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.”

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