Jets owner Woody Johnson cited ‘Madden’ ratings when evaluating players: report

Based on a story published by Dianna Russini and others The Athletics NFL staff, things aren’t looking very promising for the New York Jets.

While some of these reports have come to light in recent years, owner Woody Johnson continues to have a much greater grasp of football situations than he should. That could play a role in who ultimately fills the open general manager and head coach positions that Johnson is currently working on hiring.

But in this report, all signs point to the Jets owner really making every decision from within the building. If New York wants to be a serious organization someday, that has to change.

A few weeks ago, there were reports that New York was looking to trade Jerry Jeudy in the offseason, a move that would have given an offense in need of a playmaker just that. Instead, however, Johnson wanted nothing to do with him and, according to Russini, cited his “Madden” rating as the reason he didn’t want to trade for him.

“Douglas told the Broncos that Johnson didn’t want to make the trade because the owner didn’t think Jeudy’s player rating on “Madden NFL,” the popular video game, was high enough, according to multiple league sources. The Broncos finally traded Last Sunday, Jeudy surpassed the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the first time in his career.

Jeudy wouldn’t have been a savior for this organization, but there was a point last offseason where the Jets just needed a good wide receiver on offense. Part of the payoff from this proposed trade would have sent Allen Lazard to Cleveland.

For a team that had been searching for such a player for most of the past few seasons alongside Garrett Wilson, which was easily the biggest concern entering the year, not trading for him was questionable.

Johnson quoting Madden ratings almost sounds too crazy to be true, but given the other moves he’s made and other reports from the Jets’ locker room, that’s just the start of everything that’s wrong.

A rating in a video game should never be the way an owner rates players, and in any case, these shouldn’t be the decisions Johnson makes.

He is expected to conduct a thorough general manager and head coach search this offseason, but if he plans to make all the decisions again, why should anything change?

More importantly, why would a competent head coach or general manager want to take that job when they have to contend with Johnson on their back every step of the way?

To make matters worse, Russini added that this isn’t the only time he’s used “Madden” ratings to evaluate players. Johnson did not think highly of John Simpson due to his popularity rating in the video game.