Maccagnan On WFAN: Jets Need To 'Live With Geno For A Little Bit'

NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Mike Maccagnan was formally introduced as the Jets' general manager on Wednesday afternoon, and he was a guest on WFAN's "Boomer & Carton" program on Thursday morning.

The former Texans director of college scouting has a lot of work to do to make the Jets respectable again. New York went 4-12 in 2014 -- which led to the firings of head coach Rex Ryan and general manager John Idzik -- and missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

One thing that Maccagnan -- along with new head coach Todd Bowles -- will have to figure out is who the Jets' quarterback of the future is. Geno Smith regressed in his second NFL season, and it's looking less and less likely that he'll be the savior that this franchise so desperately needs.

Maccagnan admitted on Thursday that he's not sure who will be the Jets' quarterback next season, but he's certainly not counting Smith out.

"Well I would say this: I think with Geno, he definitely has ability and potential," Maccagnan told Craig Carton and Kevin Connolly, who was filling in for Boomer Esiason. "But in fairness to him, we need to kind of get to work with him a little bit ourselves to kind of feel where he's at.

"We haven't had the benefit of spending two years with him. But going forward we are going to look closely at Geno. Hopefully, as things go forward, he continues to progress. But we are kind of excited about working with him.

"...I do think we need to kind of work and live with Geno for a little bit to kind of get a good feel for what he is, and his potential and what we feel he can do in our system. I don't necessarily want to rule Geno out or anoint him. It's a work in progress."

Idzik was criticized for not being aggressive enough in free agency last offseason. The former GM left roughly $20 million on the table when there were clearly pressing needs on the roster. With plenty of money to spend, you can expect Maccagnan to be active in the coming months as he attempts to improve the product on the field.

"The cap is obviously in good shape, we have a lot of cap room," Maccagnan told Carton and Connolly. "I will say we'll be very active in free agency. That would not be a misstatement by any stretch of the imagination. But we're still forming our strategy in terms of how we're going to attack free agency."

Later on Thursday, Maccagnan and Bowles spoke with WFAN host Mike Francesa.

Bowles, who previously served as the Cardinals' defensive coordinator, considers this a dream job. The first-time head coach -- he briefly took over as interim head coach of the Dolphins in 2011 -- was a hot candidate around the league, but he saw something special in this organization.

"I liked the communication and dialogue we had since the first interview," Bowles told Francesa. "...For me it was all about chemistry. You can take a job just to take a job, or you can take a job that you want and have all the right things going forward. The Jets have talent on the team. They have a great owner, they have a very good GM coming in.

"They have all the right things going forward to be successful for a long time. I felt this was my best chance to win."

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