By Tom Rock
Mike Tannenbaum gave his season-ending press conference this afternoon, swiftyly pushing Roger Clemens, Eli Manning, OSU-LSU and the Tony Romo-Jessica Simpson courtship off the back page of every sports section in America. It was kind of A-Rod-ish to make such a big splash like that, Mike!
Just kidding. Actually, it would be hard to find a day in which the Jets could have been further below the radar. But there was some news coming from the press conference -- that Tannenbaum expects Chad Pennington to remain with the Jets and compete for the starting job in training camp. You'll be able to read about that in the paper tomorrow. Here on the blog I'll cover a few of the other soundbites and situations that won't grab a headline.
On the potential for the Jets to be major players in free agency: “We’re comfortably under the cap, so if and when opportunities present themselves, we'll look into those opportunities,” he said.
On Laveranues Coles’ request for a new contract with more long-term security: “Our goal is for Laveranues to be here for a long time.“
On the future of Jonathan Vilma based on the emergence of David Harris at inside linebacker: “I expect him to be back,” Tannenbaum said. “Where and how he is used is going to be up to the coaches.”
On how he and the Jets handled the Pete Kendall Situation last summer: “I've personally learned from that experience and tried not to let small things become big things and try to be more proactive than reactive,” he said. “With that said, I don't know if we had done anything differently if that situation would have worked itself out any differently than it did. Maybe it could have, but maybe it wouldn't have. Obviously, it's unfortunate how public it became. I don't think that's good for him or the team.”
And on how the Jets might use their sixth pick in April’s draft: “Over time in the salary cap era, people do draft a little bit more for need (than the best available player),” he said. “That's a little bit of an over-simplification, but by the time we get to April, we'll have a better idea of where we are. Our track record shows that we've gone up and down (with trades), so I wouldn't rule anything out.”
As for the Jets’ needs, Tannenbaum said they are being formalized.
Comments (3)
I am glad to see Mr. T acknowledging, at least to some degree, his error in the Kendall fiasco. Truth be told, the Jets season ended before it began, mostly because of that situation. When he traded Kendall I thought, he is not stupid, he must have a Plan B. He didn't. No way Clarke/Bender were going to be even adequate replacements. They weren't, and Bender was never even on the active squad for one game. I hope Mr. T has matured as a GM as a result.
Actually, Bender was active for a few games and, while he never lined up on the true offensive line, he was on a special teams unit. To his credit, the Jets did not have a field goal of PAT blocked on his watch!
FIRE TANNENMORON....FIRE THE BALL BOY MANIDIOT....SELL THE TEAM
We are 7 years behind the Pats. We have NO QB, NO OFFENSIVE LINE, NO DEFENSIVE LINE, NO RUNNING BACKS!
TEAM IS PATHETIC