Jets GM Darren Mougey on Geno Smith, Aaron Glenn, NYJ's Future

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
Darren Mougey, Darren, it's Craig and Chris, thanks for a few minutes today.

**Darren Mougey** (0:03)
Yeah, of course, glad to be out here. It's always a fun time of year.

**Craig Carton** (0:05)
So when the coach said, we'll give you two first rounders for sauce, were you like, who's pranking me? Where the cameras at? What's going on?

**Darren Mougey** (0:11)
Yeah, never easy, those decisions, you know, but yeah, that was a big move for the Jets, and you know, excited for how it all worked out.

**Craig Carton** (0:20)
I wonder, when you got the job, and Joe Douglas, we thought, did a reasonably good job here, to be fair to Joe. Obviously, it didn't pan out to the level we would have liked, the Aaron Rodgers injury, obviously, four plays in. Yoko, a few seasons ago, was the edict that we're asking you to blow it up and rebuild it? Or was the edict when you first got the job, we think there's a decent amount of talent here, we need you to kind of, you know, just fill in a few holes.

**Darren Mougey** (0:46)
Yeah, I don't think anyone ever takes a job and is like, we're gonna blow this thing up, start all over. We're always, we're competitors, we want to win, right?
And there's so many variables in this game, and there's so many things to learn. When you, when you get to a new place, you know, and learning the players, and learning the staff, and all the dynamics, but really excited about some of the pieces we had, we continue to have here, and the ones we've added, you know, moving into the future.

**Craig Carton** (1:09)
Well, let me talk about the biggest one you added, and that's Geno Smith. Obviously, you cannot win in this, in this league without a competent quarterback. We've been a long time as Jeff fans without a legitimate rock star, a competent quarterback, to say the least.
Why do you think Geno off of the year he had in Vegas, and we understand why he had that year with the offensive line that was there, but why did you guys think that Geno Smith was the answer?

**Darren Mougey** (1:31)
Yeah, when we had the opportunity to get Geno here, just looking at his experience, let's just start there. This guy's played a lot of snaps in the NFL. He's thrown a lot of balls. He's seen a lot of looks. He's played a lot of good football too, throughout his career. And as you guys see, he can still throw it. There's no question about that. Here's a big guy who's played in weather. He can throw the piss out of the ball, and getting a guy with that level of experience, and to come in, it's all been talked about. We had a really young team last year, right? But the guy, to see him in just the time that I've been with him, it's been very encouraging. Not just as a thrower out there, but to watch him work, watch him lead, set the example.

**Craig Carton** (2:07)
How much, as GM, do you put into the day-to-day practice? He's had some amazing practices. This morning wasn't one of them, obviously, through a bunch of interceptions. Do you get concerned day-to-day if he's not improving, the offense isn't getting better?

**Darren Mougey** (2:23)
Well, one, first, a few things on that. We're evaluating every player every day, every snap. Now, we're not making, oh, the sky is falling, judgments every day here out practice as well. This is part of training camp, and whether you're an experienced player, like Geno or a rookie, you're gonna have days where you throw picks or make mistakes, but that's part of it as we're learning, and it's still a new group. They're all playing together for the first time. Frank's coaching some of these guys for the first time, calling plays for them for the first time, so it is a process, and that's what I'm excited to watch and see every day.

**Craig Carton** (2:54)
I'll tell you, the one guy, again, I was here for all of an hour, so excuse this expert opinion here, but if he can hang on to the ball, AD. Mitchell's a different dude.

**Darren Mougey** (3:04)
Yeah, A.D.'s been good. He's been fun to watch through OTAs, through training camp. Really, that whole group, they're all kind of taking shape and taking their mold, and I'm talking about the process, and in training camp, that's part of it as well, just how that whole group will come together and what role they'll play, and as the coaches learn the players, okay, this guy does this well, we're gonna use him on this, this guy does this well, let's get him the ball in this situation, and just watching that process unfold is fun for me.