Jets News 4/24

hydro51 · Apr 24, 2006

A fresh set of downs?
Young powers at Jets enthusiastically plunge into high-stakes draft pool

http://www.newsday.com/sports/footb...712708apr23,0,904996.story?coll=ny-jets-print

BY KEN BERGER
Newsday Staff Writer

April 23, 2006

On the morning of draft day, the Jets' hierarchy has made a habit of meeting for breakfast at a diner not far from the team's football headquarters at Hofstra. It's part tradition and part superstition, to the point where some members of the front office have even ordered the same breakfast year after year.

Things change in the NFL, and chances are that that draft-day tradition will be the next to go. At least that's what can be inferred from the stunning departure in pre-draft preparation that the Jets' new regime has undertaken with general manager Mike Tannenbaum and head coach Eric Mangini in charge.

PC Richard & Sons
With the fourth overall pick, five on the first day, and seven of the top 117 selections, the Jets are preparing for one of their most crucial drafts in at least a decade. Having weathered the turmoil of coach Herman Edwards' departure for Kansas City, and the front-office shakeup that moved former general manager Terry Bradway aside for Tannenbaum, the team finds itself at a nexus of opportunity and risk will determine the success of the franchise - not to mention the under-40-club that now runs it.

The timing couldn't be more significant for Tannenbaum, 37, and Mangini, 35, whose decisions next weekend will go a long way toward determining whether their partnership ultimately will succeed or, as fans of this meandering franchise know all too well, fall short of expectations.

"It's crucial because it sets the tone for the future," said Alan Herman, an agent with Manhattan-based Sportstars, which had more players selected in last year's draft than any agency other than IMG Football. " ... I think the two of them will make a very good team. They're around the same age, and they both desperately want to succeed."

While some league executives have privately decried the growing influence of numbers-crunching, salary-cap experts in top personnel positions - and that's Tannenbaum's background - Herman and other observers like the new direction.

For one thing, Tannenbaum and Mangini seem to have passed the pre-draft smokescreen test. Although word filtered our this week that the team is giving strong consideration to Maryland tight end Vernon Davis with the fourth pick, in addition to Virginia left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the Jets have been as difficult to read as any team with a top-10 pick.

In the past week, the Jets have created some of the biggest pre-draft buzz in the league with an uncharacteristic series of last-minute meetings with prospects, including a highly publicized, impromptu workout with Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush in Los Angeles.

Team officials also have sat down in recent days with quarterbacks Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler, and Vince Young, as well as linebacker A.J. Hawk, nose tackle Haloti Ngata, and others. This is a departure from the franchise's previous approach, which stressed college tape, the Senior Bowl, Indianapolis combine and campus workouts.

"It's kind of aggressive to have the GM, and the head coach, and in some cases the owner in one spot," said an agent who asked not to be named because he has ongoing dealings with the Jets.

On Mangini's suggestion, the Jets revamped their interview process, going out of their way to make the players as uncomfortable as possible by confronting them with their own college game film and peppering them with questions.

"We put them right away under the gun and asked them what they were doing here and what was going on," Tannenbaum said. "It was not only very revealing, but it was interesting finding their reactions."

Aggression or overkill? What more could Tannenbaum possibly hope to learn about athletic and intellectual specimens that have been scrutinized for months - even years?

"I truly think he's using his legal training here to evaluate prospects by bringing guys in last-minute, getting a lot of information, and not just taking the word of one scout," said Herman, whose firm represents several current Jets, including 2002 first-round pick Bryan Thomas. "It's not the old Bobby Beathard approach - 'I really like this guy, we're done.'

"It's a fresh approach," Herman said. "I think when you have two young guys like this in Mangini and Mike, I think they're setting out to make a name for themselves. And I think that bodes well for the Jets."

By meeting face-to-face with prospects this close to the draft, scouts and coaches can get a clear picture of a player's mindset. Or as Herman put it, "Are they still attentive to their workouts? Or are they spending the loan money they received from their agents and cruising around in cars and buying jewelry?"

But there's even more to it. Cutler, the Vanderbilt quarterback whom the Jets have scouted closely, reportedly came across as nonchalant and underprepared at his combine interviews in February. Prior to that, Cutler had an uneven performance at the Senior Bowl.
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hydro51 · Apr 24, 2006

Tannenbaum a quick study

Tireless Jet GM drafting plan
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/411476p-348067c.html
BY RICH CIMINI
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Mike Tannenbaum is looking for as much information as possible to give Jets an edge in draft.
A month ago, Mike Tannenbaum made like Ponce de Leon and went to Florida, searching for a fountain.

He wasn't looking for youth; at 37, he's the youngest general manager in the NFL. No, Tannenbaum made the trip to drink from a fountain of knowledge - and he found it in Jupiter at the home of retired Packers GM Ron Wolf, one of the game's most respected minds.

Tannenbaum spent two hours with Wolf, picking his brain on all things football and taking copious notes. The next day, they met a mutual friend, Bill Parcells, at a Mets-Cardinals exhibition game. More football talk.

"They were talking and I was writing things down," said Tannenbaum, who was promoted in February to replace Terry Bradway. "It was fascinating to get their insights."

Unlike some ego-crazed executives, Tannenbaum realizes that a fancy title doesn't make you a know-it-all.

The Jets' new football boss might be short on experience, but there's no questioning his drive and his meticulous approach, attributes that shaped the team's preparation for this weekend's draft.

This is Tannenbaum's first major test. With two first-round picks (fourth and 29th), and with five choices in the first three rounds, he has the opportunity to accelerate the rebuilding process and put his stamp on the franchise. It's a lot of responsibility for someone who always was known as a salary-cap expert.

"He'll feel the pressure," said Wolf, who was impressed by Tannenbaum. "I don't care if it's your first time or your 31st time, there's pressure. Anybody who tells you differently is lying."

Asked if he's sensing any heat, Tannenbaum replied, "Preparation breeds confidence. I feel very good about our preparation."

Indeed, Tannenbaum and rookie coach Eric Mangini ratcheted up the information-gathering process, seemingly leaving no stone unturned. Or, as Tannenbaum said, "I feel like I've been under a few boulders lately."

Example: Despite having an immense dossier on Virginia tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, a high-character individual if there ever was one, the Jets flew him to Long Island last Thursday and tested him one last time. Ex-player Jerome Henderson, recently hired as the Jets' director of player development, administered a psychological test.

At the scouting combine in February, the Jets used a new interviewing technique. Instead of asking the routine questions - career goals, family matters, etc. - they skipped the pleasantries, put on game film of the player and inundated him with rapid-fire questions. It was technical stuff, pertaining to X's and O's.

Some players must have been intimidated because word spread throughout the combine that the Jets weren't asking marshmallow questions like the other teams.

"We wanted to see if they could learn in an uncomfortable environment," said Tannenbaum, placing a greater emphasis on intangibles than the previous regime.

They conducted more than 450 predraft interviews. But Tannenbaum isn't getting paid to be Mike Wallace; his job is to find talent. With the fourth pick, he should land an impact player, perhaps Ferguson. There's growing speculation in league circles that the Jets may trade out of the fourth spot.

One possible scenario: If Matt Leinart or Vince Young lasts until No. 4, the Jets could trade places with the quarterback-needy Raiders (No. 7), acquire an extra second- or third-round pick in the process and still get a blue-chip talent such as tight end Vernon Davis, linebacker A.J. Hawk or even Ferguson.

There will be public sentiment to pick a quarterback, but Tannenbaum doesn't seem eager to draft one that high. Nevertheless, it's an issue, and nothing inflames passion more than a QB quandary.

Giants GM Ernie Accorsi faced one in his first draft, when he selected John Elway for the Colts in 1983. Accorsi, ignoring Elway's threat to play baseball, made him the top pick, repercussions be damned. Elway wound up being traded without Accorsi's consent.

"Anytime you have a quarterback in the mixture, you have extra pressure," Accorsi said. "Mike has a quarterback decision and it's his first draft. I can identify with him. Fair or unfair, you're remembered for it."

Originally published on April 24, 2006
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hydro51 · Apr 24, 2006

Jets' Houston breaks wrist
Monday, April 24, 2006
BY DAVE HUTCHINSON
Star-Ledger Staff
http://www.nj.com/jets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1145854431279560.xml&coll=1

Jets running back Cedric Houston suffered a broken wrist and several cuts and bruises on his face and hands in a one-car accident late Friday night in Tennessee, one of his agents said yesterday.

Houston, a second-year pro, is expected to be sidelined two to four weeks and will miss a minicamp for rookies and first-year players which begins May 12. The former Tennessee star was kept overnight at the University of Tennessee Medical Center and released Saturday.

"It's nothing serious at all," agent Safarah Lawson said yesterday. "He suffered some cuts on his head, over his eye and sustained a cut on a finger that required stitches. But he should be fine for the veterans' minicamp in (mid)-June."

Houston, 23, was a passenger in a car that went up an embankment on a rural stretch of Interstate 40, about 50 miles west of Knoxville, and hit a tree stump.

Last season, the 6-foot, 220-pounder started four games for an injured Curtis Martin and finished with 302 yards and two touchdowns on 81 carries.
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hydro51 · Apr 24, 2006

Super Mario
Quiet giant Mario Williams has the NFL talking
By Chris Neubauer

Mario Williams

Mario Williams
There is a dog barking in the background. Its deep, gruff bellow is masking the speaker?s voice. The proud owner, Mario Williams, apologizes for the ruckus and then gleefully sets the scene. His five-week-old pit bull, Zeus, is playing with a new toy: a big piece of rope.

The rope is a gift from Williams, a big man with big toys. He drives Zeus around in a Ford pickup truck that he describes as ?a monster truck. It?s an F-250 diesel, but it?s lifted. It?s jacked up and everything. Big Country.?

Mary Williams says her son has always played and dreamed big.

?When he was smaller, he had all the Tonka trucks you could think of,? Mary Williams says. ?Then he wanted to be a jet pilot. When they got old enough to have those ATVs, I got that for him. It?s just been one thing after another. It doesn?t surprise me that (his truck) would be big.?

If everything about Mario Williams is supersized, it is a little surprising whom the former North Carolina State defensive end lists as his NFL idols. The great sack maestros of Williams? youth are nowhere to be found on his list.

No Reggie White. No Bruce Smith. No Lawrence Taylor.

Williams? favorite players were diminutive RBs Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders. He would watch the short and shifty runners on ?Monday Night Football,? and then Williams would run around the family?s home in Richlands, N.C., re-enacting their artistry.

?Oh yes, ?Monday Night Football? was his thing,? Mary Williams says. ?When they?d hike the ball to the quarterback, he?d hike the ball, and he?d run, and he?d be the one to catch the ball.

?He had me afraid every now and then that he?d hit a corner (of furniture) or something.?

At 6-foot-7, 295 pounds, it is the furniture that fears Williams these days. Despite his Herculean size, Williams patterned his game after Smith and Sanders because he wanted to play running back. As one of the largest players on the field ever since he donned his first pair of shoulder pads in the seventh grade, Williams rarely carried the ball. He finally got his chance to become a full-time running back as a senior in high school. Injuries at the position forced Williams into the backfield, where he averaged 10.2 yards per carry.

But, according to Williams, he didn?t just run over opponents as his then 6-6, 250-pound freight train of a frame would suggest. He was more Sanders than Bo Jackson. Those Monday-night moves, honed in front of the TV, could finally be put to use.

?I used to juke a lot of people,? Williams says.

But Williams still had his runaway-train moments, which sent quite a few opponents retreating into the fetal position.

?I used to see a lot of people get nervous, and I just ran right by them because they would ball up,? he says.

Williams never relinquished his backfield dreams, but the college coaches that came knocking on his door only had defense on the mind once they saw Williams? prototype pass-rusher body. He is tall, lean, muscular and has the wingspan of a 7-footer.

?Of course, you always want to get out there and play running back ? all the big guys want to,? Williams says. ?I wouldn?t mind doing it, but I never got a chance to.?

Yet he soon will get the chance to terrorize NFL running backs like he did college running backs and quarterbacks for three productive years at North Carolina State. Williams started all 36 games of his college career and collected 25? sacks, including 14? last fall. He chose to enter the NFL draft after his double-digit-sack junior year, and by all accounts, leaving school early wasn?t a mistake.

?He?s the best defensive player in this draft,? says one NFC college scout whose team isn?t in a position to draft Williams. ?We have him right up there with Reggie Bush. Any other year, (if) there weren?t so many quarterbacks at the top of the draft, he?d be a sure thing to go top-three. As it is now, he still could. And he?s very young, so what we?ve seen already is just the tip of the iceberg.?

What may have surprised NFL types more than Williams? freakish athletic talents is his demure demeanor off the field. Williams, who turned 21 in January, describes himself as ?very shy, but if you actually start talking to me, you?ll find out what I?m all about.?

Mary Williams says her son is ?quiet ? outgoing in his own way. He?s always been humble, just a quiet spirit.?

Williams is the anti-T.O., and that humble nature makes his star shine brighter for his potential NFL employers.

?He was raised right. There?s not a lot of flash or ego there,? says one NFC scout. ?He grasps where he stands in this whole process, but he doesn?t walk or talk the superstar language. That?s the best attribute we saw. He?s sitting back, letting it all come to him.?

If Williams won?t boast about his accomplishments, scouts certainly will. They have compared him to the late Reggie White, who will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer, and Panthers DE Julius Peppers.

Williams caused jaws to touch the RCA Dome FieldTurf when he ran 4.71 and 4.72 seconds in his two 40-yard dashes at the Combine. The slightly smaller Peppers (6-6?, 283 pounds) ran slightly faster, clocking in at 4.68 seconds. Williams? 40?-foot vertical jump and 35 reps on the bench press (at 225 pounds) were also of the ?Ripley?s Believe It or Not? variety. Peppers leapt 36? inches.

?It?s an honor. As far as weight, size, production, athleticism ? (and) we?re both from a small town ? it really is a pretty good, close comparison,? Williams says of the Peppers talk. ?I just hope to God that He blesses me, and I can have a good career like him.?

Williams? Combine results are a start. With the Texans almost certain to select USC RB Reggie Bush with the No. 1 overall pick, Williams could go anywhere from No. 2, as Peppers did in 2002, to No. 5 on the first day of the draft. Williams is a virtual lock to be the first defensive player drafted.

?This is the Reggie Bush draft,? says an NFC scout. ?But five years from now, I think we?ll say that 2006 was the Mario Williams draft.?

The above content is featured from our Pro Football Weekly print edition ? Issue 02.
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hydro51 · Apr 24, 2006

Jets | E. Nelson impresses during workout
Sun, 23 Apr 2006 19:30:45 -0700

Aaron Wilson, of the Carroll County Times, reports Connecticut TE Ed Nelson impressed scouts with his hands during his workout. One of the teams in attendance was the New York Jets.

Jets | J. Lewis struggles during workout
Sun, 23 Apr 2006 19:13:02 -0700

Aaron Wilson, of the Carroll County Times, reports George Mason TE/OL/DL Jai Lewis struggled during his workout. He dropped several passes and struggled to perform in the agility drills. One of the teams in attendance was the New York Jets.

Jets | Team is $12.9 million under salary cap
Sun, 23 Apr 2006 16:16:35 -0700

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the New York Jets are $12.9 million under the salary cap, according to a source with NFL contractual data.

28rogerblaze51 · Apr 24, 2006

Good read not repetitive like other days..

And good to know we are 12.9 million under the cap.

New York Mick · Apr 24, 2006

That had a lot of interesting information. Thanks Hydro.

NYJalltheway · Apr 24, 2006

With 13 million we'll be able to sign all our drafted players and maybe one more impact player.

jets21027 · Apr 24, 2006

we shoudl save some of the money for next year were rebuilding and we might need to shore up an area of need next year after this draft.. kinda like the browns did with their o line this year

rajensen088 · Apr 24, 2006

jets21027 said:

we shoudl save some of the money for next year were rebuilding and we might need to shore up an area of need next year after this draft.. kinda like the browns did with their o line this year
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The Browns had no cap room last year. They took their hits releasing all those former first round picks. They had room this year, lots of it thanks to the new CBA and used the cap space in free agency. The Jets have no excuse for not trying to improve team in free agency.

dabrowsk1 · Apr 24, 2006

rajensen088 said:

The Browns had no cap room last year. They took their hits releasing all those former first round picks. They had room this year, lots of it thanks to the new CBA and used the cap space in free agency. The Jets have no excuse for not trying to improve team in free agency.
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Oh yes, those Dyson and Dwight signing didn't improve the team at all. The Chatham didn't help special teams either. And all those vet signings to add depth, which the team lacked at practically every position due to the past regime, didn't help either. Nevermind the 9 draft picks.

phubbadaman · Apr 24, 2006

Who is available for them to sign? Arrington didn't want to come here, he wanted to stay in NFC East and he did. Who do you think the Jets should sign that is available that will make them so much better/

BamaDoc · Apr 24, 2006

I wouldn't mind redoing a few select contracts like a Vilma and prepay future salary if after signing rookies we still have money left over.

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