Jets GM and coach search to be assisted by former GMs Tannenbaum and Spielman

November 25, 2024 3:57 p.m. • Last updated: November 25, 2024 3:57 p.m.

FILE – Mike Tannenbaum, executive vice president of football operations for the Miami Dolphins, looks on before an NFL football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins on Dec. 17, 2017, in Orchard Park, New York ( AP Photo/Rich Barnes, File)

The New York Jets are turning to one of their former general managers to help them find their next general manager and head coach.

THE franchise announced Monday that The 33rd Team, a football media, analytics and consulting group founded by former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum, will help team owner Woody Johnson with the search.

Tannenbaum and Rick Spielman, former general manager of the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings, will be the No. 33 team’s primary representatives in helping find replacements for former coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas.

The 33rd Team was founded in 2019 by Tannenbaum as a media and technology company. In their announcement, the Jets said the 33rd team would help identify and select manager and coaching candidates and coordinate interviews.

Douglas was fired last tuesdaythe latest shake-up of a franchise that had Super Bowl aspirations with a healthy Aaron Rodgers at quarterback but has limped to a 3-8 start and appears likely to miss the playoffs for a 14th straight year.

Phil Savage, the Jets’ senior football advisor since 2019, will serve as interim general manager for the remainder of the season.

Douglas’ dismissal took place exactly six weeks later Johnson fired Saleh as coach on October 8 after the Jets went 2-3 to open the season. New York has since gone 1-5 under defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who was named interim coach.

The Jets just finished their bye week and will host the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

The franchise has plenty of questions to answer over the next few months, including decisions regarding its next general manager and coach — and Rodgers’ future. The four-time NFL MVP turns 41 next week, has had leg problems all season and is off to the worst statistical start of his career.

Tannenbaum and Spielman will help the Jets find the people needed to help Johnson and his brother Christopher make these key decisions.

Johnson took a similar approach in 2015, the last time the Jets hired a general manager and coach in the offseason. Former NFL general managers Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf worked as consultants for the team, which hired Mike Maccagnan as general manager and Todd Bowles as coach.

Tannenbaum, currently an analyst for ESPN, knows Johnson and the franchise personally. He worked in the Jets’ front office for nine years before being promoted to general manager and serving in that role from 2006 to 2012. Tannenbaum helped build the 2009 and 2010 Jets teams that made it to the championship game of the AFC in consecutive seasons under coach Rex Ryan. .

Ryan, who last coached the Jets in 2014 and is also currently an analyst for ESPN, recently lobbied on-air for a return to the New York bench.

Tannenbaum also served as Miami’s executive vice president of football operations from 2015-2018.

Spielman served as the Vikings’ general manager from 2012 to 2021 after working for six years as the team’s vice president of player personnel. He also served as the Dolphins’ general manager in 2004 and served as an advisor last year to the Washington Commanders in their general manager and coaching searches.

FILE – Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman stands on the field before an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Jan. 9, 2022, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn, file)