There won’t be a parade through Florham Park this week, but there has to be some people inside the Jets training center happy the Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII.
First among them is general manager John Idzik, who spent six seasons in the Seattle front office before becoming the Jets general manager in 2013. For Idzik, this is not only seeing some old friends hoist the Lombardi Trophy, but a validation of the work and philosophy of the Seahawks front office.
Now, maybe that philosophy can have the same success with the Jets. This offseason is a critical one for the team and it will be a glimpse into how Idzik views team building. The Jets are expected to have $40 million in salary-cap space and possibly 12 draft picks.
Idzik spoke last week about what he saw in Seattle from general manager John Schneider. The Seahawks did not chase many big-name free agents. Instead, they built the team mainly through the draft.
“I think that’s what differentiates John and the Seahawks,” Idzik said. “It wasn’t just going after talent. It wasn’t just going after guys that really stood out where they were. It was identifying who was a Seahawk. It sounds a little familiar, right?”
When Idzik was introduced last January he spoke of how he would go about rebuilding the Jets.
“We’ll explore every measure to bring in talent and continue to compete,” Idzik said. “The draft will be very important to us. That will be a lifeline for us, year-in and year-out. We will use free agency. Again we will be very thoughtful, do our research and be judicious in free agency. We will use trades. We will use waiver claims. We’ll work our practice roster. We’ll have numerous tryouts throughout the year in search for guys that ‘Play like a Jet.’ That will be a constant hum in the background of what we do.”
Idzik is not the only Jet who must feel encouraged by Seattle’s triumph. It also was a victory in a way for coach Rex Ryan.
One of the main criticisms of Ryan over the last few years has been that the NFL is an offensive league and a defense-first mind-set can’t win big. But Pete Carroll is a defense-first coach and Seattle’s defense led the way all season through the 43-8 victory Sunday.
Ryan’s coaching philosophy is also similar to Carroll’s. Both are player-friendly coaches who like to have fun at practice and keep things light for their players. Carroll suffered a scratch on his face in practice Friday when he was returning a kickoff. Ryan frequently runs down on the scout kickoff team in practice.
All of this should leave owner Woody Johnson feeling pretty good about the men he has running his football team.
The NFL is a copycat league and surely the Seahawks are being studied right now by many teams who struggled this season. The Jets don’t have to study too hard. They already have Idzik in place, who knows Seattle’s personnel philosophy and Ryan, whose style is close to Carroll’s.
Now they just need to find a few Richard Shermans and Russell Wilsons.