With the 13th overall pick on the 2013 draft, the Jets selected defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson from Missouri.

The addition of Richardson will raise a lot of questions about how the Jets plan to utilize their defensive front this season. How will last year’s first round pick Quinton Coples, 2011 first rounder Muhammed Wilkerson  and 2011 second rounder Kenrick Ellis all fit in together? The Richardson pick is as sure a sign as any that the Jets plan to run a 4-3 defensive front.

According to various sources, the Jets did try to trade out of this pick, but were unable to find a partner. Meanwhile, Idzik told the media the team “stuck to their board.

“We selected two of our Top four players on our board,” Idzik said. “Period.”

Okay then.

(This guy hated the pick).

The Jets search for a new general manager continues, and if you’ve struggled to keep up with everything that’s going on, just know you’re not alone. But before we get into the latest on the GM front, there are two other interesting developments worth noting.

• Despite not having hired a new general manager, the Jets have already begun the process of targeting candidates for the offensive coordinator job. Names include Cam Cameron, Marty Mornhinweg, Hue Jackson and Pep Hamilton. According to CBS Sports, Cameron is considered the early “favorite.”
• In addition to interviewing several potential offensive coordinators, the Jets are also reportely targeting David Lee to replace the recently fired Matt Cavanaugh as quarterback’s coach. You might remember David Lee as the dude in Miami that introduced the Wildcat to the NFL. Between this development and Rex Ryan’s mention of the word “pistol” in relation to his plans for the team’s 2013 offense, one can only assume they have plans to continue with some Wildcat-option fun.

It’s curious that Woody Johnson and what remains of the Jets front office are working to target coordinators and coaches when they haven’t even hired a general manager yet, though the GM search doesn’t appear any closer to a resolution that it did a week ago. The team has interviewed at least 10 candidates for the opening, including Tom Gamble, Marc Ross, Jerry Angelo and Scott Cohen, and more candidates are being added with each passing day. » Continue reading “Jets Search for a New General Manager Continues”

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”

From @NYJET_Prime.

The Jets’ decision to not have owner Woody Johnson, head coach Rex Ryan, recently fired GM Mike Tannenbaum or any member of the Jets staff hold a post-season press conference –  as is customary around the league – did not sit well with the New York media.

The media fired back at the Jets yesterday, filing a grievance via the Pro Football Writers Association, a, who then filed a complaint with the NFL, citing a “violation of league policy.”

League policy dictates that the head coach must be made available within one week of the last game of the season.

Rich Cimini writes in his latest entry, “The rule clearly states the head coach and a team official must be made available within a week after the season.”

According to a statement from PFWA’s Mark Gaughan, the rule really isn’t all that clear. The PFWA has ruled in favor of the Jets and is “satisfied” with their conduct on this matter.

“The PFWA is satisfied that the New York Jets are following the spirit of the rules in making their executives available on Tuesday. There is good reason for the NFL’s rule requiring teams to make a top executive available to communicate with the fans through the media within seven days after the end of the season.  After discussing the circumstances with the Jets, we look forward to hearing from owner Woody Johnson and coach Rex Ryan on Tuesday.”

I am just speculating here, but I suspect part of the reason that the PFWA is satisfied with extending the one week rule to nine days is because the future of the Jets staff is so uncertain, including the head coach.

The Jets will hold a press conference next Tuesday, likely after a new GM is hired.

I asked the good people of Twitter to help me out with some Meme’s to celebrate this occasion. Gosh I love Twitter.

Credit @newjakecity1 on Twitter.

Photo from @Bill812.

Quick Hits:

• If you had strength and conditioning coach Bill Hughan in the “next guy to be fired” pool, you are pretty happy today, as an ESPN report indicates the team has parted ways with Hughan, who has been with the team for the past two years. While the strength and conditioning coach is not mostly responsible for the Jets’ various problems this year, the team did have an especially high number of injuries this season, particularly with the wide receiver group
• Reports continue to indicate that the Jets are very interested in adding former San Diego Chargers head coach Norv Turner as the offensive coordinator.
• The Jets will begin interviewing general manager candidates on Friday.
• The team has signed several players to reserve/future contracts, including long snapper Travis Tripucka. QB Matt Simms was also signed earlier in the week.

After 15 years in New York, the Jets have relieved general manager Mike Tannenbaum of his duties.  Head coach Rex Ryan will keep his job.

The team announced the decision in a statement from Chairman and CEO Woody Johnson:

Our 2012 season was a disappointment to all of us.  My goal every year as owner is to build a team that wins consistently.  This year, we failed to achieve that goal.

This morning, I informed Mike Tannenbaum that he will not return for the 2013 season.  Mike devoted 15 years of service to the Jets, and I want to thank him for his hard work and dedication.  Although he helped guide us to two consecutive AFC Championship games, we are not where we want to be, and a new General Manager will be critical to getting this team back on the right track.

Starting immediately, we will conduct a search for a new General Manager.  I’ve consulted with a number of football executives and I have also engaged the services of Korn/Ferry International, the same search firm that conducted the NFL Commissioner search in 2006.  Our process with Korn/Ferry will be led by Jed Hughes, who heads their sports practice and who previously led the General Manager search for the Seattle Seahawks, among others.  When we have updates on this process, we will provide them to our fans and the media.

Rex Ryan will remain the Head Coach of our football team.  I believe that he has the passion, the talent, and the drive to successfully lead our team.

Like all Jets fans, I am disappointed with this year’s results.  However, I am confident that this change will best position our team for greater success going forward.

Though many have expressed concern over Rex Ryan’s performance as head coach this season, it is Tannenbaum’s philosophy and direction of the team’s personnel, particularly on the offensive side of the ball and on draft day, that has hindered the team the most. The guy know as “trader Mike” helped construct a Jets offense that scored 10 points or fewer in seven games this season and finished the year averaging 17.6 points per game.

Also contributing to Tannenbaum’s demise was the construction of several bad contracts, namely the contract extension of quarterback Mark Sanchez, a financial hit that will likely cripple the team for the next two years.

Woody Johnson is currently at the Jets facility and more firings are expected to follow. He is not scheduled to address media on Tannenbaum firing or any other subsequent firings. Rex Ryan will also not speak with the media today — his 4 pm presser has been cancelled.

ESPN New York has already compiled a list of potential candidates on the team’s radar. You can check them out here.

UPDATE: Mike Tannenbaum has just released a statement, via Jets PR.

I want to thank Woody and his entire family for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime — serving as the General Manager of the New York Jets for seven years.

I am incredibly grateful to have been a part of rebuilding a winning tradition for Jets fans over the past 15 years. My days with Coach Parcells through my years as General Manager of the team that went to back-to-back AFC Championship games have been the fulfillment of a dream I have had since I was a little kid and I’ll always be grateful to Woody, the two head coaches, Rex and Eric, as well as all of the players, staff and the entire organization for this opportunity.

While of course it is disappointing to not achieve the ultimate goal of winning a championship, I am incredibly proud of our overall winning record and success. I feel very fortunate to have been the general manager who drafted cornerstone players during a period that yielded four playoff victories and 22 Pro Bowl appearances.

I appreciate that it is rare for someone to stay with one organization with such a wide range of responsibilities for so many years. My time with the Jets will always be special to me and my family and it has prepared me well for whatever comes next.

There are champions on this team that haven’t been crowned yet. I am confident that the base we’ve established will allow the New York Jets to continue a winning tradition for years to come and I wish everyone in the organization the best of luck.

According to ESPN New York, the Jets do not plan to retain offensive coordinator Tony Sparano.

The report also details Woody Johnson’s plans to restructure the front office – including the possibility of hiring a new GM – though the report leads the reader to believe that Tannenbaum and Ryan will be reunited for another year.

Meanwhile, according to CBS Sports, the Jets have hired Jed Hughes of Korn/Ferry – an international, executive search firm – to help lead their search for new GM. This firm also helped them find new president Neil Glatt.

Photo c/o USA Today Sports

I used to hate when people used the word circus to describe the New York Jets, but let’s be honest — given the events of the past few weeks, there is simply is no other way to describe them.

Rex Ryan announced this morning that Greg McElroy, who made his first NFL start in last Sunday’s loss to the Chargers, has a concussion and will be unable to start on Sunday at Buffalo.

Mark Sanchez , not Tim Tebow, will start in his place.

McElroy, who was sacked 11 times on Sunday, acknowledged that he had suffered a mild ab strain yesterday that would not effect his availability for the season finale, but apparently the QB also suffered a head injury that did he did not disclose to the training staff until today.  McElroy went to Ryan’s office with John Melody, the team’s trainer, this morning to inform the team of the injury after a post concussion headache set in while he was lifting weights at the facility.

The latest chapter in the Jets quarterback carousel drama is an interesting one, though I smell a lot of BS here. Smells to me like the Jets wanted to find a way to get Sanchez back under center for the season finale, either to showcase him to potential trade partners or give him a confidence boost heading into next season, knowing they are tied to his contract extension and will be forced to keep him.

This story also presents serious questions about the Jets training staff, as they apparently were completely unaware their quarterback had suffered a head injury. I am not an expert on concussion protocol, but Ryan’s admission that the training staff had no prior knowledge of a head injury Greg had (as we have come to understand) been quietly dealing with all week also puts them in a difficult and unflattering position, especially when you recall the guy was sacked 11 (!) times. Moreover, it is also a sad commentary on just how far these players will go to  to avoid missing an opportunity because of a head injury — precisely the kind of the thing the league is trying to avoid.

Of course, all of this says nothing about the Tim Tebow situation, another epic chapter altogether. Whether or not you believe all, part or none of the reports regarding Tebow’s  sit down convo with Rex Ryan last week, you have to admit the obviously blatant attempt to prevent him from playing is absurd. In fact, Jeremy Kerley has been taking snaps out of the Wildcat all week in practice, more evidence that the Jets have no plans to let Tebow play a single snap in Buffalo. What happens is Mark suffers an injury that prevents him from finishing the game? Does Jeremy Kerley play QB? They gonna call Matty Simms? Cause Tebow ain’t playing.

More to come on this, I’m sure. Seems reasonable to expect an aother anonymous source article will be dropping soon.

The Jets lost to the Patriots on Thanksgiving Night in front of millions of people, and the Jets’ complete ineptitude is perfectly summed up with this GIF.

And, in reverse, just for the LOLs.

As Rex would say…

More “analysis” on this shit show game to come.

Photo c/o Star Ledger

Because the life of Jets fans isn’t shitty dramatic enough, today we had to wake up to yet another edition of finger pointing with anonymous sources from the New York Daily News.

Daily News writer Manish Mehta’s latest article compiles quotes from several New York Jets and team sources, all anonymously piling on Tim Tebow. Guard Matt Slauson was the only player with the balls to attach his name to his words.

Here are few of the more interesting quotes from the article:

“He’s terrible,” a defensive starter told the Daily News.

Wonderful thing to say about your teammate. Classy.

“We have Greg . . . and we have an athlete,” (Matt) Slauson said.

At least Matt didn’t go the anonymous route. Matt has always been a Sanchez guy and his “athlete” comment seems to be a page out of Rex Ryan’s book.

“Now we’re depending on miracles?” a member of the organization said. “You can’t play that way.”

Really? Cause that what you need to make the playoffs.

“Look at some of the players he’s throwing to. It’s garbage.” (In reference to players around Mark).

That’s Mike Tannenbaum’s fault. Not Tim Tebow’s.

And my personal favorite:

“It would take extreme poor play. . . . like a five-interception game,” said a prominent member of the organization. “Something where it was just ridiculous. It would take Mark to totally just sh– the bed and become unglued (before there was a quarterback change).”

Not even gonna comment on that one. It would take Mark to totally just sh– the bed? What he did on Sunday wasn’t sh–ing the bed??

I would say something about the Daily News’ journalistic integrity, but we all know they lost that a long time ago. I’m not even going to blast Manish for this. This isn’t about him and this isn’t even about Tebow. This is about a locker room full of players – a culture – that just doesn’t get it.

Tim Tebow has never been a very good practice player and I will not argue that he isn’t one of the best quarterback’s in the National Football League. But this..this is disgusting. What kind of dudes say these things about their own teammate to the media? You can be pissed off about the state of your season and your team but you have to be better than this. This makes the entire team look like..well, sh–.

Nevermind that Tim Tebow has done everything he has been asked to do. If teammates have an issue with what he is or isn’t doing, then they should take it up with management. Or better yet, they should know their place and realize that what Tebow does or doesn’t do is not up to them.

And to make matters worse, Rex has the nerve to tell the fans and the media this team is unified? Makes me puke. Rex vowed that he would end this nonsense and this is already happening 11 games into the season. “Can’t wait” for the next two months to unfold.

FWIW, Adam Schein (Of SNY Postgame, Sirius XM Radio and NFL.com) tweeted this:

I’m sure Adam will be on it and get some more scoop in the coming hours.

• Erik Manassy of Jets Twit talked about the article on his daily podcast. As usual, Erik is spot on in his assessment of this situation and I highly recommend you give it a listen.
• Also, PFF did a really fantastic breakdown of Mark Sanchez today.  If you’re a Sanchez guy/gal, you might not like it. It’s pretty damming and it’s very well supported with cold hard facts. Check it out.

Photo credit: US Presswire

So, in case you hadn’t heard, the Jets lost 28-7 to the Seattle Seahawks today. While this loss doesn’t mathematically eliminate the Jets from the playoffs, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say this is not a playoff team. Agreed? Okay, moving on.

People are mad and they have a right to be. This loss, like so many Jets games this season, was a huge disappointment.

But I will be honest with you: I saw this coming. Not trying to be all “I told you so,” but the epic fail that has been this season started in free agency when the Jets decided not to do a damn thing outside of add two strong safeties to improve a team that was riddled with many glaring needs.

I am not in the mood to break down what happened in this game, mostly because I feel like a broken record. (Also Eric will be bringing you a proper recap tomorrow, so look out for it). Here are a few observations on today’s game and the current state of the Jets:

*It’s time to stop making excuses for Mark Sanchez. He has not played well this season and he did not play well today – He had a 22.0 QB rating in the first half! That’s awful.

I know , I know. The O line was bad, the ‘Hawks pass rush was in his face, receivers dropped balls and the play calling was pretty bizarre. But I am done making excuses. He looks ridiculously lost out there and the sack fumble in the fourth quarter was just the end for me.  I think he could actually have a future somewhere else, but not here — Not with this team, this coaching staff, this front office and this media market.

And before you bring Tebow into this, I am going to stop you, because this has nothing to do with Tebow. In fact, if anyone other than Tebow was the backup, I think the Jets would have thrown that backup quarterback into the game. But the Jets are so terrified of the media storm that will result in throwing Tebow into the game like a NORMAL backup, that they won’t do it. And they are hurting the team because of it.

And because I know you are probably wanting to bring it up, yes the “two quarterback system” messes with the offensive rhythm and hurts Sanchez. Yes. But guess what else? Sanchez played like this last year and Tebow wasn’t around. So there.

Most people think if you take Sanchez out of the game, it’s over for him in this town. I’m have been one those people. But I no longer care. You’ve gotta see what else you’ve got at the position so you know whether or not to move forward as an organization.

On the bright side, at least Sanchez took some responsibility for his poor performance, so there is that. » Continue reading “Jets Lose 28-7 in Seattle”