After completing an interview with a second candidate to become their next general manager, the Jets took a third executive, who is considered to be the favorite, out to dinner Saturday night in New Jersey.
The Jets announced they interviewed Saints director of pro scouting Terry Fontenot on Saturday. They were later set to dine with Eagles vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas, ESPN reported. Douglas’ meeting was expected to continue Sunday as the Jets’ search for Mike Maccagnan’s replacement entered full swing.
The 38-year-old Fontenot has spent 16 years with New Orleans, the past six in his current role. He is responsible for managing the pro personnel department with tasks that include “recommending player acquisitions by evaluating players from all professional leagues, including the Saints roster, monitoring the waiver wire and supervising advance scouting of upcoming opponents,” according to the Saints’ website.
Since Maccagnan was fired May 15, Douglas has been widely tabbed as the favorite to succeed him. He overlapped with Jets head coach and interim GM Adam Gase in Chicago in 2015, when Douglas was the Bears’ director of college scouting and Gase was their offensive coordinator. Gase is assisting in the GM search.
League sources told The Post’s Brian Costello that Douglas had already reached out to people about joining him with the Jets more than two weeks before his interview.
Prior to his stints with the Eagles and Bears, Douglas rose up the ranks with the Ravens — working in their personnel department for 16 years, most of them as a scout.
On Friday, the Jets kicked off the interview process by speaking with Scott Fitterer, the Seahawks’ co-director of player personnel.
The Jets are also expected to interview Bears assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly early next week. They are still waiting to hear back from Vikings assistant general manager George Paton on whether or not he will accept an interview as well.
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