Most leaders use information and data from a wide variety of sources to drive their decision-making process. For Jets owner Woody Johnson, that apparently includes his video games and his teenage sons.
It came out after the firing of general manager Joe Douglas that Johnson vetoed the Jets’ acquisition of Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy in exchange for Allen Lazard and a Day 2 pick. A month later, the reason for Johnson’s resistance was revealed (via The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt, Dianna Russini and Michael Silver): Jeudy’s rating in EA Sports’ popular Madden video game series.
Jeudy started the season with an 83 rating in Madden 24 and dropped to an 81 by the end of the season, when the trade was being negotiated. (Lazard, meanwhile, began the season at 78 and finished at 76.) This being a method of Jets operation this season would not exactly make working for Johnson especially appealing for HC and GM candidates moving forward, but the owner has made his voice known on several occasions this year. And he is not expected to leave for a role in Donald Trump’s second presidential administration in 2025.
In terms of real-life football, Jeudy was clearly the more productive receiver last year with 54 receptions on 87 targets for 758 yards (3.4 receptions and 47.4 yards per game). Lazard reeled in just 23 of his 49 targets for 311 yards (1.6 receptions and 22.2 yards per game). Lazard has been more effective this year, catching 31 of his 49 targets for 430 yards and five touchdowns, but Jeudy has been even better after being traded to the Browns with career-highs of 70 receptions and 1,052 yards.
The Broncos were believed to have been stunned why the trade talks broke down, as the teams were believed to have been deep in negotiations. Douglas is believed to have told Broncos brass of Johnson’s Madden-based reason for bailing on the trade, per Russini, Rosenblatt and Silver. Denver ended up flipping Jeudy for a lesser return — fifth- and sixth-round picks. The Jets ended up signing Mike Williams to a one-year, $10MM deal — months before unloading him at the deadline.
This is not the only time that a video game has influenced Johnson’s personnel desires. He also “pushed back on signing free-agent guard John Simpson due to a lackluster ‘awareness’ rating in Madden,” per The Athletic. Douglas signed Simpson to a two-year, $18MM deal anyway, and the veteran lineman has quietly earned the eighth-highest grade among NFL guards from Pro Football Focus (subscription required) with a $12MM valuation from OverTheCap for his play this year.
Jets executives have pointed to Johnson’s Madden obsession as evidence of disproportionate influence from his sons, Brick and Jack. They began sitting in on team meetings last year and frequently share posts and articles from social media with their father that are weighed against the advice of the Jets’ decision-makers. “I answer to teenagers,” said Douglas before the season, according to The Athletic.
Johnson’s sons have even violated the traditional sanctity of the Jets’ locker room, bringing friends and openly airing their criticism of the team. Brick Johnson even pre-empted Aaron Rodgers after the Jets’ Halloween win, their first after firing Robert Saleh four weeks prior. Rodgers intended to give a customary game ball to Jeff Ulbrich for his first victory as a head coach. Instead, Brick Johnson jumped into give a game ball to Garrett Wilson – complete with a profanity-laden exclamation for social media – and Woody Johnson took Rodgers’ ball to give to Ulbrich himself. One player called it “the most awkward, cringe-worthy, brutal experience.”
Even for a Jets team that has received a torrent of criticism, this would be new territory. Woody Johnson fired Saleh without going to Douglas and effectively stripped power from his GM this year, predictably preceding Douglas’ ouster weeks later. The owner has entrusted ex-GMs Mike Tannenbaum and Rick Spielman to run the team’s HC search, though the owner obviously has the final call. Today’s revelations add a bizarre chapter to what has been one of the more eventful Jets years; this report coming as the team is conducting searches only adds to the strangeness surrounding this organization.
This one of the most comical things I ever seen
loljets
J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!
lolwut?
A rich clown with silver spoon moron children
More money than brains, clearly.
Insane exposé of what happens behind the scenes of a franchise. No wonder some teams are perpetual losers.
This would explain a lot.
He maybe rich, but he’s also the worlds biggest idiot
It doesn’t take brains or skill to be an heir.
This is fake.
There is no way Woody Johnson knows what a video game is.
Plus he thinks Madden is the name of the guy who married Cameron Diaz.
Can always count on the jets to be the laughingstock of the league
Must be a Giants fan trying to avoid that dumpster fire of an NFL team.
Come on, Chucky, we can both be dumpster fires. Both our teams play in New Jersey, after all.
Wow! Got nothing else to add.
Maniacally maddening.
Might have to hack into the Madden database and change Tyler Bass’ rating to 99. Maybe could get Woody to give up Wilson for that rating improvement.
Woody Johnson sounds like the Browns owner (Haslam) asking the homeless guy if he should draft Johnny Manziel and on the Madden scale they both score a 100 for money but a -5 for brains
The same man who said thinking is overrated. I really hope he’s capable of embarrassment, but I’m not counting on it.
This sounds like click-bait from the Athletic… it’s too preposterous a story. On the other hand, it IS the Jets!
I actually was thinking the same thing. Then a couple of NFL Network broadcasters on XM Sirius grudgingly and backhandedly confirmed the rumor, without actually saying full force that its true.
we were going to plant sunflowers in the yard last summer and our kids vetoed it cuz they play plants vs zombies and called the sunflowers mid
I love the onion too.
I will withhold all criticism, trash talk, and jokes about the Jets for the remainder of Woody’s tenure as owner of the franchise. No fans should be subjected to this level of ineptitude. Not that it means anything coming from a random person on a comment section of an internet article, but sorry to all Jets fans. You deserve better.
Here’s the kicker, the Madden ‘24 Ratings
Jerry Jeudy: 83
Garrett Wilson: 84
bruh…
So do the idiot kids get to pick the GM?
If Madden still had coordinators, maybe they could pick those, too.
Where is ChuckyNJ? Can someone check on him?
I thought my Giants were the clown show, but these guys take the cake.
The Giants are pushing hard to win the Tankathon and that overrides anything coming out of Florham Park.
I know my Browns owner is bad, but dang, this takes the cake.
Another reason why J-E-T-S should be short for just end the season.
If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.
There’s no way this is true. I don’t believe it.
You’re telling me that Woody Johnson has a son named Brick?
He can name his sons Mortar and Cement.
So reading between the lines, here’s my take on what REALLY went down with Hassan Reddick
Douglas: Reddick we want to trade for you and have you come play for the Jets.
Reddick: I’m flattered and would love that. But I really need a new contract before I play this year. I have no guaranteed money, I’m right in the prime of my last chance to really make what I’ve earned. I can’t afford even practicing until I know I can get that. Please don’t trade for me unless you are willing to re-do my deal.
Douglas: totally get it man, let’s do this. We’ll chat when you get here.
Woody: we got him?
Douglas to woody: yea but here’s the scoop….
Woody: no eff that we got him now he has to honor the deal he signed with a whole different team. And I dc what he does he’s ours and he’s playing. F**k him. My kids say he signed a contract and he should have to be held hostage here even though we cut people every day.
That all sounds about right