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”

According to Brian Bassett, founder and lead editor of SNY’s thejetsblog.com, the Jets are close to a deal that would make 49ers Director of Player Personnel Tom Gamble their new general manager.

Bassett later clarified that according to his source, the deal is more in $2-3MM per year range, for those interested in the financials.

Of course, the Jets beat was bothered by Bassett’s scoop and took to Twitter to dispute it.

According to Brian Costello of the New York Post, “Source just said the Jets have not offered the job to Gamble or anyone else yet.” Rich Cimini also added, “Told at start of GM search that new GM wouldn’t be in place by Rex/Woody presser on Tuesday. Nothing has changed.”

It’s worth noting that Bassett’s report says that the team has “essentially cemented” a deal — not that a deal is done.

Here’s my take: The story on Gamble was an exclusive scoop from Bassett, not from the usual cast of characters, and with that, I can see why many are so hesitant to question the validity. I questioned Mike Florio – who also inferred the Jets and Gamble are close to a deal yesterday – mostly because I don’t care for him personally (shallow, I know). I do, however, trust Brian Bassett, a man who would not drop something like this – and risk his reputation – if his source wasn’t reliable. (For what it’s worth, Bassett writes that he is 99% certain the report is accurate).

The team also has other candidates yet to interivew, including Giants’ Marc Ross, an interview many suspect might be a Rooney Rule courtesy. Obviously the team has not made any official announcements yet and likely won’t until later in the week.

Stay tuned for more on this story.

UPDATE (Saturday 1/5, 10:30 pm): The Browns have requested presmission to interview Gamble. Gamble already turned down an interview with the Jaguars he had previously scheduled — no word on the status of a future interview with the Browns.

UPDATE (Sunday 1/6, 1:28 pm): ESPN’s Adam Schefter is now reporting that Gamble has emerged as the favorite to land the Jets GM job. Gamble turned down an interview with the Jags for the second time “so he could concentrate on landing the Jets’ position.”