By Tom Rock
Patrick Ramsey is officially a FORMER Jet. The team released him this afternoon. Ramsey was brought in from the Redskins as an insurance policy in case Chad Pennington was physically unable to complete the season. He was due to collect a roster bonus of $1.4 million on Saturday, but with the Comeback Player of the Year proving he’s healthy and Kellen Clemens making strides as a backup, that would have been wasted money for the Jets to pay. The Jets didn’t even waste much time with the announcement, issuing a two-sentence obit to his Jets career:
“The New York Jets announced they have released quarterback Patrick Ramsey. The announcement was made by General Manager Mike Tannenbaum.”
To be fair, that's two sentences for every pass attempted as a Jet. At that rate, if they cut Pennington, the release would be about 3,200 sentences long.
Instead of Ramsey, they’ll probably bring in a veteran guy who can act as a mentor and also push Clemens from the No. 3 spot. Kerry Collins, Brad Johnson, someone of that ilk. Hey, Vinny is a free agent too!
With Michael Turner pretty much locked away from the rest of the world by the Chargers, the Jets will have to focus their attention elsewhere on a running back. They were very interested in Titans RB Chris Brown in training camp, if you recall. Brown, at the time requesting a trade, was pretty excited about coming to NY. He might be at the top of the Jets’ list now. Brown had an unimpressive season (156 yards) but he did run for 64 yards on 16 carries against the Jets in the season opener. He played only one game the second-half of the 2006 season. At least he’s well-rested!
The Jets have apparently decided to keep Kimo von Oelhoffen without renegotiating his contract. When I spoke with Mike Tannenbaum earlier this week he said the two sides were working on that new deal, but I guess Kimo’s Kamp managed to play some hardball with the Jets. The Jets paid up rather than cut the veteran.