Pepper Johnson knows who is standing in the way of the Jets — just about everyone.
The former Giants/Jets linebacker, who spent two seasons (2015-16) as the Jets’ defensive line coach, unleashed a wave of criticism upon the team that fired him, calling out the Jets for their culture, conflicting philosophies and consistently poor management, while offering individual rebukes for owner Woody Johnson, general manager Mike Maccagnan, coach Todd Bowles and defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers, during a lengthy Q-and-A with Deadspin.
Pepper Johnson, 54, vented frustration with Bowles and Rodgers’ refusal to implement — or even consider — schemes he used in 14 seasons coaching under Bill Belichick with the Patriots, like matching the pass rush with coverage, and said he was a “scapegoat” for the Jets’ defensive issues.
“You have a problem with — I’m trying my best to put this mildly — of authority,” Johnson said. “Like, some people, if it’s not their ideals, then they don’t want to use them. Because they’re not getting credit for that. … I’m going to tell you this. Todd really could care less. In my experience of dealing with him for two years, he really could care less.”
Rodgers could, apparently.
“I don’t want to say it’s animosity, but there’s several times where he tried to tell me how to coach my guys,” Johnson said “If you’re making a suggestion or you’re telling me this is what you did in freaking Miami? I could care less about that because I didn’t think highly of the Miami Dolphins’ defensive line [when Rodgers coached it].”
In 2015, the Jets went 10-6. The next season, they went 5-11. Johnson said Maccagnan is part of the reason why.
“In my mind, it got worse the second year,” Johnson said. “Because now it seemed like everything came from upstairs.”
And the problems start at the very top, Johnson said.
“The difference between him and [former owner Leon] Hess, when I got injured in ‘97, when I woke up from my surgery, Leon Hess was in my room,” the former linebacker said. “That man cared enough to be in my room when I woke up. I saw him before my mother. I saw him before at that time my fiancee. I felt big. I even told [Bill] Parcells, I’m coming back for the ‘98 season because Mr. Hess was in my room before I woke up.
“I don’t think Woody would have been in my room. … But the whole reason I’m telling you this story is because Woody, my whole two years there, didn’t know my name. He did not know my name. When he shook my hand, he said, ‘Hey.’ One time, we were on the field, and he said, ‘Hey, coach.’ I’m quite sure he didn’t know me from one of the players.
“He comes around like he’s just the face, and that’s what he does. He doesn’t know anybody, and he can’t tell anybody’s name or anything like that. And that trickles down.”
Johnson also reserved criticism for some of his former players, calling Leonard Williams a poor fit for the team’s defense and Muhammad Wilkerson poorly fit to play so close to his childhood home in New Jersey.
Wilkerson was released in February, less than two years after signing a five-year deal, which included $53 million guaranteed.
“You really have to find out that guy’s mentality and how he is with people,” Johnson said of Wilkerson. “The majority of guys that I met — and I can’t say it’s all of them, I can’t say it bats 1.000 — they are, they are spoiled, and they have to have things laid out their way. And that’s going to eventually come back to haunt you at a later date because you can’t hand-feed all 53 of your players.
“With the fame comes a lot of distractions. To me, what makes the difference from the athletes that get judged as busts and the athletes that go out and meet qualifications is some guys don’t know how to handle those adjustments and handle those distractions, and some guys do. Some guys know how to handle coaching, and some guys don’t.”
Johnson said he was against losing defensive tackle Damon Harrison — the former coach claims the Jets questioned his health going forward — and strangely lambasted Maccagnan for taking Leonard Williams with the sixth-overall pick in 2015, believing eventual fifth-round pick Grady Jarrett was a better fit on the Jets defensive line.
“I had him as a first-round pick and all that, and I was more than happy to get him, but the style of defense that we did, or that we were doing, he did not fall into that category for me to be that No. 1,” Johnson said. “When I was hired there, I was told that we were going to be a stunting defensive line, so in my mind, I needed to find guys that stunt well.
“So we’re doing the evaluations [after 2015]. Do you know they came into the meeting trying to clown me like Leonard had a better year than any other rookie defensive lineman in his class? I said, ‘Well, instead of you guys trying to clown me about that you should be patting me on the back.’ ‘Cause if I coached one of those guys, they would have had a better year than Leonard. Jarrett ended up tying Reggie White — a Hall of Famer — for the sack record in the Super Bowl.”
Despite the constant problems, Johnson said he was “shocked” when he was fired — along with outside linebackers coach Mark Collins and defensive backs coach Joe Danna — after the Jets defense ranked 28th in the NFL during the 2016 season.
“There’s no way that I was a problem in that situation,” Johnsaon said. “No, I wasn’t a problem. I felt like I just was a scapegoat.”
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