Jets have offered buyouts to roughly 170 of 250 employees

The Jets apparently hope to turn "chickenshit" into chicken salad.

Sports Business Journal reports that the team has offered buyouts to roughly 170 of its 250 employees. The offers were extended earlier this month; the deadline for accepting is today.

Benefits hinge on tenure. Per the report, employees with fewer than 10 years of experience will receive two weeks of pay for every year of service, along with an amount equal to their 2024 bonus. For employees with 10 to 20 years of experience, the payment will be three weeks of pay for every year of service, along with health insurance for the same period and an amount equal to their 2024 bonus. For employees who have more than 20 years of experience, and for all employees with V.P. titles or higher, the offer is 80 weeks of pay, health insurance, and the amount of their 2024 bonus.

Voluntary buyouts, which usually include a requirement to waive any and all potential legal claims, often precede involuntary layoffs. The number of employees who will be let go, if any, will depend on the number who choose to leave.

Former Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers complained on multiple occasions about the organizational culture, specifically as it relates to leaks.

“I think it’s chickenshit at its core, and I think it has no place in a winning organization,” Rodgers said in late 2023. In November 2024, Rodgers said that leaks are "100 percent" still a problem for the Jets.

Leaks are a symptom. There's a deeper problem that results in people who know things sharing them with outsiders. Eliminating a large chunk of the workforce won't necessarily change that.

Really, the basic culture of an organization won't change until ownership changes. Consider what has happened in Washington, for example.

But the Jets hope to spur change without selling the franchise. The Lions have pulled it off, and new Jets coach Aaron Glenn was part of that process. At some point, however, no amount of change can cure dysfunction that potentially flows from the highest reaches of an organization.