Is Theo Epstein the guy to lead the New York Jets out of the longest playoff drought in North American professional sports?
It’s not Cleveland Browns head coach Condoleezza Rice, but it’s certainly an idea — and one that’s out there. If Jets Twitter has the courage, perhaps they could convince an owner easily influenced by social media that the former Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs executive was the man for the job.
It’s not unprecedented, either. Former Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers is now an advisor and consultant to Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris. Former Oakland A’s executive Paul DePodesta now serves as the Browns’ Chief Strategy Officer.
The latter of the two did facilitate the Deshaun Watson trade, so that could give some pause about an MLB-to-NFL transition. But Epstein has also won two World Series trophies, breaking two 70-plus-year curses in the process.
So, it’s at least a conversation worth having.
And it’s one Evan Cohen had on ESPN Radio’s UnSportsmanlike on Wednesday.
Could Theo Epstein make a good NFL executive? pic.twitter.com/1wYF80ohjq
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“The cross-sport thing has worked with the Commanders, right? Because the Commanders are looking at it and saying, ‘We’re not worrying about his basketball expertise; we’re worrying about his organizational structure expertise,'” said Cohen.
The reason why this even became a conversation is the fallout from the Jets firing Joe Douglas as their general manager on Tuesday. Whatever the 77-year-old heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune is doing clearly isn’t working. He needs to hire a Vice President of Football Operations, so how about taking the road less traveled?
“The best executive of our lifetime at fixing a mess is Theo Epstein,” Cohen continued. “He’s done it, not once, but twice… I’m just throwing this out there, if you’re one of these teams, like the Jets, like the Cowboys, like the Browns, like the Jaguars, can I sit in a meeting with you — ownership — and can I say, ‘We’re really screwed up. Something’s really wrong. Can I pitch you Theo Epstein as someone who knows how to get us out of these jams?'”
Cohen wants to know if that’s a worthy pitch if he’s meeting face-to-face with a Woody Johnson type.
“I’m using the Bob Myers example. (Chris Canty) is right to bring up all the baseball guys with the Browns; that has not worked, obviously,” Cohen said. “But, it seems like some of these franchises are such a mess that they have to find their version of a sure thing. Now, Theo’s not a sure thing, obviously, in football. But organizationally, the man’s a sure thing.”
What do you say, Theo?
Epstein wouldn’t need to be in charge of day-to-day football operations; he’d be the one putting the best people in place to take said team out of this proverbial mess. But does Epstein really want that? He opted not to join the New York Mets front office after meeting with Steve Cohen and later served as a consultant for Major League Baseball on “on-field matters.”
At the start of this year, Fenway Sports Group announced that Epstein would return as a senior adviser and join its ownership group, pending MLB approval.
And he’s from Boston; maybe he’s not too fond of the Jets, either.
[UnSportsmanlike]
