Mike Maccagnan reportedly could be fired after NFL Draft

Despite hiring a new head coach and starting the draft process by taking Quinnen Williams last night, Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan could be on the hot seat.

While all the attention in New York has been on the Giants’ controversial choice to draft Daniel Jones with the sixth overall pick, Dave Gettleman may not have the hottest seat in the market. That belongs to Jets’ GM Mike Maccagnan, who may be on thinner ice than originally anticipated.

Mike Lombardi initially reported that this morning for The Athletic, while Tony Pauline (who contributes to local television coverage for the Jets on SNY) backed up Lombardi’s account. It wouldn’t be uncommon for a team to shake up its scouting after the draft since the process is too complicated to entrust to a new staff halfway through, but the idea of getting rid of the General Manager too makes little sense.

Maccagnan hasn’t put together a great resume with the Jets, leading the team to a 24-40 record on his watch, but he wasn’t fired alongside Todd Bowles in January. The Jets not only let Maccagnan help them select a new head coach in Adam Gase, but they had him lead their free agent strategy, which brought big names like Le’Veon Bell and C.J. Mosley to New York.

It doesn’t make sense on the surface to fire Maccagnan this deep into the offseason, creating a situation where Gase is forced into a shotgun wedding with a new GM, but the Jets don’t operate like most teams. While many organizations have the coach report to the GM, who then reports to the owner, the Jets view the coach and GM as equals who both report to ownership.

This could explain why Pauline believes that Maccagnan could be sent out the door sooner rather than later since a new GM wouldn’t be involved with choosing the coach anyway. At a time where the Giants have become the more dysfunctional team in New York, firing Maccagnan after the draft could leave the Jets fighting for the back pages again for all the wrong reasons.