Source: USA TODAY
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — When Ruston Webster called old friend John Idzik after Idzik was hired as the New York Jets’ general manager Jan. 18, he had two things to say.
“Congratulations,” the Tennessee Titans general manager said.
There was a pause.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
Being an NFL general manager is a dream that personnel men, scouts and salary cap experts around the league share. Molding a team’s roster with millions of dollars to burn is quite the gig.
But in Idzik’s case, the rush has come with plenty of headaches.
— He signed free agent Mike Goodson to share the starting job at running back. Then he saw Goodson charged with five counts of drug and gun possession Friday. Goodson was a passenger in a car — driven by a man with a previous drug-possession conviction — that was stopped in the left-center lane on Interstate 80 in New Jersey shortly after 3 a.m. ET Friday. Idzik cut two players who were arrested earlier this month and now must decide whether to do the same with Goodson.
— He cut numerous veterans because of a bloated salary cap he inherited from his predecessor, Mike Tannenbaum.
— He traded one of the best defensive players in the league, sending cornerback Darrelle Revis to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because Revis’ contract exorbitant demands didn’t fit owner Woody Johnson’s view of smart money.
— He cut Tim Tebow, a move that angered the quarterback’s fans and highlighted Johnson’s major miscalculation of trading for a suspect player who sparked a circus atmosphere.
— He signed quarterback David Garrard to compete with Mark Sanchez, only to see Garrard abruptly retire last week because of recurring knee issues.
— He drafted West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith, who quickly had to defend himself against charges that he was a diva.
Unlike GMs in smaller markets with fan bases that don’t feel as tortured, Idzik hasn’t had a grace period from the news media or agitated Jets fans. And don’t expect opinionated tweeter Joe Namath to start advocating the patience Johnson preached in a recent interview.
Is Idzik sure he wants to do this? Yeah.
Will being a thoughtful, patient, confident decision-maker, as others view him, help him handle the pressures of this job? Yes.
But does Idzik even know what hit him?
“Not yet, to be honest. Not there yet,” he said last week. “We have offseason program, the (organized team activities) coming up, the mandatory minicamp. After you get through mandatory minicamp, then you can kind of look back and say, ‘What just happened?’ I’ve been here a little over four months, and it just seems like one continuum.”
Numbers guy
Idzik, a wide receiver during his college days at Dartmouth, graduated magna cum laude with a degree in mathematics in 1982.
His father, John Sr., was an assistant coach for four NFL teams, winning Super Bowl V with the Baltimore Colts in the 1970 season. He wrapped up his NFL career with the Jets in 1979.
While serving in various front office roles from 1996 to 2012 during stints with the Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks, John Jr. handled contract negotiations.
He previously dabbled in scouting and coached briefly as a graduate assistant at Duke while getting his master’s degree in liberal studies, but he mostly is known as a numbers guy — and as a guy who will double- and triple-check those numbers to make sure they’re correct.
“John was always that guy that was last to leave the building, burning the midnight oil,” said Webster, who worked with Idzik in Tampa and Seattle. “I’d say, ‘John, let’s get out of here,’ and he’d say, ‘I have to call guys on the West Coast,’ or something like that. Always there late at night, working.”
Johnson liked how detailed Idzik’s staff was in preparing for the draft. By Johnson’s count, there were 5,000 reports compiled and 300 schools scouted. Johnson also noted how Idzik wanted everybody’s input and discouraged sitting back.
Reading into Johnson’s tone: Idzik’s methods are more thorough than Tannenbaum’s.
“His demeanor, his preparation, his unflappability, he wants to make decisions on his terms, which he’s doing and he’s inclusive,” added Johnson. “It’s true and defines who he is.”
Slow and steady
Idzik’s pace is often a slower one than others would like, but it leads to confidence in his decisions. To him, they’re the right ones because he’s made sure they’re right.
“He’s going to do what’s best for the club, period,” said Seahawks GM John Schneider, who advocated for Idzik during the Jets’ hiring process. “He’s not going to get bullied or pushed around, whether it’s media influence or whatever.”
Perhaps a GM who didn’t know Idzik would’ve bailed when the Revis negotiations sputtered for nearly three months while Idzik waited for the best deal possible.
Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik sat five feet from Idzik when both worked under former Tampa Bay GM Rich McKay. He declined to discuss specifics of the Revis trade negotiations, but Dominik surely knew how deliberate Idzik would be.
What could’ve been done in February was instead completed at nearly the latest possible point: Revis to the Bucs for a first-round pick this year (No. 13 overall, which Idzik used to select Missouri defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson) and a conditional pick next year.
Just as he did with the release of Tebow, which happened after an exhaustive search uncovered no takers before, during and after the draft, Idzik took his time.
“There’s a purpose behind everything he was doing,” Dominik said. “John’s a very deep thinker. He’s trying to play it like chess, like we all do. You can’t just live the moment today, you have to look down the road one — two, three years. That’s the hardest part of being a GM.”
Making connections
While walking the hallway at the NFL’s career symposium in Philadelphia this month, a bystander told Idzik he looked taller than the last time he’d seen him.
“So they haven’t beaten me down yet, huh?” Idzik replied.
If these last few months haven’t done it, maybe it won’t happen. Idzik has already improved the communication between the front office and the locker room.
Sanchez might not have liked the drafting of Smith, but he praised Idzik for keeping him in the loop. Cornerback Antonio Cromartie admits he was miffed after Revis was traded but received a call from Idzik shortly thereafter. Idzik told Cromartie he wanted to speak to him face-to-face when he arrived at the facility.
“Not in San Diego!” Cromartie, a former Charger said. “I had (former GM) A.J. Smith, man. He wouldn’t listen to what nobody was saying.”
And then there’s the coach. Idzik inherited Rex Ryan and must decide on his future at some point. For now, the bombastic Ryan believes the methodical Idzik could serve as a counter-balance for him.
“What’d he go to, Duke? And I didn’t,” Ryan said with perfect comedic delivery. “Are we good for each other? We’ll see. I think so.”
Jets brass believes in Idzik’s approach as the organization tries to clean up its image after two losing seasons filled with back-page headlines.
“It’s been impressive how he’s come in, quickly assessed situations and identified strategic ways to address them,” team president Neil Glat said. “He’s a good guy to work with and has commanded people’s respect right away.”
Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
