Due to personal conflicts, I have not have an opportunity to write about the two major hires for the Jets this offseason, new general manager John Idzik and new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. I apologize for the delay, but you can listen to my initial thoughts on the hire from Friday’s episode of Flight 5 and yesterday’s edition of  “The Blue and Green Review.”

As you’ve likely heard by now, the Jets have hired Seahawks executive John Idzik as the team’s new general manager. The team announced the hire on Friday afternoon and will hold a press conference introducing Idzik to the media and the fan base on Thursday (tomorrow).

So who is John Idzik and what can we expect from his as the New York Jets general manager?

Idzik spent the last six seasons as VP of football administration with the Seattle Seahawks, where his duties included cap and contract deals and player negotiations and agent communications, among other things. So yes, he is indeed coming from a job where his primary responsibilities fell under “cap and contract” work, but Idzik was also actively involved in player evaluations in Seattle, though that may not exactly fall under his technical job description.

Prior to joining the Seahawks, Idzik spent three seasons as Senior Director of Football Operations for the Arizona Cardinals, helping to build an NFC championship team. He also spent 11 seasons with the Tampa Bay buccaneers Idzik and was promoted to assistant general manager in 2001.

Idzik coached at Duke University, the State University of New York at Buffalo and for the Aberdeen Oilers (Scotland) of the British American Football League.

He is a graduate of Dartmouth College, where he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. At Dartmouth, he also played wide receiver for the Ivy League Champion Big Green. He later earned a master’s degree from Duke University in 1992.

Randy Lange of NewYorkJets.com wrote an excellent blog post about Idzik, explaining his strengths and accomplishments and also dispelling somer rumors about Idzik’s perceived limitations with personnel. I suggest you give it a read if you have concerns about the hire. » Continue reading “John Idzik And Marty Mornhinweg Hires Aim To Get Jets Back On Track”

Woody Johnson and Jed Hughes will have conducted 11 interviews by the end of the week as part of their search for a new general manager.

The Jets GM search, which appeared to be locked up with Tom Gamble over the weekend, has suddenly taken an interesting turn. In fact, it has been so interesting that even I had a difficult time following it today.

Falcons’ David Caldwell, considered by many to be a “dark horse” candidate based on the positive buzz surrounding Gamble, completed his second interview with the Jets yesterday afternoon. The Jaguars announced that he would be their new general manager later that day.

With their first round of interviews completed and no GM emerging as a favorite, the Jets begin to add additional candidates to the mix, beginning with Colts vice president of football operations Tom Telesco, whom they requested an interview with early this morning (Wednesday). Telesco was named the Chargers new general manager this afternoon.

The Caldwell and Telesco developments must have scared the Jets a bit, because they have now added a long list of candidates throughout the course of the day.

• Dolphins Assistant General Manager Brian Gaine, a Bill Parcells disciple who once worked for the Jets, will be interviewed for the GM job later the week (several reports have the interview happening tomorrow).
• Omar Khan, Steelers Director of Football & Business Administration will be interviewed tomorrow. Khan is considered to be a cap-and-contracts-specialist (that is, specializing in contract negotiations and managing the team’s cap), not a football scout or a “football guy,” as they say. If Khan was to be hired, it’s highly likely he would need assistance from someone with more scouting experience, perhaps someone from the Steelers or even – ugh – Bradaway.
• Former Bears G.M. Jerry Angelo will also be interviewed tomorrow. You may recall Angelo was recently fired in Chicago after 11 years as their general manager. Some positives on Angelo: He has some experience with personnel form his days in Tampa Bay and he is also known for being cheap.
• Seahawks VP of Football Administration John Idzik will interview for Jets GM job on Friday, according to Jason LaCanfora. Idzik has played a huge part in restructuring the Seahawks cap situation in the past few years so, yep, you guessed it, he’s another “cap guy.”
• Jim Popp, GM of Montreal Alouettes in CFL, is believed to be on Jets GM radar as well, according to Manish Mehta. No interview has been scheduled, but many around the league believe him to be an excellent candidate. He was the runner up for the Colts job last year and he is a top candidate for the Panthers opening.
• As a side note, Albert Breer reported that  the Jets requested and received permission to interview San Diego Chargers Director of Player Personnel Jimmy Raye for the position. Raye has since been taken out of the mix. According to Cimini, “(the) interview never (never) scheduled.”

» Continue reading “Jets Add Several New Names to the GM Mix”