Mike Maccagnan's sucessful first season as Jets general manager has earned him an honor: The Pro Football Writers Association on Thursday named Maccagnan its NFL Executive of the Year.

Maccagnan inherited more than $40 million in salary-cap space from his predecessor, John Idzik, who was fired after just two years for trying to get his predecessor's cap situation in order by gutting too much of the roster.

But Maccagnan really didn't make a bad personnel move in reshaping the Jets' 2015 roster, and the team improved from 4-12 to 10-6, barely missing the playoffs.

There were a number of deserving GM candidates for the award this year, from the Cardinals' Steve Keim to Washington's Scot McCloughan to the Panthers' Dave Gettleman to the Vikings' Rick Spielman to the Chiefs' John Dorsey. Maccagnan is the first Jets executive to win the PFWA honor since the award became a thing in 1993.

Maccagnan not only brought in a number of outside free agents who played well--cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Buster Skrine, free safety Marcus Gilchrist, left guard James Carpenter--but he also re-signed inside linebacker David Harris and running back Bilal Powell, and drafted defensive end Leonard Williams and edge rusher Lorenzo Mauldin, who were all valuable contributors.

But Maccagan's best moves might have been trading for quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and wideout Brandon Marshall, who were both catalysts for an offense that shattered a number of team records. And all it cost the Jets was a sixth-round draft pick in this year's draft and a fifth-rounder last year.

Maccagnan faces a much bigger challenge in Year 2, when he'll have something in the range of $14 million to $20 million in cap space to work with, along with a number of important players facing free agency, including Fitzpatrick, defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson, nose tackle Damon Harrison, and running backs Powell and Chris Ivory.

Dom Cosentino may be reached at dcosentino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @domcosentino. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.