Jets owner Woody Johnson and consultant Jed Hughes have began the search for a new general manager.

The Jets have already begun the search for their new general manager.

Reports are rapidly filtering in about a variety of candidates the Jets have requested and been granted interviews with. I have compiled a list below, with a brief summary of each candidate. The list will be updated as more information becomes available.

• San Francisco Director of Player Personnel 49ers Tom Gamble: Gamble has been working in the NFL for 24 years – including a stint as the Jets quality-control defensive assistant in 1995 and 1996 under Rich Kotite - and is a Bill Polian disciple. His work with the 49ers (he is mostly charged with the responsibility of acquiring free agent talent for the Niners) and elsewhere around the league, most notably with the Eagles, has been highly regarded and as a result, he is one of the most sought after candidates for the many GM openings. According to Albert Breer, Gamble is at the top of the Jets’ list.
• New York Giants Director of College Scouting Marc Ross: Ross has spent the last five years as the Giants director of college scouting and his well documented success has made him a highly sought after candidate amongst those teams looking to fill general manager vacancies. Ross will also interview with the Carolina Panthers and San Diego Chargers, according to sources. Ross was also heavily pursued last season, interviewing for openings in Indianapolis, Seattle and Chicago.
• Atlanta Falcons Director of Player Personnel David Caldwell: After four years as the Falcons’s director of college scouting, Caldwell was promoted to personnel director last off-season and has worked closely with Falcons GM Thomas Dimitrof to upgrade the Falcons roster. Given the Falcons success in the past few seasons, Caldwell is considered to be a highly sought after candidate. He is currently linked to both the Jags and Chargers, who are also looking for new GMs.
• Former Cleveland Browns General Manager Tom Heckert: The recently fired Heckert is also being heavily pursued by another team, per the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Heckert firing in Cleveland has been met with mixed reactions, though he is widely considered to be a far better talent evaluator than Mike Tannenbaum. For more on the Heckert firing, check out Aerys Sports’ Browns site. For a list of Heckert’s draft history, click here.
• Jets Assistant GM Scott Cohen: Most organizations interview someone in house, Cohen appears to be the token courtesy interview, which is why I am personally not concerning myself too much with te interview. Cohen is a Tannenbaum guy and hiring him would be so “same old Jets.”

According to an LA Daily News article in 2007, Jed Hughes, the man the Jets hired to consult on potential GM candidates, will receive $200,000 per search. Nice way to make a living.

The Jets coaching staff will likely not undergo any additional changes until a new GM is hired but when the time comes, changes at a offensive coordinator, quarterback’s coach and offensive line coach are high on my list. In fact, I would be fine with all of the offensive coaching staff being let go, save for Anthony Lynn, who I believe deserves to stay on.

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Rex will address the media at 3 pm today.

Well, Happy Black Monday, everyone. This should be fun.

(Crickets)

We knew changes were coming, but now it’s about as good as official : Head Coach Rex Ryan and GM Mike Tannenbaum will hold a press conference at 3 pm today. I think it’s safe to assume these changes are related to offensive personnel and likely, Brian Schottenheimer.

So, there is that.

The Huddle Controversy

When I said that Holmes stole the headlines from Sanchez after yesterday’s loss, I meant it. Sanchez is still garnering his fair share of judgement (see below), but most of the conversation has been reserved for the wide receiver – and team captain – Santonio Holmes.

We have now learned that Holmes was pulled from the game by Brian Schottenheimer, for a variety of reasons, and a source close to the team who requested anonymity told the media that Holmes quit on the team weeks ago, even going so far as to say, “It’s happened all season.”

Jenny Vrentas of the Star-Ledger chronicled the season-long issues in her latest column, which helps somewhat explain what lead to yesterday’s incident.

LaDainian Tomlinson had a few words on Holmes, and while they are stated professionally, they are rather condemning :

“I’ll tell you what, it’s tough for guys to follow a captain that kind of behaves in that manner. When you’re a captain, guys are looking at you, you’ve got to lead by example. You’ve got to play your tail off until the last play. And when that don’t happen, you have guys looking at you in a way that captains shouldn’t be looked.”

I wish I could act surprised by Holmes’ actions, but I cannot. In fact, I cited Holmes history of such behavior as a reason why the Jets might want to consider keeping Braylon Edwards instead, much less giving Holmes a giant contract. If you want to check out my column on the receivers, which dates back to July, you can read it here.

I will add that Derrick Mason tweeted something rather cryptic yesterday, which suggests he has a story of his own to tell.

Interesting, Derrick. But just in case you were wondering, it’s “their,” not “there.” Mmmkay?

Other Headlines

Bob Glauber of Newsday wrote a piece about Mark Sanchez and his “checkdowns.” Sanchez threw three picks in yesterday’s loss; all of them on checkdowns.

The Jets now have the 16th pick in the draft.