Joe Douglas took first step to ending ugly Jets cycle

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The Joe Douglas approach to free agency has become clear this week. The Jets’ general manager has eschewed spending big money on the top free agents and instead targeted value plays. Connor McGovern, George Fant, Alex Lewis and Brian Poole are not sexy names, but Douglas is counting on them being worth the contracts he …

The Joe Douglas approach to free agency has become clear this week.

The Jets’ general manager has eschewed spending big money on the top free agents and instead targeted value plays. Connor McGovern, George Fant, Alex Lewis and Brian Poole are not sexy names, but Douglas is counting on them being worth the contracts he handed out to them.

It is a smart approach to free agency, one that the best teams in the NFL employ. While it is fun for fans to see their teams take big swings in free agency, those good feelings in March usually don’t translate to wins in December. Spending wildly in free agency is like a sugar rush. That sleeve of Thin Mints tastes good, but you’ll regret it later.

Being prudent in free agency is just the first half of turning around the Jets. Now, Douglas needs to draft really well.

Every general manager preaches building through the draft. Few do it because it is so hard. When you miss on draft picks, that is when you find yourself overpaying players in March.

It is a cycle the Jets have been in for a decade now. It is staggering how poorly the Jets have drafted in recent years. Consider this: If free agents Jordan Jenkins and Lac Edwards sign with other teams, as expected, the entire 2016 Jets draft class will be gone. Add to that the fact the entire 2015 class is already gone. The 2017 class is down to two players — Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye.

Think about that for a minute — the Jets drafted 22 players between 2015 and 2017 and only two of them are expected to be on the roster this season. Players such as Lorenzo Mauldin, Christian Hackenberg, ArDarius Stewart and Chad Hansen are not even in the league anymore.

You can blame Todd Bowles or Adam Gase all you want for the Jets’ struggles in recent years, but they have not had much to work with in terms of talent.

The Jets have to hope Douglas can have a much higher batting average than Mike Maccagan in the draft. Douglas’ approach to free agency actually reminds me of former Jets GM John Idzik’s philosophy. That might make Jets fans cringe, but Idzik’s issue was not his plan, rather the execution of it.

Idzik’s approach was to not overspend in free agency and build through the draft and through second-tier free agency. He just failed to find good players. He ended up whiffing on first-round picks such as Dee Milliner and Calvin Pryor. Quincy Enunwa is the only player left from his 12-man 2014 draft class. He compounded his draft mistakes by rolling the dice on some character risks in free agency that blew up in his face. Remember doozies Dimitri Patterson and Mike Goodson?

Douglas has emphasized building not just a winner, but a winning culture. So it seems unlikely he will take any risks on guys with character issues.

Even so, finding good players is not easy. Douglas has a great reputation as a scout and he built a strong front office around him. Gase also had some strong draft picks in Miami when he controlled personnel and will be working in lockstep with Douglas on the draft.

The Jets have eight picks in next month’s draft, including four in the top 80, thanks to Giants general manager Dave Gettleman. While Douglas’ roster-building work began this week, the draft is where he really needs to do his heavy lifting. We’ll find out if he is up to the task.