Todd Bowles doesn’t belong on the hot seat in 2017
By Michael Pallas
New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles is alone on the hot seat in 2017, and he shouldn’t be.
The New York Jets used to have their own island, known as Revis Island. Now the former NFL safety and current head coach of the New York Jets is stranded by himself on an island. On this Island, the temperature is perpetually in the 90s, and the humidity is at 100 percent. The island is known as Hot Seat Island. Why is head coach Todd Bowles all alone on this island? He was actually stranded there recently.
Before the 2017 NFL Draft, there was some chatter about Mike Maccagnan being on the hot seat. However, since the draft ended, the chatter about hot seats has switched to Bowles.
On January 14, 2015, Maccagnan was hired by the Jets. One day later, it was announced that they hired Bowles.
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Based on Rich Cimini’s story on ESPN.com, the hire came after a meeting with Jets officials that included Maccagnan. So it’s safe to say that he had a hand in the hiring.
Maccagnan then proceeded to saddle Bowles with a bad roster. He didn’t cut players when he should have, and he made the bad decision to bring back Ryan Fitzpatrick after a long standoff over his contract during the 2016 offseason.
Bowles didn’t handle the locker room very well last season, but that’s partially due to the fact that he had bad personalities, to begin with. Bowles gets a pass for last season because it was a mess from the get-go.
He has a chance at a mulligan, and to start over, just like Woody Johnson said to NJ.com’s Connor Hughes:
I don’t really like mandates. They normally don’t work. Lines in the sand, or whatever. You don’t want to judge it that way. The way we’ll judge it is getting better each and every year, and seeing it in our players,” Johnson said. “Your young players — Are they getting better? Or are they going the other way?
The same goes for Maccagnan. They’re a package deal. Either they both are on the hot seat, or neither of them is. It’s not Bowles only. Bowles deserves a chance to turn things around in 2017 and then have 2018 to prove himself.