{"id":4211,"date":"2010-04-25T21:11:07","date_gmt":"2010-04-26T01:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jetnation.com\/?p=4211"},"modified":"2010-08-19T18:38:55","modified_gmt":"2010-08-19T18:38:55","slug":"new-york-jets-post-draft-news-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/2010\/04\/25\/new-york-jets-post-draft-news-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Jets Post Draft News Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Courtesy NYJets.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transcript of Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum and head coach Rex Ryan’s post draft news conference Saturday afternoon:<\/em><\/p>\n

??TANNENBAUM:<\/strong> To just wrap up all the transactions for today, we drafted Joe McKnight and also John Conner.\u00a0 We traded Leon Washington to Seattle and released Alan Faneca.\u00a0Just looking at all these moves, in part or together, we\u2019re excited about what Joe can do for us, not only running the ball but in the passing game. We think he\u2019s a dynamic player and we\u2019re really excited to get him where we did in the fourth round. Relative to John Conner, he\u2019s a tremendous fullback, one of Rex\u2019s favorite players available in the draft.<\/p>\n

With Leon, we had a great conversation with him.\u00a0I\u2019ll never bet against Leon Washington. I\u2019ve said that many times before, both on and off the record.\u00a0We just felt managing the team both short-term and long-term that this was really in the best interest of our team. He\u2019ll get a fresh start out in Seattle. I expect he\u2019ll do great things out there.\u00a0But we felt with getting the returner in Kyle Wilson, what Joe McKnight should be able to do for us offensively, in addition to having Brad Smith and Jerricho Cotchery, we feel like those jobs will be covered by a number of players. We felt looking at Leon\u2019s contractual situation that it was going to have to happen at some point sooner or later, and so we felt that when we had the opportunity to go out and get John Conner, that\u2019s when we decided to make that decision.<\/p>\n

With Alan, I couldn\u2019t say enough great things about Alan Faneca. I know I\u2019m a better person being around Alan the last few years, the husband he is, the father, the teammate, the player.\u00a0He gave us two incredible years, but along with Woody [Johnson], Rex and I, our job is to make the right decision, not the easy one. And with Alan, we felt like it was time to move on. Vlad Ducasse and Matt Slauson will compete for the starting left guard job.\u00a0The best player will play there. Rob Turner will back up at center, and that\u2019s where we are as an organization.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re done for today.\u00a0We\u2019ll add some free agents tonight. We\u2019ve added core players that we think can help us short-term and long-term.??<\/p>\n

On if there was a contrast between Faneca\u2019s production and his contract\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

RYAN:\u00a0 Number one, you evaluate all your players, not just Alan, but you evaluate all your players. We feel good about Matt Slauson, we feel good about Vladimir stepping in and competing for that job. We never would have let Alan go if we didn\u2019t think that one or both of those guys could do the job.\u00a0It\u2019s a tough decision, and Alan is coming off of nine straight Pro Bowl appearances. This decision wasn\u2019t easy. He did a good job for us. Like we said before, he was a great teammate, but in this business you have to move on.\u00a0That\u2019s what we are staying to. We are trying to win a Super Bowl.\u00a0We are trying to win one this year, just like we go into every season with that in mind.<\/p>\n

We just thought that the best opportunity we had would be that we battle with Matt Slauson and Vladimir Ducasse and let\u2019s see what happens. We feel good about both of those players.\u00a0Alan\u2019s definitely going to play in this league again. I have no idea where but by releasing him now, it gives Alan an opportunity to go where quite honestly he wants to go.\u00a0We\u2019re not looking to trade him and send him to a place where he doesn\u2019t want to play. We gave him the respect that he is due, and this allows him to go where he wants to go.<\/p>\n

??On the decision to break up one of the best offensive lines in the league\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

RYAN: You\u2019re going to stay the same, get better or get worse.\u00a0 We\u2019re getting better.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we made the move we made.??<\/p>\n

On if Washington\u2019s contract or injury concerns forced the trade\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: The real driving force was the football decision of having Joe McKnight here and having the returners we have now in Kyle Wilson, Brad [Smith] and Jerricho [Cotchery]. We feel like all of those jobs are going to be covered by a number of players. Long term, it would have been very difficult for us to re-sign him at the end of this year, knowing the other challenges we are going to have. Once we had McKnight on the board, seeing Conner on the board, we just felt like that was the best thing for the team.\u00a0 Knowing that it would be hard for Leon to be here by opening day, to get a fullback of John\u2019s caliber we felt was worth it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said it many times:\u00a0Leon is one of the most fascinating people I have ever met. He is unbelievably inspiring.\u00a0I go back to that rookie minicamp in 2006. He could not catch a punt, he was below average.\u00a0And now he is a Pro Bowl returner, and that\u2019s because of his work ethic. He has an unbelievable work ethic.\u00a0If you look at his lower-body strength, for someone his size, and the number of tackles he breaks, it\u2019s because of his work ethic, and he was an offseason award winner. So you stack up the 80 guys, and he was number one.\u00a0I would never bet against him, but we have to make the hard decisions.\u00a0The hard decision was, long-term, it would have been hard to keep him.<\/p>\n

Now you look at our backs, it\u2019s going to be LaDainian [Tomlinson], Shonn [Greene] and Joe McKnight. We\u2019re excited about those three guys.\u00a0 We think they can do a lot of things together.\u00a0 Like Rex said, even with the addition of Santonio Holmes, we\u2019re going to be a run-first offense.\u00a0 That\u2019s not changing. We felt like once we had Joe, we could move on from Leon.<\/p>\n

??On the difference between this year and 2007, when the Jets made changes at left guard\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: Every situation is a little bit different, and certainly 2007, things didn\u2019t go as well as we had hoped, no question about that. But fast-forward to April 2010, when Rex, myself, Brian Schottenheimer and Bill Callahan looked at it, we think Vlad Ducasse is tremendous.\u00a0We\u2019re excited to get him.\u00a0 Matt Slauson did a lot of good things for us last year.\u00a0A lot of that stuff isn\u2019t headline-grabbing, but what he did for us either in practice or in the weightroom was really encouraging. So we feel like we have two guys there that will compete for a job and be surrounded by two front line players in [Nick] Mangold and D\u2019Brickashaw [Ferguson].<\/p>\n

??On if Faneca slipped in his production over the past two seasons\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: I would say that when you look at Alan last year, we led the league in rushing, we went to the AFC Championship Game and he started every game. He did a lot of great things. We just felt, as Rex said, that when we looked at it carefully for us, what was in the best interest of the Jets and in terms of where we want to go, that line couldn\u2019t stay together forever. Now is the time. Again, the easy decision would have been “Let\u2019s try to get through another year.” But that was not the correct decision in our minds.??<\/p>\n

On if Washington\u2019s agent pushed for a long-term deal or threatened to hold him out of training camp\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: Actually, it\u2019s just the opposite.\u00a0 He had signed his tender, so obviously if a player signs his tender, that changes the dynamics of a holdout.\u00a0 You will have to speak to them but If I were to speculate on that, by signing a tender, he had all intents and purposes to be here.<\/p>\n

??On if the Jets could have retained Washington\u2019s rights for 2011 with another one-year tender\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: Potentially.??<\/p>\n

On why the Jets wouldn\u2019t want to keep Washington for the next two years\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: Once we had McKnight, that is what really finalized the decision for us.<\/p>\n

????On dealing with distractions\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: That\u2019s just not the way the world works. We get paid to deal with distractions.\u00a0It was funny.\u00a0I told the whole organization they were not allowed in until noon on Thursday, because I wanted everyone to get out because I knew it was going to be a long three days.\u00a0Anyway, so I\u2019m playing catch with my son and I\u2019m like, “Daddy\u2019s got to go to work now.” And he\u2019s like, because he\u2019s 3\u00bd, “Can\u2019t you just call your friends from here?” And I\u2019m thinking, “Jacob, these aren\u2019t necessarily my friends [laughing].\u00a0That\u2019s not who we deal with every day.”<\/p>\n

What we deal with is issues and challenges, and there\u2019s going to be issues that come up this year. I already have a pretty good idea what they could be.\u00a0That\u2019s what we get paid to do is deal with issues, and I won\u2019t look at them as distractions. I always say we\u2019ve got to embrace challenges and if you don\u2019t come in every day feeling great about being here and embracing these challenges, you\u2019re in the wrong job.\u00a0We weren\u2019t going to hold a pity party because we were in the “Final Four.” We had definite needs that we assessed for this organization and we started.<\/p>\n

Rex set the tone the Monday night after we lost the AFC Championship Game. We went from him getting Mick Jagger treatment in Indianapolis to being at the baggage claim in Mobile, Ala., and we were off and running.\u00a0 And we set the tone that Monday night that we promised ourselves that we were going to do everything we can to get better for 2010.\u00a0And “Final Four” rules or whatever, we\u2019re going to improve the team.\u00a0 That\u2019s the mindset we have.<\/p>\n

On making a number of moves despite the Final Four rules\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: Yes, we\u2019re going to try and do that every year. But my point is much more fundamental.\u00a0Whatever the rules or the challenges or the distractions we have, we embrace that. I draw energy from that. We\u2019re here to solve problems and again, like with Leon, he did a lot of great things.\u00a0But at the end of the day, economically, role-wise, injury, when you look at all those things together, the decision for us was really predicated that we had Joe McKnight and those gaps could be filled.\u00a0 Managing this team, short-term and long-term, we felt that\u2019s what was in the best interest of the team.<\/p>\n

??On if Washington\u2019s place on the team would\u2019ve been secure if McKnight were unavailable\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: Yes, I don\u2019t like to answer hypotheticals, but I think that\u2019s a fair assumption.<\/p>\n

??On what the team\u2019s chemistry will be like with the new acquisitions\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

RYAN: Well, I felt that was definitely a strength of ours last year.\u00a0I think it\u2019ll be a strength of ours again this year.\u00a0We have great people in our locker room. I think the team knows that we\u2019re driven to win a championship here and that we\u2019re not wanting to be complacent, like “Just stay. Let\u2019s just keep this group” and all that.” We kept the nucleus of our football team. We did lose some excellent football players, but we\u2019ve added a lot of tremendous players. And again, everything we do is for the betterment of our football team.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to stand pat because, you\u2019re exactly right, we have a lot of great people that have left our building, but we\u2019ve got a ton of them still in it.\u00a0I think, again, this will be a strength of our team. They\u2019ve got to understand, and everybody out there, that we are committed to winning a championship here.\u00a0That\u2019s it. Like I said before, it\u2019s the best Jets team I\u2019ve been around, and I\u2019ve only been here two years.\u00a0 But that last one went to the AFC Championship Game. So I\u2019m betting on this team, and I think this team is going to be special. We\u2019re out to prove it, and again, I know there will be criticism. But the beauty of this thing is that we get to prove it on the field.\u00a0That\u2019s what I\u2019m looking forward to the most.??<\/p>\n

On filling in the team\u2019s depth chart\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: Yes, I always go back to the same thing.\u00a0Adding players, it\u2019s a continuum. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll claim one or two guys who got drafted today over Labor Day. That\u2019s not going to grab headlines, but you look at the Jim Leonhards, the Bart Scotts, the Brandon Moores, the Jamaal Westermans up and down our roster, they\u2019re good football players that weren\u2019t drafted.\u00a0 I\u2019m banking on our scouting department that we\u2019re going to sign a couple players here in the next couple of hours that will have a good chance of making our team. We added David Clowney, a good player that was drafted by Green Bay, that does a great job. It\u2019s up to us to keep looking for players, not only tonight, but over the summer.??<\/p>\n

On the status of the defensive line\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

RYAN: [Kris] Jenkins is back, but obviously we don\u2019t have Marques Douglas and we don\u2019t have Howard Green, some of the guys that played. We expect Ropati [Pitoitua] to step up, be a contributor. We\u2019re going to put Vernon Gholston in a position where we think, him backing up Shaun Ellis, is going to give us an opportunity to get more athletic at the position. I think that\u2019s going to be something that we look forward to, and so that\u2019s why I never felt that it was a need to jump up and take a defensive end when our plan all along was to put Vernon in a position where he can be successful.\u00a0I think we did that.\u00a0When we were able to pick up Jason Taylor, that allowed us to make that move.<\/p>\n

??On if Gholston is permanently a DE\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

RYAN: Right. We wanted to go through the draft and see where we were, and then make that decision.<\/p>\n

????On if they ever imagined in Mobile they would make the offseason moves they’ve made\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

TANNENBAUM: I was just hoping that the car rental place was going to stay open [laughing].\u00a0 Opportunities come and you just don\u2019t know when they\u2019re going to come along.\u00a0We just take our sheet and say, “Here are our needs, here\u2019s the trade possibilities here the restricted free agents, here the guys that got cut, and here are the UFAs that we can\u2019t touch, and what\u2019s best for the Jets?” We just methodically move along and I answer every call, every e-mail. I tell the guys you don\u2019t know where the opportunities are going to come. We never leave the office every day until every call and every e-mail, except once in a while maybe from the media [laughing], is returned.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s our charge. That\u2019s our obligation. I love it. I draw everything from it, and hopefully we take those opportunities.\u00a0I think this year they really aligned.\u00a0When [Antonio] Cromartie was available at the combine, we felt, “Hey, we could upgrade the corner position.”\u00a0 When Taylor became available, there\u2019s a pass rusher we wanted to add.\u00a0Kyle Wilson being there at 29, there\u2019s somebody that could play in the slot for us. As they come along, you know, Santonio [Holmes], we just have to be prepared and we feel good about our preparation.<\/p>\n

?On the challenges of having different personalities on the team\u2026??<\/strong><\/p>\n

RYAN: Well, the great thing is, even the new guys that we added, they wanted to be Jets. They wanted to come in here. They wanted to be part of something that I think everybody realizes, “Hey, look, we are a team that\u2019s going forward.\u00a0We are a team that the expectations are set extremely high.” Any competitor would want to be in that situation.\u00a0So, they\u2019re coming in.\u00a0Cromartie\u2019s in here and he\u2019s wowing everybody with his athleticism and working his whatever off. But really, that\u2019s what\u2019s exciting.\u00a0You see LT working every day and all that.\u00a0They want to be part of this. We\u2019re going to get this team close.<\/p>\n

Now, did we take a hit by losing some outstanding football players and outstanding men?\u00a0Absolutely we did. But we\u2019re bringing in some excellent people as well. I know that when you look at it on paper, we brought in two former NFL Man of the Year Award winners, things like that.\u00a0We\u2019ve got some special people in here. We bring in Santonio Holmes, an outstanding young man. You guys met him. Has he had some problems and all that?\u00a0Absolutely. So have I.\u00a0So has probably everybody in this room.\u00a0Everybody\u2019s had issues.<\/p>\n

But I think when you look at it, we\u2019re all in there with the same thing in mind, and that\u2019s to win a championship. Everybody wants the same thing, and that\u2019s to win.\u00a0 We\u2019re about being a team and I think everybody realizes that.??<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy NYJets.com Transcript of Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum and head coach Rex Ryan’s post draft news conference Saturday afternoon: ??TANNENBAUM: To just wrap up all the transactions for today, we drafted Joe McKnight and also John Conner.\u00a0 We traded Leon Washington to Seattle and released Alan Faneca.\u00a0Just looking at all these moves, in part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,213],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-nfl-draft","7":"category-jet-news"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-15V","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4860,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4211\/revisions\/4860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}