Jets New 4/21

hydro51 · Apr 21, 2006

JETS COULD PASS ON YOUNG PASSERS ON DRAFT DAY
By MARK CANNIZZARO

VINCE YOUNG

April 21, 2006 -- There are indications that the Jets? interest in picking one of the top three quarterbacks in the NFL Draft is waning.

The Jets started out strong in their private workout pursuit of the big three, wining and dining Vanderbilt?s Jay Cutler as well as working him out and doing some pretty intensive classroom work with him early in the week.

Jets owner Woody Johnson was at the Cutler session, along with headcoach Eric Mangini, GM Mike Tannenbaum and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

By the time the Jets got to L.A. on Tuesday, Johnson had peeled off the trip to tend to NFL league business regarding a new commissioner search back in New York.

And yesterday, when the Jets were reportedly going to conduct a private workout with Texas QB Vince Young, Tannenbaum and Mangini remained inside their bunker at Weeb Ewbank Hall, nowhere near Texas or working out Young.

So, considering this, it?s logical to deduct that the Jets have no interest in Young at all.

There, too, seem to be stronger indications emanating from the club through league circles that it?s not convinced any of the big three QBs is worth taking with the No. 4 overall pick in the draft.

Leinart is considered the best of the group, yet the Jets seemed more interested in Reggie Bush working out alongside of Leinart the other day.

Speaking of Bush, those who are buying into the Texans? recent chatter about not being completely committed to Bush with the No. 1 overall pick are still placing lost teeth under their pillows awaiting reimbursement from the Tooth Fairy.

The Texans have recently set the smokescreen portion of the predraft festivities into full motion, telling anyone who?ll listen that they?re torn between Bush and N.C. State DE Mario Williams.

This, of course, is an effort to help them in contract negotiations with Bush?s agent, Joel Segal, who?s much too hip to these games to be concerned.

The game, too, is to perhaps persuade a team to try trading up to get Bush.

Forget all of it: Bush will be drafted by the Texans with the No. 1 pick, and then the rest of the draft will commence.

The Jets, unless they want to leap to No. 1 with a trade, will not get a sniff at drafting Bush.

mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com
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hydro51 · Apr 21, 2006

Restless Jets work out Young
BY RICH CIMINI
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/410621p-347421c.html

Although it's unlikely they will select a quarterback with the fourth pick in next weekend's NFL draft, the Jets completed their quarterback scouting tour yesterday by conducting a private workout with Texas' Vince Young in Houston, his hometown.

In a span of five days, the Jets worked out the Big Three - Vanderbilt's Jay Cutler, Southern Cal's Matt Leinart and Young, in that order. In Young's case, the only Jets' representative at the workout was offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, according to Young's agent, Major Adams.

That coach Eric Mangini and GM Mike Tannenbaum didn't attend probably indicates the Jets have little interest in drafting Young, whose sidearm delivery and lack of experience in a pro-style offense is a concern for the Jets. But you can bet the multitalented Young will land somewhere in the top 10.

Both Mangini and Tannenbaum attended the Jets' private workouts for Leinart and Cutler, and they were joined by owner Woody Johnson for the Cutler session - perhaps a telling sign. Of the three quarterbacks, the Jets probably prefer Cutler, but not with the fourth pick.

Multiple sources say the Jets are targeting Virginia tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams with the No. 4 pick. Assuming Southern Cal running back Reggie Bush and one of the quarterbacks are chosen in the top three, the Jets are assured of Ferguson or Williams.

Ferguson, who grew up in Freeport, L.I., enjoyed an abbreviated homecoming yesterday, meeting with Jets' officials at Hofstra.

The Jets' cross-country tour, which included a stop for Schottenheimer in Eugene, Ore., to visit with Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemens, was designed as a fact-finding mission - and, in all likelihood, a smoke screen.

Chances are, the Jets will address their quarterback needs with one of their later picks (29th, 35th, 71st or 97th). They like Clemens and Alabama's Brodie Croyle.
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hydro51 · Apr 21, 2006

George Mason's Lewis drawing interest
BY KEN BERGER
Newsday Staff Writer

http://www.newsday.com/sports/footb...10972apr21,0,4901567.story?coll=ny-jets-print

April 21, 2006

The Jets continued their flurry of pre-draft visits yesterday, meeting with Oregon nose tackle Haloti Ngata and welcoming Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk, who is scheduled to formally meet with team officials today.

Texas Christian cornerback Drew Coleman, who did not attend the combine but has drawn late interest from several teams, also is scheduled to sit down with team officials today.

Yesterday, the Jets also were among at least seven teams - including the Giants - reportedly attending Jai Lewis' workout in Alexandria, Va. Lewis, a 6-5, 290-pound senior forward on the George Mason team that reached the Final Four, is trying to duplicate Antonio Gates' transition from college basketball player to NFL tight end.

"It's a job interview," Lewis told The Washington Post. "I'm going out there with a shirt and tie on and a smile on my face, going out there to get a job."

Lewis has been working with strength and speed coaches. He was scheduled to take the Wonderlic test given to all draft prospects, run the 40-yard dash and perform speed, agility and position drills. He is not widely regarded as a player who will be drafted, but could be hotly pursued as a rookie free agent.
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hydro51 · Apr 21, 2006

Vanderbilt Quarterback Tunes Out the Din

Article Tools Sponsored By
By JUDY BATTISTA
Published: April 21, 2006

NASHVILLE, April 17 — Sandy Cutler was on the phone with her son Jay last Saturday, and she was not happy with what she heard about his plans for Easter.
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Christopher Berkey for The New York Times

Once a quarterback known only to scouts, Jay Cutler is now considered a potential top-10 selection.
N.F.L. Draft (April 29-30)

"The Jets came in, and I was trying to study the stuff they had sent me to prepare," Jay Cutler said. "She called and said, 'Why aren't you home?' I said, 'Mom, the Jets are coming to town.' And she said, 'So?' "

Jay Cutler is heading home to Evansville, Ind., this weekend to make amends with his mother, but not before a meeting with the Detroit Lions. Other than missed holidays with his family, the calendar has been kind to Cutler. In the four months preceding next weekend's National Football League draft, Cutler has gone from a known-only-to-scouts quarterback at Vanderbilt to a potential top-10 pick.

The tilt-a-whirl of hype and hope that settles over the N.F.L. before the draft has bounced Cutler through a process in which he has landed at the center of one of the most heated debates this year: Which of the elite quarterbacks should go first, and who is the most ready to play in the N.F.L.?

As Cutler walked through the Vanderbilt weight room this week, someone told him he had just been mentioned on television. Cutler replied that he shuts off the TV now.

"You'll drive yourself nuts," he said in an interview earlier this week. "It's a crazy process. It's a job interview for four months. For four months, you've got to be perfect."

That Cutler is even in the discussion with Southern California's Matt Leinart and Vince Young of Texas — both winners of national championships — is remarkable, because he is something of an accidental quarterback.

Cutler was first told he had a strong arm when he was in fourth grade. A coach on his pee-wee team put him at quarterback, despite Cutler's wish to play running back or wide receiver. Cutler was a three-sport star at his southern Indiana high school, but when Illinois withdrew a football scholarship offer, Cutler thought he might have to play baseball or basketball instead.

Then, on a Friday in January before one of his high school basketball games, Vanderbilt called. The coach at the time, Woody Widenhofer, offered a football scholarship with one caveat: Cutler had to decide by the end of the day. Cutler knew nothing about Vanderbilt and had never been to Nashville. He did some research on the Internet, went home after school to discuss the offer with his parents and committed an hour later.

If Cutler had dreams then of being a first-round pick, his Vanderbilt research could not have been encouraging. The only private university in the Southeastern Conference, Vanderbilt has not had a winning season in 23 years and has not had a quarterback selected in the first round since 1952 (Billy Wade by the Rams).

So Cutler has made his impression not with a Heisman Trophy or a national title, but with extraordinary performances. He threw for 361 yards and 4 touchdowns to get the overmatched Commodores to double overtime before they lost to Florida last season, and he threw a touchdown pass on his final collegiate completion to lead Vanderbilt past Tennessee for the Commodores' first victory over the Volunteers in 23 years.

With his mop-top hair and frayed jeans, Cutler walks around campus largely undetected. Leinart hangs out in Los Angeles with Nick Lachey. Cutler lived in an off-campus apartment with some linemen.

The thumbnail sketches of the top three say Leinart, the product of a pro-style offense, is the most polished and ready to step in as an N.F.L. quarterback; that Young has the greatest potential because of his extraordinary athleticism; and that Cutler has the strongest arm of the three and was able to perform well despite not playing at a football powerhouse.

In the space of a few days this week, the ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski told The Nashville City Paper that he liked Cutler the best of the three and that Cutler projected best as a pro. ESPN's draft guru, Mel Kiper, proclaimed Cutler overhyped and said he should be a late first-round pick, well after Leinart and Young are expected to be off the board. In an interview during the N.F.L. meetings, Jets Coach Eric Mangini crystallized Cutler's appeal.

"What makes him interesting is he's at a program that hasn't had a lot of success, and then he's able to create a level of success that they haven't seen," Mangini said. "It's always intriguing: Why was he able to do it? What qualities did he have?"

Cutler's completion percentage of 59.1 pales compared with Leinart's (65.7) and Young's (65.2). Like Brett Favre, Cutler can rely on a booming arm, but he frequently throws off his back foot — a no-no in the N.F.L. He developed that style largely because he played behind an outmanned offensive line in arguably the fastest conference in college football. He was sacked 33 times, even though he is considered to have decent mobility.
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continuation in the next post.

hydro51 · Apr 21, 2006

"N.F.L. quarterbacks are accurate when they have time," said Vanderbilt Coach Bobby Johnson, who conceded that his team was frequently at a personnel disadvantage. "When Jay had time, he was accurate."
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Still, nagging questions remain. Despite Cutler's presence, the Commodores lost to Middle Tennessee State last season, albeit on a blocked field goal, and ultimately finished 5-6. And while talent evaluators say Cutler has no real weakness ? at 6 feet 3 inches and 226 pounds, he bench-pressed 225 pounds 23 times at the scouting combine ? they wonder what his particular strength is.

"I think people always feel quarterbacks, no matter how poor a team they play on, is usually going to have a chance to win one of those four years," said Gil Brandt, a former architect of the Dallas Cowboys and now an analyst for NFL.com.

Brandt said he thought Cutler would be good enough to take a good team to the playoffs, but he added: "The question that coaches ask themselves is, who would you least like to play against? I would imagine Leinart and Young come out ahead of Cutler."

Cutler bristles at such an assessment. "It's a lot easier to go to a program with a winning tradition and really good athletes around you and be successful," he said. "It's harder to be somewhere where winning isn't the norm and change the attitude and pull out stuff late in games."

And that, as much as his arm, may be the intangible that allows Cutler to make a smooth transition to the N.F.L. The pressure of being the marquee player will not be new.

"I've dealt with a lot of adversity, had to bounce back from a lot of losses, had to throw with a lot of pressure, had a lot of pressure put on me each day," he said. "I think that's what it's like as a rookie quarterback."

In close games that the Commodores traditionally lost, Cutler would step into the huddle and tell the offense, " 'It's time to play, I'm going to be your leader, that's what I'm here for, trust me,' " recalled a former receiver, Brandon Smith.

His freshman receiver Earl Bennett said: "He gives the team confidence every time he steps out there. He's a grounded guy, but I definitely think he helped elevate this program."

Is that enough to elevate Cutler's draft stock? The first day of the draft is April 29 ? Cutler's 23rd birthday ? and he will have a draft party in Nashville. Kiper predicted that Cutler could go 10th to Arizona or 11th to St. Louis, but Cutler said he was trying not to imagine what draft day would be like.

In the meantime, he has resisted the lure of buying a big house or a flashy car with his promised millions.

He has made one smart purchase, though. A pair of noise-canceling headphones.
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end of article

Pavlus53 · Apr 21, 2006

Thanks, Hydro. Your morning news posts save me a lot of time.

JeTerps · Apr 21, 2006

Thanks Hydro, you are the Man!!

Forget all these smokescreens, if we stay at #4 it's gonna be D'Brick. If we trade down it will be either for Davis, Ngata, Justice or Cutler.

UncleTomNYJ · Apr 21, 2006

Thanks Hydro, I really liked the cutler article by Judy Battista. It show you he aint no momma's boy. Certainly not when the JETS are coming to town!

dbatesman · Apr 21, 2006

Thanks for the post man...

although I have to say, Cannizzaro is a moron.

"There are indications that the Jets’ interest in picking one of the top three quarterbacks in the NFL Draft is waning." No sh*t, Sherlock. Real sportswriters have known that for about a week now.

JetsIn2004 · Apr 21, 2006

Looks like Cimini or Cannizzarro didn't do their homework. 1 said we worked out Young, and one said we did not. I'd believe Cimini

SigmaXJet · Apr 21, 2006

hydro51 said:

George Mason's Lewis drawing interest
BY KEN BERGER
Newsday Staff Writer

http://www.newsday.com/sports/footb...10972apr21,0,4901567.story?coll=ny-jets-print
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Hell yes big Jai Lewis, NFL scouts have been coming to our basketball games since he was a junior. Hes pretty quick for his size, I hope the Jets can sign him.

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