potential franchise-turning situation.
The same can be said of anyone the Charley Casserly-Ron Wolf consulting powerhouse recommends to Woody Johnson, of course. The approximate $40 million of space under the salary cap would seem healthy enough to redirect the fortunes of any team. But the real potential only became official two days ago, when Florida State's sophomore quarterback Jameis Winston decided he'd had his fill of Aristotelian philosophy, organic chem, and all those other headache inducers all Seminoles football players undoubtedly take.
Instead, he announced he will leave the hallowed halls in Tallahassee to enter the draft.
It wasn't a surprise. In fact, anyone who didn't see that coming just wasn't paying attention. But before Winston actually signed with agent Greg Genske of The Legacy Agency, the question of what any GM prospect thought of the quarterback was simply theoretical.
Now, Johnson can ask it in a concrete manner. And if Friday's candidate truly wants the job, he had best craft his answer carefully.
Actually, a straight-forward rejection of Winston should be music to Johnson's ears. Something along the lines of "He won't appear on MY value board!"
If Maccagnan says that, then Johnson should hire him on the spot, for this man would be committed to a cause that transcends roster-building. A decisive, verbal rejection of such a troubled though talented entity would automatically move the Jets' misfit culture to one that takes into account social responsibility.
The Bucs, Titans, Jaguars or Raiders could well turn the whole question moot, as all pick ahead of the Jets' No. 6 spot. Every one of them could use last year's Heisman Trophy winner who compiled a 26-1 starting record. And maybe one of them won't be scared off by the shoplifting and obscenity incidents, or the rape allegations allegedly ignored and then conveniently shrugged off in an FSU code of conduct hearing less than a month before the Rose Bowl.
But they are, and if Winston gets past No. 5 Washington, whoever has final say in the Jets' draft room had best be ready to go with somebody other than Winston.
And it wouldn't hurt Maccagnan's cause to state that now, definitively, right there in the interview.
He should be well-versed on Winston by now. As a director of college scouting, he's probably seen him in person several times. He and his staff in Houston have undoubtedly done a lot of due diligence already. And he, like anyone involved in football knows, Winston will not stand alone in an NFL locker room. The league is filled with miscreants, some quite productive. Some may even have a bust in Canton some day.
Some team will take him. He's too good for everyone to bypass.
But the Jets shouldn't. They are a team in need of a personality makeover, and Winston is just too big a risk. If he got into all that trouble in just two short years in Tallahassee, imagine the damage he might do in the New York metropolitan area. The temptations of the night await everybody, especially those like Winston, who has worked as hard at forging his off-field hell-raiser rep as his sparkling one between the lines.
This is not about rejecting talent. It's about changing perception. The team that welcomed bad apples like Michael Vick, Dimitri Patterson and Mike Goodson -- and drafted high-round incompetents like Geno Smith and Kyle Wilson -- needs a personality makeover.
Winston is not the foundation on which to begin that process.
If Maccagnan and Johnson are on the same page with that, perhaps Casserly's top choice will have a great shot at landing his first GM position.
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