I was listening to the radio today and heard Dave Rothenberg talking about the Jets. He argued that, if the Jets drop an egg this year and go 6-10 or 5-11, the blame would not fall on Rex Ryan but rather on Mike Tannenbaum. His opinion is that Rex took the Jets to 2 AFC Championships with a "team of mediocre talent," and the real reason the Jets did so well in 2009 and 2010 is because of Rex's scheming. Accordingly, Rothenberg believes that the Jets were never elite talent-wise, and, in his opinion, the talent has actually dropped off over this off-season (I disagree with him here, but still). Thus, if the Jets completely lose it next season, it should be Tannenbaum fired since it is his job to discover and sign talent, and that is the reason we aren't a dominant franchise. We all know that Tanny is a lot better as a contract negotiator than talent discoverer, but if we completely lose it this year, is Tanny on the hot seat? Should he be?
I think this question is better answered after the season is played... or maybe one quarter of a preseason game... at least...
If the Jets have a real off-season somebody is going to get fired. Woody hasn't sat through back-to-back disappointments without dropping the hammer on the head coach or GM. The real question is: if the Jets have a bad season will Woody close the books on the decade by finally kicking the entire management team that he setup in 2001 out the door? The facts are that the Jets are only a slightly above average team since 2001. If they go 6-10 this year they'll be at .500 for a 12 year span, which is a very long time to be treading water. Even if they go 9-7 you can make the argument that the team just isn't good enough to compete with the Pats on a regular basis and that the reason for that is entirely talent-related. I have no idea what Woody Johnson is going to do but my gut tells me that he's too competitive to live with the status quo for much longer. He's been too proactive in moving the chips around for him to sit still while another season goes up in flames.
You think Woody would abandon ship and start from scratch one season prior to a year in which New York is going to host the Super Bowl?? Rex has at least two more years. I won't necessarily say the same for Tanny however undeserved (or deserved) it might be.
Good point. That, alone, might extend this organization's lifespan another year, but if we do go 6-10 this year there's no telling what will happen. All I know is, it won't be good. Hopefully that won't happen; hopefully we'll go 12-4 and beat the Pats twice. :gpc:
I do concur that if I had to bet on who would be gone first, Rex or Tanny, that my money's on Tanny. Unless of course Rex leaves on his own volition.
I think that Tannenbaum should be feeling some pressure, but I don't think you can say he's in danger of being fired. There are a few things I think he can justifiably be criticized for. Those are... 1. Drafting. I think this is the biggest one. He can't be faulted for bringing in talent, he's done a good job of bringing in players in the first few rounds of the draft and has increased the top end talent of the team. However, he hasn't brought in large draft classes where a number of players make the team and improve the DEPTH of the roster. If you look at the roster now, it's not an issue of the starters but rather the backups that should be concerning. The Jets' starters are as talented as nearly every other team in the league. Their backups, however, leave a lot to be desired. I think the reason for this is Tannenbaum loves trading away draft picks and this has lead to a number of small draft classes. From 2007 to 2010 they didn't have one class where they brought in a full 7 players. The Mark Sanchez year only saw two other players besides Sanchez himself. That's not conducive to building a deep roster. 2. OL Depth/talent. I don't think I really need to go too far in to this. Hunter was a good 6th OL for some time, but I don't consider that great GM-ing on Tanny's part. The Giants have backup OTs and interior OLs (they specialize them) with talent. Hell, one of their starting OL (Boothe) in the Super Bowl was a backup until the starting OLT (Will Beatty) got hurt and David Diehl left the LG position to be kicked out to OLT. Besides the 2006 draft, which was amazing for the OL, he hasn't really done much to help the offensive line besides signing Alan Faneca. 3. The WRs. Not only has he shuffled them every year, but the talent level has clearly declined. This was once a group of Holmes, Edwards, Cotchery, and Smith. That group was arguably better than any other team's WR group if you're looking at the 1-4 spots. Now the talent drop is EXTREME when you go past Holmes. I don't think you can fire Tanny for these mistakes, but he needs to start bringing some guys that can be useful for roster depth & be developed in to future starters.
Ive said this all along Tanny and Rex both wont be fired until after the Super Bowl in 2013 season. We cant bring in a new head coach next year and expect to win the Super Bowl. Even if we brought Gruden or Cowher in they all would begin a rebuilding proccess in the first year so no chance of a representing the Super Bowl with them. I dont think we can bring a new GM in either, because again, they might want to rebuild, but no chance we "rebuild" for 2013. 2013 the Jets will probably be going all in, like we did in 2010. I think Rex has a 2 year window to do something. Woody would love nothing more than to have the Jets in the Super Bowl at home.
This not really a 6-10 team. Its more like a 8-9 win team with a potential to be an 11-12 win team if we don't have any major injuries. If Revis, Sanchez and Mangold go down for 4+ games each, we can see us drop down to a 6-10 season. What do you do then? Its not the coach's fault few of his major players went down for a significant time. Its not the GMs fault. Its football. It happens with several teams each year. If we don't have any significant injuries, yet have a below .500 season, questions will be raised. We'll just have to wait and see, but I can see a few changes here and there. At least Clinkscales is gone, so its a start. Tanny is not a talent evaluator. He relies upon others opinions in that case. He manages players value (signing, trading etc.).
Tanny's career here boils down to one thing this year. Right Tackle. If the line proves to be better in pass protection and run blocking, we'll be back where we should be and contend like 2010. If he ignores RT and Sanchez gets injured as a result, he's gone. Everyone knew RT was a glaring need at the end of last year. I think they should have put a little more effort into that. But who knows, maybe Hunter is the next Ferguson. I still wanna see a Moore, Brick, Slauson, Mangold, Ducasse line. If that can click before the season starts, Hunter will be a backup like he should be and I won't be worried about it. Tanny brought us a ton of solid young players in the draft, you can't really deny it, and yes we had a few years that we didn't draft a large amount of players, but look how many we drafted this year. We're swimming in young uns. If half of those late round guys become somewhat serviceable it's a win.
You make some good points here and I generally agree with your entire post. However, Tanny is not a talent evaluator as I mentioned earlier. He has to rely on his scouting group and CS to give him the details. When he was hired as the GM, I doubt if he was expected to be a great talent evaluator. So the talent of draftees (or lack of) is not his fault. This I blame on Tanny. Hunter should not have been on the team as a starter this year. Turner should have been resigned for depth purposes at least. Its not that he didn't try. He drafted Vlad in the 2nd couple years ago, and that pick is not on Tanny. Edwards should not have been let go. That was a huge mistake that falls solely on Tanny. Hopefully Stephen works out while Jeremy can play at a decent level in the slot.
Not having a football guy run your team is bad idea. What your saying is Tanny is good at what? Others said 'cap management'?? If a team does not have a real football guy running the show it will not work long term IMO- If the draft sucks, it is 100% his problem. Talent is the GM's number one job far and away. Any accountant can manage the cap. It is not that tough really.
It's not like any GM goes out and scouts every single player in college. He has a team of people doing it and they've done a pretty good job. Maybe you've heard of Mangold, Revis, Ferguson, Keller, Harris, Wilkerson, Pouha, Moore and plenty others I can't think of right now. All drafted and have shown to be solid contributors, some are pro bowlers. Many others will probably break out this year.
Really? Edwards was really tearing up the gridiron last year....... I sure hate he was on the PUP and IR for the 49ers instead of for the Jets, where he should have been..... Sometimes the comments on here make my brain melt.
This coming from a Tebow fan most likely. Edwards got injured in SF. If he was with the Jets, things would have been different. Its not like he would have had the same injury here as well. Maybe he would have had an MCL tear here. Maybe he would have been healthy all year long. He didn't do much in SF cuz he was injured. Its not like he didn't have the talent/potential.
I honestly think we need a new voice in the front office not so much letting Tanny go but I think he should mainly handle contracts and negotiations but we need someone to take over the draft as far scouting and making the selections goes Though I've loved all the talent we have brought in through the draft since 2006 I just think there are ways to get more creative to acquire more picks I'd love in the next 2 years to have either 2 1st or 2nd round picks to add higher quality players
you fail to realize what Braylon did for us he took the top off of defenses, opened up the run game and was also a helluva run blocker to open up the sideline for big runs. I miss the 3 headed monster Holmes/Edwards/Cotchery imagine having them still while also still likely adding Hill and Kerley
I know Tannenbaum's background is cap management and not player-scouting, but I don't think that absolves him in the draft. He's the GM; his stamp goes on all the personnel moves this team makes. Rex is a guy with a strong defensive background, but he's a head coach now. You can't just say "well, Rex's specialty is defense so I don't think you can blame him for the offense having problems." That reasoning is flawed. If Rex isn't doing something about the offense then he is not doing well as an HC. If Tanny isn't drafting well, then he isn't being a good GM. I know other people feed him information and scout for him, but that doesn't absolve him of all fault.
No. Tanny is the GM, however....he's assembled a pretty good share of talent...his biggest mistake to date...was letting Schitty stay here so long.
