Woody Johnson says Jets are working to ease pain of fans

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Yes, Woody Johnson owns the Jets and ultimately is responsible for all that goes on with his NFL team. But at his core, Johnson is a fan of the team and suffers like everyone else who pulls for them.

And oh, has there been a lot of frustration.

“I’m a Jets fan, too, and we hope for the best and we don’t get desperate, but we hope we’re on the right path and we hope management has a good plan for us,” Johnson said Monday at the NFL’s annual spring meeting. “The fans express themselves, and that’s a positive. That’s the way I feel, too. I feel their pain.”

Unlike every other fan, Johnson is in the position of at least trying to make things work — even if that doesn’t always happen. It has been more than a decade since the Jets last went to the playoffs, and the last two years have been particularly gruesome record-wise.

“We’ve had a couple of horrible seasons,” he said. “We won four games last year, two games before that, and this is obviously not where we want to be. Now we’re addressing that big-time.”

The Jets showed aggressiveness on the free-agent market, signing cornerback D.J. Reed, safety Jordan Whitehead and tight ends C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Conklin. They also made a bold attempt to trade for Kansas City Pro Bowl wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who opted for Miami. and said after the trade that he preferred to live and play in Miami.

But Johnson contends general manager Joe Douglas’ efforts showed the Jets mean business when it comes to getting better.

“We’re in it,” Johnson said. “Just follow what we’ve done. We’ve been extremely aggressive. We’re not afraid of taking risks and putting all our chips on a player like Tyreek. If we see something that will help the team, we’re going to go for it.”

Johnson said the team will make similar attempts at improving the roster if the opportunities present themselves: “If we see something that will help the team, we’re going to go for it.”

Despite Johnson’s frustration about the team’s failures since Rex Ryan led the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances in the 2009-10 seasons,   he will not place a win-or-else edict on Douglas and coach Robert Saleh. No playoff mandate here.

“I never look at it that way,” Johnson said. “The way I look at every season is I think we’re going to win every game. But putting a marker like that I don’t think helps us achieve that.  Needless to say, we want to win games. That’s what it’s all about. We want to do a lot better than we did last year. We owe the fans that and we owe the players and coaches and everybody. We’re all working for the same thing.”

Johnson said the priority is to surround second-year quarterback Zach Wilson with more talent.

“Mission No. 1 is getting him going and giving him the things that he needs around him,” Johnson said. “You want the defense to give him the ball, you want special teams to do what they do, [but] a lot of it is about the quarterback. If we can keep him protected and give him the weapons, the sky’s the limit.”

Depth for D-line. The Jets added defensive tackle Solomon Thomas on a one-year deal. The No. 3 pick in the 2017 draft for San Francisco, Thomas spent four seasons playing in Saleh’s defense with the 49ers. Thomas was with the Raiders last year and recorded a career-high 3.5 sacks.

Overall, Thomas has 129 tackles, 19 for loss, and 9.5 sacks in five seasons. He played in only two games in 2020 because he tore his ACL against the Jets at MetLife Stadium.

The Jets needed depth up front, especially at defensive tackle after losing Foley Fatukasi to the Jaguars. Thomas has played defensive end too, so he adds versatility to Saleh’s front four.

The Jets also are signing kicker Eddy Pineiro to a one-year deal worth up to $2.75 million. He is expected to compete in training camp with Greg Zuerlein, whom they signed on Saturday. Initially, the Jets gave Pineiro a $2.4 million right-of-first-refusal tender, but that deal was reworked after the Zuerlein signing.

The Jets had kicking issues last season before signing Pineiro in December. He earned another shot to be the Jets’ kicker by making all eight of his field-goal attempts and going  9-for-10 on extra points in five games.

 — AL IANNAZZONE

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”