There was a time not that long ago when the perception of the general manager opening was that it was so odious a situation that it was better to have withdrawn from consideration than to have allowed oneself to be deemed a finalist. That was 2013, and a search that ended up with John Idzik being hired into what was indeed an odious situation that no GM Wil Myers Jersey was going to make much better in the short term.History has a way of repeating itself. Especially in Florham Park. More from La Canfora Don't get me wrong, the coupling of head coach/interim GM Adam Gase with the next man who signs a contract to be full-time GM of the team (still widely believed in league circles to be exec Joe Douglas) may enjoy the type of sustained succe s that has eluded almost all of his predece sors during the time the Johnson family has owned the team. Things might change for the better. It could happen and I believe this roster is primed to take a leap forward in 2019 and Douglas already knows Gase very well and the two have wanted to work together for quite some time. As I have written in the past, Douglas is widely-viewed as one of the most highly-qualified GM candidates around, and is more than worthy of that title. looks primed to be the franchise QB he was drafted to be. Maybe the Jets are about to break their curse of toxicity and infighting.But as the interview proce s is set to formally begin, it's worth a se sing where things currently stand. Because I tend to think this hire won't be without some more Jets-tastic quirks and bizarre turns before they get around to actually holding a pre s conference to announce the person officially teamed with Gase. If my conversations in the past week with people close to several of the candidates the Jets hope to interview are any indication, this could be another doozy of a proce s. Questions abound. Anxiety is already high.Two of the calls I received, out of the Chase Headley Jersey blue, were almost identical. I was asked virtually the same questions by individuals who are a sociates of men the Jets want to speak with. This was their inquiry: My response basically went like this: Three GMs I know well who don't have a history of spreading false info were convinced before the draft that Douglas was going to take over the Jets after the draft. If you are owner of a team that has had a hard time getting qualified candidates to talk to you in the past, you don't fire your GM, randomly, in the middle of May and anoint a head coach who has been on the job about four months interim GM unle s you have a pretty good idea of who the next guy is. Even Woody and couldn't be nave enough to do otherwise, right? Yes, I hear the same as you, that Douglas has what has the makings of a sharp-looking staff ready to go, and his pre-existing relationship would seem to be a trump card here. Perhaps things fall apart with him, and your guy could get the offer But would you really want to take it under these terms, working for these owners, in this scenario with the last GM just run out of the building weeks after being allowed to run the draft?They then pretty much said the following:This is the Jets reality right now.Again, maybe it won't matter a bit if they do finally turn the corner. But I can a sure you that as the men the Jets want to interview other than Douglas George Paton of the , Scott Fitterer of the , Champ Kelly of the reached out to their network of peers around the over the weekend, not many were urging them to throw themselves fully into this opening. For obvious reasons. Paton has been super-selective in which jobs he has pursued over the years, withdrawing from consideration in le s Eric Hosmer Jersey -than-appealing instances, so other executives are wondering why he would enter this me s right now. After several years where owners have been unfailing loyal to under-performing GMs, there is a sense around the league that an overhaul could be coming to the GM ranks this January, when more attractive jobs should be available, especially for those thought of as highly as him."Why would George even take the interview?" said a high-ranking official from a team who has been involved in several GM searches the past four years. "I wouldn't take it. He doesn't need to do that now."Fitterer has also been a mainstay on GM-candidate lists for several years now and he has a fine reputation and works for a first-cla s franchise and one of the best GMs in the NFL in John Schneider. He hasn't been one to walk away from openings the way Paton has, but in a league where GMs generally only get one chance to hold that position (rates of recidivism are quite low; you don't usually get a second chance) it can be wise to be careful. Unfortunately, the situation is murkiest for Kelly, through no fault of his own. The Jets must comply with the Rooney Rule which has long needed a more comprehensive updating and interviewing Kelly would qualify them. He knows Gase from their time together at the Bears and and is more than qualified for consideration on merit alone.But consider the awkward situation this puts him in. He surely has heard all the same rumblings about Douglas for months and the fact he Rollie Fingers Jersey has worked with Douglas and has an overlapping network of contacts a sures it. He one wants to be used or feel used though the nature of this rule, whose intent is obviously incredibly well-meaning, often makes it a reality but Kelly also does not have the extensive history of interviews that Paton or Fitterer do, and has not been a fixture on the GM-search circuit for as long.So he must weigh all of those variables, as well as how others might perceive him declining an invitation to interview for one of only 32 jobs on the planet. And he must also weigh, especially within the community of minority coaches and execs, whether, by accepting the interview, he is further perpetuating the unintended consequences of the Rooney Rule Tony Gwynn Jersey by being part of what some believe could be something of a sham proce s with the outcome already preordained before the interview slips were even sent out (like the hire of Mike Mayock as GM in January). How is any of that fair to the individual involved? Something that should be a cause of celebration instead turns into a fact-finding mi sion to try to discern the intent and openne s of the search itself, ferreting out motives and transparency. But particularly with the growing trend of owners now whacking GMs post-draft (it's been all the rage with the , , and now Jets doing so in recent years), there is all-the-more reason to tread lightly and have trepidation for most "candidates," in that moves like that aren't made generally unle s the next-man-up is basically already in the fold. I asked one minority executive who has been in this situation before what he would do if he was Kelly. He paused for a moment to contemplate where Kelly is in his career, and then told me this:"Maybe it is easy for me to say, and I could never speak for him, but I think high