Today's article in the record crystallizes my concerns with Tannenbaum's penchant for trading away draft picks. What the article doesn't talk about is our vastly overrated and overripe offensive line and how we're going to keep our franchise QB upright with only 4 picks (at this moment) in the 2010 draft and needs along the defensive line as well. Tannenbaum is Trader Mike Sunday, October 11, 2009 BY J.P. PELZMAN The Record STAFF WRITER 0 Comments When Bill Parcells was coach and general manager of the Jets, Mike Tannenbaum was his salary-cap specialist. Tannenbaum often has talked about how much he learned from Parcells, now in charge of the Dolphins? football operations. But their approaches to building a team, at least at this point, are radically different. And more evidence of that will be on display Monday night at Miami when wide receiver Braylon Edwards takes the field as a Jet for the first time. Parcells? philosophy since he first began "buying the groceries," as he once put it, for New England in 1993 is to build through the draft, often trading down to get more selections, if necessary. While the Jets have done that to some extent since Tannenbaum took over as GM in 2006, that recently hasn?t been the case. Including the headline-making acquisition of Brett Favre, who turned out to be using New York as a way station to get to his desired destination of Minnesota, the Jets have made five trades in the past 14 months, letting go 10 draft picks while receiving only two in return. First there was Favre, traded from Green Bay for a conditional pick that became a third-rounder in the April draft. Then there was the Feb. 28 deal for cornerback Lito Sheppard, in which the Jets gave a 2009 fifth-rounder and a conditional 2010 pick to Philadelphia. But it was on draft weekend when things really got hectic, as Tannenbaum and the Jets traded three players plus first- and second-round choices to Cleveland for the fifth overall pickand selected Mark Sanchez. A day later, they swapped three picks ? in the third, fourth and seventh rounds ? to Detroit so they could move up 11 spots in the third round and take running back Shonn Greene. But all that wheeling and dealing left them without the means to draft a big-time, playmaking wide receiver. No problem. They traded two more players plus two more draft choices to Cleveland, a fifth and a third, to get Edwards. "The facts that these trades happened in the same year is much more of a coincidence than anything else," Tannenbaum said. "It was what we felt was the right price, the right opportunity at the right time. ... We?re always trying to improve the team. Our expectations are high. We owe it to our fans. That is what [owner] Woody Johnson expects of us." There?s nothing wrong with such a win-now philosophy, but there are ramifications. At this point, the Jets have only four picks in the 2010 draft, so they can?t afford to whiff on any of those selections, especially the first-rounder. The Jets also may not be able to re-sign all of their homegrown players in the next couple of years, although the fact that a new collective bargaining agreement still isn?t in place may help them. Both Edwards and dynamic running back Leon Washington are in the final years of their respective contracts, but without a CBA in place, both will only be restricted free agents next year, not unrestricted. That could lower their price tags. Other contracts for important Jets also will expire soon. Center Nick Mangold?s contract ends after the 2010 season, as does linebacker David Harris. Cornerback Darrelle Revis? contract voids after the 2010 season because of incentives he has reached, although there is a buyback option for the Jets for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. "It?s certainly going to be a challenge," Tannenbaum said. "We?re well aware of that. There is some uncertainty with the collective bargaining agreement in terms of who is going to be in what contract status. But we are always trying to plan. We are always trying to be proactive. We do have a plan in place. That plan is in pencil. It is subject to change. We will always do what is best for the team. Every time you make a decision in a salary-cap system, that means if you do X, you may not be able to do Y." BRIEFS: Wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery (hamstring) didn?t practice Saturday and is questionable for Monday?s game. Right tackle Damien Woody (foot) also didn?t practice and is questionable. Cornerback Donald Strickland (ankle) didn?t practice and is out. Starting cornerback Lito Sheppard (quadriceps) was limited and is doubtful. Miami linebacker Joey Porter (hamstring) was limited and is questionable. E-mail: pelzman@northjersey.com When Bill Parcells was coach and general manager of the Jets, Mike Tannenbaum was his salary-cap specialist. Tannenbaum often has talked about how much he learned from Parcells, now in charge of the Dolphins? football operations. But their approaches to building a team, at least at this point, are radically different. And more evidence of that will be on display Monday night at Miami when wide receiver Braylon Edwards takes the field as a Jet for the first time. Parcells? philosophy since he first began "buying the groceries," as he once put it, for New England in 1993 is to build through the draft, often trading down to get more selections, if necessary. While the Jets have done that to some extent since Tannenbaum took over as GM in 2006, that recently hasn?t been the case. Including the headline-making acquisition of Brett Favre, who turned out to be using New York as a way station to get to his desired destination of Minnesota, the Jets have made five trades in the past 14 months, letting go 10 draft picks while receiving only two in return. First there was Favre, traded from Green Bay for a conditional pick that became a third-rounder in the April draft. Then there was the Feb. 28 deal for cornerback Lito Sheppard, in which the Jets gave a 2009 fifth-rounder and a conditional 2010 pick to Philadelphia. But it was on draft weekend when things really got hectic, as Tannenbaum and the Jets traded three players plus first- and second-round choices to Cleveland for the fifth overall pickand selected Mark Sanchez. A day later, they swapped three picks ? in the third, fourth and seventh rounds ? to Detroit so they could move up 11 spots in the third round and take running back Shonn Greene. But all that wheeling and dealing left them without the means to draft a big-time, playmaking wide receiver. No problem. They traded two more players plus two more draft choices to Cleveland, a fifth and a third, to get Edwards. "The facts that these trades happened in the same year is much more of a coincidence than anything else," Tannenbaum said. "It was what we felt was the right price, the right opportunity at the right time. ... We?re always trying to improve the team. Our expectations are high. We owe it to our fans. That is what [owner] Woody Johnson expects of us." There?s nothing wrong with such a win-now philosophy, but there are ramifications. At this point, the Jets have only four picks in the 2010 draft, so they can?t afford to whiff on any of those selections, especially the first-rounder. The Jets also may not be able to re-sign all of their homegrown players in the next couple of years, although the fact that a new collective bargaining agreement still isn?t in place may help them. Both Edwards and dynamic running back Leon Washington are in the final years of their respective contracts, but without a CBA in place, both will only be restricted free agents next year, not unrestricted. That could lower their price tags. Other contracts for important Jets also will expire soon. Center Nick Mangold?s contract ends after the 2010 season, as does linebacker David Harris. Cornerback Darrelle Revis? contract voids after the 2010 season because of incentives he has reached, although there is a buyback option for the Jets for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. "It?s certainly going to be a challenge," Tannenbaum said. "We?re well aware of that. There is some uncertainty with the collective bargaining agreement in terms of who is going to be in what contract status. But we are always trying to plan. We are always trying to be proactive. We do have a plan in place. That plan is in pencil. It is subject to change. We will always do what is best for the team. Every time you make a decision in a salary-cap system, that means if you do X, you may not be able to do Y." BRIEFS: Wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery (hamstring) didn?t practice Saturday and is questionable for Monday?s game. Right tackle Damien Woody (foot) also didn?t practice and is questionable. Cornerback Donald Strickland (ankle) didn?t practice and is out. Starting cornerback Lito Sheppard (quadriceps) was limited and is doubtful. Miami linebacker Joey Porter (hamstring) was limited and is questionable.
Let me ask you this. What exactly does this team need next year? I would say some DL help and some OL help. Current squad intact, it is pretty much set for a few years.
Considering Mike has done a lot of wheeling and dealing, who's to say he doesn't trade back in the draft to get more picks? And besides, with high drafts there is high money so the Jets have opted to sign FAs as opposed to spending the money on draftees. And the 2007 NY Jets draft is a fine example by investing your draft in 2 studs that you were so confident on being monsters in Revis and Harris.
and we have 4 picks to fill the needed depth, including 1 and 2 rounds. would you rather still have the 3r and 5th and not have Edwards?
excellent point...while the jets have been lucky with there later round picks, specifically 3rd and 4th, it's a gamble at best when you get to that point in the draft. Being that they still have their top two picks, they have plenty of opportunity to make moves and/or draft relatively "safe" college players that will translate to the nfl. also, as the article points out, the Jets have a TON of important contracts they have to pay in the next two years. while you constantly want to get younger and better, adding more large contracts to the mix is only going to make things more difficult. I don't know about any of you, but I would much rather sign mangold, revis, harris, edwards and leon then an unproven big money rookie
Exactly Right. The Lines need depth. You guys can visit the draftboard once in a while! Here's a thread I started projecting the Jets' Mock with Braylon now on board. We also may get one of the picks back depending on Lito's playing time. http://forums.theganggreen.com/showthread.php?t=49494
Depending on who's likely to be available early on, it may make sense for us to trade away the first rounder for 2 picks later on unless we end up without a second pick. Then it might make sense to keep the first so we can pick up a top tier lineman. Hopefully our first round pick won't be that high anyway.
Look at last year's and next year's draft, what we traded away and got in return this year as the beginning of it. Sheppard - would have had to draft a #2 CB next year Scott - needed an impact ILB Leonhard - needed a cover safety as Elam was not getting it done Strickland - needed depth at CB, check Edwards - needed a deep threat, big play, tall WR for the red zone Hartsock - needed a blocking TE Now most if not all of these moves cost us picks, also consider we needed key positions filled at QB and RB for not only depth but the future. The traded away picks probably would have been used to fill the very positions that the new Jet players we got in return filled. I do agree that some young depth is needed on the OL and DL. But the rest of the team if kept intact will be good for years to come.
The Jets need to restock the trenches....Oline depth and acquiring a backup for Jenkins should be top priorities (if Terrance Cody from the Crimson Tide is available for us in the 1st round....I hope the Jets select him).
I agree, NT is the priority. They can slink by another year with Faneca and Woody, or may need to address that in FA. Either way, those are the key areas, as everyon has said.
I thought Mambo9 made a good point in this post: http://forums.theganggreen.com/showthread.php?t=49528 Tanny really has done a great job of building this team by using FA to make up for our lack of draft picks. I have to agree with most of the above opinions that other than bolstering the lines, we don't have a whole lot of pressing needs on this team right now. Even if we do wind up with only a handful of picks like we did in the previous draft, we should be fine.
I heard if Braylon succeeds and signs a long term deal, that 3 becomes a 2 and we'd get I think the 5th back in that case. So if Braylon does good and succeeds and Lito cost the Jets a 4th 1, 3, 5, 6 No 7 because of O Connell.
As we all know draft picks are a crap shoot anyways. Players that have proved themselves are always going to command decent picks, which I'm happy about. I'll take that deal all the time.
Oh right, forgot about O'Connell. So if Braylon doesn't meet the requirements, we only have 3 picks? 1, 2, & 6?
