Jets general manager search gets underway

The Jets finally seem ready to get the ball rolling on their general manager search, according to this report:

The #Jets requests for GM interviews have gone out, sources say. Among them: #Eagles VP Player Personnel Joe Douglas and #Bears Assistant Director of Player Personnel Champ Kelly. Two very respected evaluators.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 24, 2019

Speculation has been for some time that Douglas is the Jets' top choice. However, whether he'd take the job or just use the Jets' interest to leverage a better role for himself with the Eagles remains to be seen:

Adding to a report @RapSheet the #Jets have asked for permission to talk with #Eagles VP of player personel for their GM opening. I’m told unless Jets give Douglas final say on players the Eagles would not let him go and Joe Douglas would not take the job. @SportsRadioWIP

— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) May 24, 2019

Here's an article on what Douglas brings to the table and how the Eagles are likely to respond to the offer. It seems their best chance of retaining him would be to portray the Jets' organization as being in a state of disarray, so any such reports over the next few days should be taken with a grain of salt.

Kelly is another candidate who has history with Adam Gase. He was the assistant director of pro personnel while Gase was in Denver and then moved into the Bears front office as their director of pro scouting at the same time as Gase became their offensive coordinator. Douglas was also in Chicago for that year, as the director of college scouting.

As for who else might be on that list, here are some possibilities:

Names I’ve heard as potential candidates that Gase would be on board with: #Eagles Joe Douglas, #49ers Adam Peters, #Bears Champ Kelly, #Lions Lance Newmark. Also have heard in the past that ownership thinks highly of #Vikings George Paton. https://t.co/CLLzFygFGk

— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) May 22, 2019

One name missing from that list is NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, who is thought to be a candidate for a potential front office role but not necessarily the general manager job.