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After a 13-year run with the Denver Broncos, Darren Mougey is set to join the New York Jets as their new general manager.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday that the Jets hired Mougey on the heels of hiring Aaron Glenn to be their new head coach earlier this week.
Mougey had a brief NFL career as a player from 2009 to 2010, spending time with the Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals during the offseason.
The 39-year-old shifted to the personnel side in 2012 when he was hired as a scouting intern for the Broncos. He remained with the club for the next 13 seasons, eventually getting promoted to assistant general manager in 2022.
Mougey leaves Denver with a championship in tow from Super Bowl 50 during the 2015 season.
New York cleaned house during the 2024 season when they fired Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh. The moves, made six weeks apart, came as the team was in the midst of its ninth straight losing season and missing the playoffs for the 14th consecutive season.
Now that the Jets have landed on Mougey as their next general manager, there is one big decision for him to figure out related to quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers did close the 2024 season playing decently, but it came after weeks of him looking like a 41-year-old quarterback coming off a torn Achilles.
Mougey may also not want the task of trying to build a team around a quarterback who will be 41 years old for most of the 2025 season.
Whatever direction Mougey decides to take the Jets at quarterback, there’s a solid talent foundation in place around that position. Sauce Gardner, Will McDonald IV and Quinnen Williams are very good on the defensive side of the ball. Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall had great seasons when Zach Wilson was running the offense.
The cupboard isn’t totally bare for Mougey right now. He just has to put all of the pieces in place, while still making moves during the offseason that get this roster closer to being a contender so the Jets can end the longest-active playoff drought in the NFL.
