[DeathByJets]

I found this to be an excellent article. Really informative. Not sure if it changes my opinion, but definitely made me look at different aspects of the GM situation.

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'Football people' not connected with Jets don't favor ax falling on GM Mike Tannenbaum

By BOB GLAUBER

FLORHAM PARK, N.J.

Decision time is here for Jets owner Woody Johnson.

With his team about to finish its first losing season since he and general manager Mike Tannenbaum hired coach Rex Ryan in 2009, Johnson must decide whether he needs to make any changes to address the problems that led to a second straight year in which the Jets failed to reach the playoffs.

Near the top of that list is Tannenbaum, whose future has been the subject of intense speculation as the Jets' fortunes plummeted this season. Whatever Johnson does with his top decision-maker will go a long way toward shaping the team next season and beyond.

Neither Johnson nor team president Neil Glatt will discuss Tannenbaum's status until after the Jets conclude their season in Buffalo on Sunday. Tannenbaum, through a team spokesman, declined to comment about his situation.

The decision is complicated. Does Johnson look at Tannenbaum's overall body of work, which includes three playoff berths and two AFC Championship Game appearances since taking over as GM in 2006? Does he take a more narrow view and see that the Jets have lost 12 of their last 18 games dating to the 2011 season, in part because of an eroding talent base and the stunning regression of first-round quarterback Mark Sanchez, who has committed a league-high 50 turnovers the last two seasons? Or does Johnson view 2012 as an aberration caused by myriad injuries that took away, among others, the team's two best playmakers: cornerback Darrelle Revis and receiver Santonio Holmes?

Many of Tannenbaum's moves, including the trade for Tim Tebow and an extension of Sanchez's contract that includes an $8.25-million guarantee for the 2013 season, will come under scrutiny. And Tannenbaum's failure to secure adequate depth at receiver, especially after injuries to Holmes and rookie first-round pick Stephen Hill, was another major reason for this year's collapse and contributed heavily to Sanchez's failings.

But Tannenbaum's overall success rate also is a factor in what happens next. Even with this year's failed season, since the beginning of the 2009 season, the Jets are tied for eighth in overall wins (38 including playoffs). That's one behind the Giants. The Packers (51) and Patriots (50) top the list.

During his tenure, the Jets have drafted or traded for several quality players, including Revis, Holmes, cornerback Antonio Cromartie, defensive tackle Muhammad Wilkerson, tight end Dustin Keller, offensive linemen D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold, and linebacker David Harris.

Despite plenty of criticism from fans, Tannenbaum maintains a generally good reputation among football people inside and outside the league, including many who have worked with him over the years.

And it wouldn't be completely illogical to retain him after his first losing season in the Ryan era; other teams missing the playoffs two years in a row decided to stay the course. The Giants (2011) and Saints (2009) both won Super Bowls after missing the playoffs the previous two seasons and not making coach or general manager changes. And the Texans, who have the AFC's best record, missed the playoffs five straight years under GM Rick Smith before qualifying for the postseason last year.

"I've known Mike since I got into the league [in 1994] and I have a very high opinion of him," said Browns chief executive officer Joe Banner, the former Eagles president. "He's smart, he has a good understanding of the challenges of putting together a team versus just picking players. I've always been impressed with his insights. I think he does as much research as anyone in the league. In my opinion, he's one of the brighter guys at his position in the league."

Banner said he wouldn't recommend to Johnson one way or another what to do with Tannenbaum, but indicated that his experience with the Eagles under team owner Jeffrey Lurie was to make decisions based on conviction, even if that went against what fans might have wanted in any given year.

"You have to isolate yourself in a sense and isolate the factors that you think matter and do what you believe in, whatever direction that might lead you in," Banner said. "With the Eagles, that's what we always tried to do. The people who are successful in this league are the ones that have convictions. That can lead to change or the status quo, but you have to isolate your views on what you think will lead to success."

Former Cowboys vice president of player personnel Gil Brandt, who was with Dallas from 1960-88, suggested that Tannenbaum's lack of personnel experience has hurt him over the years.

"A lot of times the guys who are really good assistant coaches become head coaches and aren't very good," Brandt said of Tannenbaum, who was known as a salary-cap expert before taking over as GM. "It's like that here. All of a sudden, [Tannenbaum] goes from a cap guy to someone who's running the organization."

Brandt said he went through a similar time when the Cowboys reached the NFC Championship Game from 1980-82 but lost all three times.

"We weren't as good as we thought we were," Brandt said. "Sometimes you oversell your team to yourself. We were an older team, so instead of dismantling it and changing a lot of players, we stuck with it . . . We were a descending team because we had older players that were past their prime."

The Jets aren't quite as old, but they are descending -- none more than Sanchez, who has lost 11 of his last 17 starts and is under contract for next year at $8.25 million.

The injury factor came into play this season; even so, the Jets were in playoff contention until the final month of the season. Had Sanchez played even modestly better, there's a chance they'd have made the playoffs as a wild-card team.

But now Sanchez has played his way out of the position -- he's starting against the Bills only because Greg McElroy is out with a concussion -- and there is uncertainty about whether he can ever regain the starting job.

His guaranteed $8.25 million next year further complicates matters. It's a stunning fall from grace after two-plus promising seasons in which he went 4-2 in six road playoff games and had nine touchdown passes and three interceptions. He beat Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in successive weeks in the 2010 playoffs.

But after getting to 8-5 last season, Sanchez lost 11 of his next 17 starts before being benched for last week's game against the Chargers.

(article continued in next post)

[DeathByJets]

"The quarterback hasn't played well recently, and that's a big part of it," former Redskins and Texans general manager Charley Casserly said. "Part of it is the guy [Sanchez] is a middle-of-the-road quarterback, but he has played better in the past, so that's disturbing. There are a lot of injuries on offense, and it's hard to say if they would have looked different if Sanchez didn't have a ton of injuries around him."

Casserly, who won a Super Bowl as the Redskins' GM, believes Johnson should stick with Tannenbaum.

He said he would give Tannenbaum a vote of confidence. "I think Mike should be there, and I don't know why they wouldn't be able to get this thing figured out," Casserly said. "He's a bright guy, he has a feel for people, he certainly understands the salary cap and how to manage it, which is important."

The Jets' salary-cap situation has been an issue, and they will have to make adjustments to get next year's bloated cap situation under control. But there are several players with big cap numbers who either will be released or restructured, so it is believed the Jets will not have an issue getting under the cap for 2013.

Casserly said if Tannenbaum does remain with the team, he needs to rely more on his personnel department. In some cases, Tannenbaum has acquiesced to the wishes of Ryan, especially in the draft. The scouting department, for instance, was in favor of selecting Josh Freeman over Sanchez in 2009, but Tannenbaum went with Ryan's recommendation.

Tannenbaum also sided with Ryan when the team drafted first-round cornerback Kyle Wilson, who has turned into a solid player but not the dominant performer the team envisioned. Tannenbaum also made the big mistake of going with former Jets coach Eric Mangini's choice of linebacker Vernon Gholston with the sixth pick in 2008. He turned into a colossal bust.

"Where it becomes dangerous is when coaches become involved, especially if their job is on the line," Casserly said. "They can sometimes force decisions for immediacy and end up mis-evaluating some players."

Longtime player agent Alan Herman, who has negotiated several contracts with Tannenbaum, said the GM needs to make decisions based more on the scouts' evaluations.

"If there has been any fault, then it's having the coach be too involved in making personnel decisions in the draft," Herman said. "This is a mistake a number of general managers make that I've seen in 29 years in the business. If you have good people in the personnel department, guys who are out on the road for almost a full year evaluating college players, then you have coaches get involved at the very end of the process, they end up identifying the wrong talent."

Herman said Tannenbaum would be better off bringing in another strong personnel voice -- perhaps former Jets personnel executive Joey Clinkscales, who joined the Raiders last season, or Texans personnel executive Mike Maccagnan -- to reinforce the scouting department. "I don't think Mike [Tannenbaum] has to leave," Herman said. "I think he's extremely valuable."

Herman said that no matter who the general manager is, Johnson himself must be willing to change. And that means increasing his budget for acquiring players, even on the bottom end of the roster.

"You notice all the additions to the Jets' roster were all minimum-wage players with very little experience," Herman said. "Not until late in the season did they add Braylon Edwards, but he was also a veteran minimum-wage guy. The owner clearly needs to be willing to spend more."

Former Browns general manager Phil Savage, who has worked with Tannenbaum in Cleveland and Ryan in Baltimore, believes the coach / GM combination is a good one.

"I like Rex a lot," Savage said. "He has a flamboyance to him that's real in his heart. Some people don't like that, but I think the players do, and that's very important. Mike is a very intelligent person and has a good grasp of how the professional game works."

Time for Johnson to make a move? "To me, if it's not clear-cut, black-and-white, what to do," Savage said, "then I'm not sure you do anything unless you have a strong conviction."

If Johnson has that conviction, he's not saying. But it won't be much longer before he makes the call.One game to go, and it will be time for a decision.

[The 1985er]

Good article. With that said I still want him gone.

[broomulack]

Well, like you I'm not sure whether it changes my mind completely but it does give me at least a little respect for Tanny. The key point that was made was that he needs to stop listening to the coach's recommendations and stick to the scouting report. How different would things have been with Freeman instead of Sanchez (without having to trade up), and not drafting Gholston or Wilson?

[ArmandJ]

Good article. Often times in sports, people getting hired and fired isn't as clear as fans and the media might think. I still think relieving Tannenbaum of his duties is necessary, but I can see the argument for keeping him.

Hopefully, we do the right things in the offseason to become competitive. I would be in strong favor of bringing someone in from the Seahawks or Redskins to help us out in the front office.

[ArmandJ]

If Tannenbaum is retained in the office not as a GM, that's fine. I'm sure he's an excellent asset to the Jets organization. I think we just need to have a new set of eyes assessing our talent (and sometimes, that's all you need). We don't need to do a complete exorcism of our team just yet...

[DeathByJets]

Originally Posted by broomulack

Well, like you I'm not sure whether it changes my mind completely but it does give me at least a little respect for Tanny. The key point that was made was that he needs to stop listening to the coach's recommendations and stick to the scouting report. How different would things have been with Freeman instead of Sanchez (without having to trade up), and not drafting Gholston or Wilson?

Agree...this was what I found most telling.

[MikeSLTJ23]

I thought Mangini was the only guy saying he didn't want Gholston? So basically it sounds like the guys that get paid to do the scouting are wasting their time because the GM is going with the one guy's opinion who hasn't done nearly as much research and analysis. Great plan. Get him out of here. As a cap guy, he's put the team in trouble with the cap. As a GM, he's listening to the wrong people (even though I'm not so convinced the writer is right about the coach's choices). And pointing out the good draft picks without mentioning all of the bad ones, except for those where he "listened to the coach" is just asinine. Also, I'm glad to see we've got such valued opinions like a Browns representative and Charley Casserly on Tanny's side.

[alleycat9]

but but but i thought that poor rex wasnt allowed to buy the groceries and was just doing what he could with the crap bought by tannenbaum?

these guys know as little about whats going on as we do.

mike tannenbaum being fired is the key move for the jets this off season. hopefully woody doesnt screw it up.

[1968jetsfan]

The real take away here is a shared blame between Tanny and his head coaches. The fact that 3 or 4 of the most questionable draft choices made during the Tanny era as GM have come from the HC's preference gives me pause.

If I were Woody I'd probably keep Tanny, but insist that the Scouting department carry the weight of who should be drafted in the draft. I'd be okay with the scouting department delivering a list of players acceptable to draft and letting the HC get involved in the final choice from those candidates, but the draft candidates should carry the seal of approval from the scouting department, and not the HC.

[NYCKNP]

Good article, but that doesn't mean he should be pardoned whatsoever for allowing the 2012 season to be a disaster.

[DirtySanchez]

Originally Posted by broomulack

Well, like you I'm not sure whether it changes my mind completely but it does give me at least a little respect for Tanny. The key point that was made was that he needs to stop listening to the coach's recommendations and stick to the scouting report. How different would things have been with Freeman instead of Sanchez (without having to trade up), and not drafting Gholston or Wilson?

To be fair, if we assume Mangini had influence over Tanny, Gholston was the only big bust.

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The rest of the Tan-gini drafts (2006-2008) were good. Also:

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The scouting department, for instance, was in favor of selecting Josh Freeman over Sanchez in 2009, but Tannenbaum went with Ryan's recommendation.

And the scouting department (Bradway) wanted Russell Wilson this year.

If this story is true, it explains Rex's ridiculous loyalty to Sanchez. Did Rex tell Tanny to give Mark that contract?

Maybe Woody needs to bring Mangini back, or someone, keep Tanny and tell Rex to stay out of personnel decisions or at least scale back his influence.

Is Rex's influence part of the reason Clinkscales left?

[BleedGreen4ever]

Every year we think we are in cap trouble and yet tanny still manages to rework contract and make the right moves to bring in big additions and gets the cap under control and still makes the big signings. We should keep him as GM and not blow up this whole thing. If he had a steady football mind to work with and trusted his scouting dept more we would be in great shape. Not everyone is going to be pro bowlers and yet he still has drafted, traded, and signed pro bowl players. Landry, cromartie, revis, ferguson, mangold, Harris.. Two afc championship games, eighth in the nfl in wins, this is not a resume to fire someone.
Is he perfect no. Big deal he put fans in the seats with a business move by trading for Tebow. In fact I support the move and I bet woody does too. A fourth round pick for a ton of publicity. Sanchez is a problem but you don't fire a gm for sticking with his third year qb who made it to two afc championships for a fifth year.
Hopefully he can reevaluate how he approaches his decision making get some good reliable football evaluators that he trusts and not hit the panic button.
Continuity is the way you win in the nfl and I believe Rex and tanny are a good team who just need better assistance and people they can trust. New OC, and football minds tanny trusts will go a long way.

[ArmandJ]

Shit, now I'm not sure that firing Tannenbaum would be a good idea.

Honestly, I wouldn't be opposed either way. If it were made clear that he stop listening to Rex and start listening to his scouts, then I'd be more open to him. The only thing is, I don't know if he can work his way out of the cap hell for us this year. If he did, and somehow found a way to offload Sanchez, he should get a statue made in his honor.

[jetsclaps]

Originally Posted by BleedGreen4ever

Every year we think we are in cap trouble and yet tanny still manages to rework contract and make the right moves to bring in big additions and gets the cap under control and still makes the big signings. We should keep him as GM and not blow up this whole thing.

This. I keep hearing we'll be in cap hell and sure it looks bad but lets be honest, we as simple fans don't understand the inner workings of the cap and we have NO idea how it'll turn out. I'd like to keep Mike and Rex and give them a chance to figure this out, we know they can go deep in the playoffs we've seen it happen twice.

[displacedfan]

Originally Posted by jetsclaps

This. I keep hearing we'll be in cap hell and sure it looks bad but lets be honest, we as simple fans don't understand the inner workings of the cap and we have NO idea how it'll turn out. I'd like to keep Mike and Rex and give them a chance to figure this out, we know they can go deep in the playoffs we've seen it happen twice.

It's not cap hell necessarily, but expect holes and lack of quality depth.

This is an interesting article, first I saw saying the scouting department wanted Freeman instead of Sanchez. The wilson thing I take with a grain of salt because it's an easy stretch to go from yeah we looked at Wilson to yeah we wanted to draft him but he got scooped up. But also makes me wonder why the past two coaches have been able to influence drafts this much. Woody/Tanny should have stepped in after Gholston to stop this, and they let Rex continue to do it. The opening the wallet part seems offbase to me also because I think Woody has opened his wallet for the team.

The most confusing part is that the team's moves recently don't really follow what Rex thinks to a T. So it's hard to figure out his picks. Even if we say all defensive players are his which is a huge stretch, then we still have the lack of OL investment from a GP team and misses at playmakers at RB and WR. If Rex is straight up draft, as I have said before, this team has bigger problems than just who is HC and GM. Then they need to redo the philosophy and decision making process throughout the organization

[Frenbar]

Originally Posted by BleedGreen4ever

Every year we think we are in cap trouble and yet tanny still manages to rework contract and make the right moves to bring in big additions and gets the cap under control and still makes the big signings. We should keep him as GM and not blow up this whole thing. If he had a steady football mind to work with and trusted his scouting dept more we would be in great shape. Not everyone is going to be pro bowlers and yet he still has drafted, traded, and signed pro bowl players. Landry, cromartie, revis, ferguson, mangold, Harris.. Two afc championship games, eighth in the nfl in wins, this is not a resume to fire someone.
Is he perfect no. Big deal he put fans in the seats with a business move by trading for Tebow. In fact I support the move and I bet woody does too. A fourth round pick for a ton of publicity. Sanchez is a problem but you don't fire a gm for sticking with his third year qb who made it to two afc championships for a fifth year.
Hopefully he can reevaluate how he approaches his decision making get some good reliable football evaluators that he trusts and not hit the panic button.
Continuity is the way you win in the nfl and I believe Rex and tanny are a good team who just need better assistance and people they can trust. New OC, and football minds tanny trusts will go a long way.

Yea he manages the cap and brings in guys like Derrick Mason, and resigns Sanchez in the offseason to guarantee our cap is absolutely screwed for the next two years. That's when he isn't breaking good faith agreements he made with players he brought here or renegotiated with.

He is a scumbag and a bad GM, the sooner he is gone the better.

The faster we ditch Mike T. the more successful the Jets will be.

[DirtySanchez]

Originally Posted by displacedfan

This is an interesting article, first I saw saying the scouting department wanted Freeman instead of Sanchez. The wilson thing I take with a grain of salt because it's an easy stretch to go from yeah we looked at Wilson to yeah we wanted to draft him but he got scooped up.

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Senior Personnel Executive Terry Bradway championed the former Wisconsin quarterback's cause, defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said today. It earned Wilson the nickname of “Russell Bradway” around the organization.

Wilson was ultimate chosen in the third round, 75th overall, by Seattle. He was taken just two picks before the Jets selected linebacker Demario Davis.

Who do you think started calling Bradway "Russell Bradway" in order to mock his decision making? Someone loyal to Mark Sanchez who wanted to pick defense in the draft? Maybe Rex.....

[DirtySanchez]

Originally Posted by Frenbar

Yea he manages the cap and brings in guys like Derrick Mason, and resigns Sanchez in the offseason to guarantee our cap is absolutely screwed for the next two years. .

Did he want Mason or did Rex ask for Mason since they knew each other from Baltimore? Did Tanny want to Resign Sanchez or did Rex want to double down on his Sanchez pick?

[Ohio Jet]

Somebody has to pay the price this year to protect the fan base. Sanchez/Sparano is not enough. Has to be at least Tanny, if not Tanny and Rex. I think Rex stays unless we find out the locker room was a mess again this year. New GM who gives Rex a short leash and an independent OC might be able to turn this around next year even with a journey man QB.