Good deal! It's going to be Chad Pennington versus Kellen Clemens in training camp. General manager Mike Tannenbaum, confirming a Daily News story last week, said today that the Jets are planning to retain Pennington with the idea of having him compete against Clemens for the starting job. Tannenbaum, speaking at his post-season wrap up at Hofstra, said he would listen to trade offers for Pennington. But he quickly added, "I expect Chad to be back. Pennington, who was benched after a 1-7 start, was thought to be a goner at the end of the season. But Clemens (3-5 as a starter) didn't distinguish himself, putting Pennington back in the picture. Pennington is due to make $4.8 million in 2008, a hefty amount for a potential backup, but indicated that the team is "comfortably under the cap" and may not ask Pennington to re-work his contract. Publicly, Pennington hasn't demanded a trade, but he has made it clear that he wants to be a starter. He apparently will get that opportunity again with the Jets, but he would have to outplay Clemens in the preseason to nail down the starting job. If the competition turns out to be a draw, coach Eric Mangini probably would lean toward the younger Clemens, regarded as the team's future at quarterback. "The best players play," Tannenbaum said. Interestingly, Tannenbaum mentioned the Jaguars' quarterback situation, noting how coach Jack Del Rio benched incumbent Byron Leftwich and promoted David Garrard at the end of the preseason. Leftwich was released soon after the decision. In another matter, Tannenbaum confirmed that he gave permission for the Ravens to interview offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer for their head-coaching vacancy.
I called it. My next prediction---this thread goes 10 pages and FOURTHANDLONG is against the move. Oh well.
What else would he say? Of course he said that and will try like hell to trade him. If they are going to rely on Pennington and Clemens for next year then they are already willing to accept another dismal season and their own demise.
Not sure how I feel about that exactly. On one hand it might be better to move on. On the other hand Clemens isn't even close to a sure thing, and I don't like any of the other options at QB that are available, unless McNabb becomes available which I doubt is going to happen. I guess I'm ok with those 2 competing for the job in training camp. If Clemens can't beat out Chad then it is pretty clear he's not the answer. It's still possible that they want to trade him and are trying to hold on to their leverage, but I think it's more likely they want to keep him.
Nope. We will just have to wait until 2012 to be decent again and Chad, Mangini and Tannenbaum can walk hand in hand out the door together next year after the season. This time next year the post will read let the Bill Cowher era begin!
Regardless of if they're going to trade him or not, they're going to get offers. Chad could thrive in Minnesota and buy Herm some time in Kansas City. This way, they don't look desperate and teams are going to have to entice them. As bad as Pennington looked this year, he's still amongst the best quarterbacks on the market. -X-
I read Tannenbaum's stance as "please, please, please, somebody make us a face-saving offer so I can move on to the real business at hand this offseason: improving the Jet's lines." I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if the Jets draft a QB in March they'll cut Chad shortly thereafter if they haven't found a deal yet.
Not exactly surprising news. Only an idiot would completely toss Chad onto the fire at this point. They are going to try and protect themselves and preserve their options. Hard to say if they end up trading him or not. Depends on the offers they get. At the same time they have to tell Chad that he'd get a shot at the job and "possibly" keep his contract intact. They are balancing all their balls in the air for now. I'd rather not see them draft someone in the draft unless they are sure they want to get rid of Clemens and try to get someone infinitely better. I'd rather see the picks go toward fixing the rest of the line this year.
Does anyone really think there is anything substantative in this statement? Tannenbaum HAS TO SAY that the Jets plan on keeping Chad and having him compete with Kellen in training camp, regardless of whether that is their intention or not. It is the only way to keep Chad's value as high as possible for a trade. If Tanny comes out and says " We are going to trade Chad this offseason" then we get at least a round lower pick than we would have if he says we are going to keep him. This statement means nothing. It is just posturing. In fact, much to the dismay of the clueless Chad homers, it probably increases the chances that they want to trade Chad, because if they were just going to keep him, they would say we expect Chad to be back next year as a backup. The likelihood of Chad being back next year is close to zero. The chances of Chad starting ARE zero. The Jets have already moved on.
Obviously this is the usual postering by the FO. In order to keep his trade value high, it is important that the Jets maintain the appearance of wanting to keep him on the roster-unless they want to give him up for a bag of footballs and a 6th round pick.
Does anyone else think that if they have a fair battle for the starting job that Chad will win easily?
