Mike Tannenbaum on Pete Kendall Contract Dispute
Credit Mike Tannehnbaum for noting that he’s learned some life lessons from the Kendall episode …
“I’ve personally learned from that experience and tried not to let small things become big things and try to be more proactive than reactive. With that said, I don’t know if we had done anything differently if that situation would have worked itself out any differently than it did. Maybe it could have, but maybe it wouldn’t have.
“Obviously, it’s unfortunate how public it became. I don’t think that’s good for him or the team. It’s very similar to how a lot of the things happened in the 2007 season. It’s something that I want to learn from and grow from, and make sure that although it was a disappointing experience it’s something we at least learn from what had happened. … I’m not so sure if we had done anything differently if that would have changed the outcome of it.”
Yes it is unfortunate how public it became, partly I’m guessing because it made him look really … really bad. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Tannenbaum is the right executive for this team, and I understand his reasons for not budging, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like it.
I don’t mind him saying that the outcome might not have changed, but he can’t look back at the 2007 season and think that this staredown wasn’t one of the factors that contributed to a 4-12 regular season record and Chad getting injured in the team’s first game.
17 Responses to Mike Tannenbaum on Pete Kendall Contract Dispute
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Nikolas says:
Basset I agree with your comment. However, I am not yet willing to accept him as the “right” man. I want to see more positive things and fewer mistakes. He has done some good things but not enough to qualify him. For me after the 2007 mess the jury is still out.
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TOON2388 says:
Nikolas – what available football person would you rather see as GM than MT?
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muff says:
as long as MT is the GM, i’ll continue to give him credit for great drafts. the free agency additions have lacked, but when thats said it also needs to be noted that the team was short on cap $$$$ and had many needs.
lets see what happerns this year before jumping to conclusions and grading him as a F when it should actually be incomplete
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Toon….For your information I was a Tannenbaum supporter, till the moment when he started messing things up with Pete Kendall and the Revis negotiations. I had a bad feeling, I did not like their unprofessionalism and arrogance, I thought it was bad for the team and at the end I was not proven wrong. If it was up to me I would have hired the guy that went to the …Dolphins, but I understand that this is not how business are done.
Neverthless, I do not think that every move he has made was a bad one, he did have a good draft, he realizes the value of Chad, Vilma, Coles and I am willing to give him time… but I am not willing – and I assume from your question that you do- to give him a blank check.
We did have the same argument before the season started, and you were one of those who supported him blindly. Good for you… but eh… we may not have the same vision but we do share the same reality, a 4-12 season. -
mbi says:
Tangini needs to go out and make some solid FA moves so there isnt so much pressure to have a great draft. I give Tannenbaum credit for solid moves such as the trade for TJ and drafting two good prospects, however i was really turned off by some of the signings or tryouts or whatever that was were he was basically bringing guys like Andre Wadsworth off the street for fill in the defense. I am hoping for an offseason where the offensive line and possibly WR are addressed via FA and the defense is addressed in the draft.
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The Ed(itor) says:
In the long term, the JETS will be much better off without trouble maker Pete Kendall. Let’s see how long it takes for him to wear out his welcome in DC.
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Editor …I bet you are no member of ACLU, but keep in mind that we are living in the 21st Century and players do have rights. Even animals…. have surrogate rights, so for Pete Kendall to look for the rights of the players was an honorable act and responsibility (no trouble making) irrespective of inconveniencies.
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in every working place each employee brings a different personality or different characteristics to the table.
for instance if any one who visits this link works in an office with more than a few other staff members, i’m sure you found;
* the cool guy
* the hot chick
* the geek
* the kiss ass
* the know it all
* the rebeland so on. it nevers fails. my take on this situation was the kendall was the clear rebel and he had to go. any good mananager for sees problems and eliminates them. guys like kendall have pull with young players and vets becasue he prob fell into the cool guy catagory as well. so contamination of the young minds is always an issue. look no further than the KNICKS.
nickolas, ask yourself this question. if your top dog at work, do you want a guy with some pull, planting a bad seed in the heads of some of the poeple that your company has heavily invested?
the problem Tanninbaum had is it came to stick him becasue there was we got zero production from that position and the spotlight was on it. but lets not sit here and crown jason kendall an all pro either. he got the job done, but he wasn’t the difference in the jets going to the playoffs or sitting home.
the move had to be made. fix it this year and all is well and forgotten
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i’m sorry pete kendall. jason kendall sucks too.
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redd5 says:
it seems like he’s saying that kendall wanted out of ny, or am I reading that wrong? He’s basically saying that even if the Jets gave Kendall the $1mil, he wouldn’t have been happy?
The jets obviously overestimated the backup talent on the Offensive line, which makes me wonder how well they can evaluate talent on the offensive line. I mean, is there any way you can trade Kendall if you know the backup can’t hack it? SO they must have thought clarke could do the job..wrong!
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Nikolas – my question was not meant to be confrontational. I am not 100% sold that the Tannenbaum can make this organization a super bowl contender every year for an 8-12 year period. I do not believe in giving ANYONE blank checks – we did that with Parcells and we paid the price for it after only getting as far as the semi-finals. I think that Tanny needs 5 years in order to be properly judged.
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jetsgrumbler says:
Tangini have showed similar arrogance and inability to evaluate talent on the D-line. Hopefully, they can learn from this. Perhaps they think that they have some kind of special coaching technique that can turn KVO and K.Coleman into Richard Seymour, but the results have proved otherwise.
For what it’s worth, I’m down in DC, and I haven’t heard a peep all year about Pete Kendall being a problem or “the rebel.” I also haven’t heard any rumors about Kevin Mawae being a trouble maker in Tenn.
I want to give Tangini the benefit of the doubt, but they make it hard. In any event, I won’t make a final judgment after 2 yrs, but things don’t look good.
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DBJet12 says:
Pete Kendall is a 34-year old guard. Successful NFL franchises – such as the vaunted Patriots – do not renegotiate contracts with aging players in midstream. It’s just bad business. How many guys would have been lined up outside Tannenbaum’s office looking to do the same thing if they’d have caved on Kendall?
Tannenbaum says he wishes he had done things differently, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he wishes he’d have given Kendall the money. He might mean that he might have dumped him earlier, for all we know. Or that he should have drafted an OG, or signed an FA, when he realized that Kendall was going to be a problem (which I think they knew about in what, April or May?). Maybe he just wishes that they’d taken a softer line with Kendall when he showed up at camp causing problems, and they didn’t have any good alternatives on the roster.
Whatever. The bottom line is that – and this seems to have been lost in all this – Kendall wasn’t an impact player, or anything close to it! He’s undersized, has been increasingly injury prone, and was no threat to make the Pro Bowl. Yes, his absence hurt the Jets, there’s no question, but the dropoff from Pete Kendall to Adrien Clarke or Will Montgomery is not what caused the Jets to go from 10 to 4 wins. The problems were much more widespread than that. Tannenbaum and Mangini have a lot of work to do, there’s no question, but I’m frankly exasperated with this notion that the loss of Pete Kendall is what caused the Jets collapse this season, or that Tannenbaum was wrong not to renegotiate his deal.
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Harlan Lachman says:
The real problem is being ignored by the posts above. Pete Kendall should not have been given more money. He and his agent were going to escalate until he got more money so there was no avoiding the situation.
But not giving more money should have applied to Moore too. I am glad PK was traded. We got a steal of a 4th next year. But I wish we could have traded Clement, Moore and all the LG because they all stunk! Unless he transforms himself, Brick ain’t no bargain either.
The problem was not a failure to not give Kendall more. The real problem was that Tangini went into the season with an inept OL at three or four positions.
If Tangini really cannot evaluate OL talent, and right now we have little evidence that they can (i.e., Brick offsets the judgement that got us Mangold), we have bigger problems than FA or the draft can solve.
I sure hope that is not the case — but all the evidence points to that conclusion.
harlan
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Freeman24 says:
One factor to consider in evaluating Tangini and their ability to bring in the right free agents (lets all remember this is a package deal when it comes to talent evaluations like NE, T was a number cruncher just a few short years ago) is the fact that last year’s crop of free agents blew. The additional cap space added by the league made it even easier to suck it up and pay that solid vet. Not to mention it took a “T” miracle to get us out of the cap hell he inherited the year before from Bradway. Have we forgotten how they played hardball with Chad from day 1 to get his huge contract down but still kept him? When considering the Dyson signing, do we make the playoffs without him in year 1 ? No.
On the flip side they would redo the Kendall situation in a heartbeat because they did whiff on Adrien Clarke big time (ain’t no hiding from that). A bad call on sticking with Anthony Clement too compounded the mistake.
When you combine the surprising success of the team in year 1 and the dearth of quality FAs available last year (Adelius Thomas not withstanding) you can live with the decision to tweak the roster, develop around the young quality players on the team (a lot of which they drafted in their short time here) and set up a favorable cap situation for this offseason. They are bringing in the right kind of players (please see the Knicks) and either drafted or developed some playmakers along the way (Harris, Revis, Cotchery, Washington, Smith?)
I’m still supporting this tandem 100% and feeling good about it. We knew they’d make a couple of mistakes along the way, now lets see if they make the same mistakes twice.
That being said their work is cut out for them in this make or break off season. They need to spend on quality, experienced veterans who can step in right away and there are players to be had that we need (especially Faneca).
Tangini’s Top 10 Things to Do This Off-season:
10. Resign Victor Hobson to a reasonable contract, the defense played solid down the stretch. Continuity is good, he could have a bounce back year.
9. Re-do Kerry Rhode’s deal, once Elam/Smith solidified the other Safety position, he started to be a force again. Its Rhodes, Revis, Harris to build the future of this defense around.
8. Spend all off-season teaching Vilma how to play Barton or Hobson’s position (your choice Tangini), let him compete for a starting job and pray he wins it. His trade value will be low off injury, move him next year if it doesn’t work out.
7.Trade D Rob for a 2nd or high 3rd rounder, yes a 2nd or 3rd rounder! He’s durable despite the knees, he’s a team first guy and most importantly could step in as a full time, above avg. DT in a 4-3.
6. Re-sign Laverneous to an extension, he can be the captain and leader of the team, if happy. He deserves the comparison to Martin on toughness, plus it will help the cap this year but if and only if he understands the inevitable, Clemens will be his QB this year.
5. Draft a 2nd or 3rd rd Off. Lineman with the intention of playing him right away.
4. Trade Pennington for at least a 2nd rounder (I love him, I really do but he has to go, as classy as he is it will thwart Clemen’s development if it’s a divided locker room, out of sight out of mind). We’ll never get past NE with his arm. Sign Josh McCown (Oak) to back up Clemens.
3. Draft an impact pass rusher with the 1st round pick.
2. Spend money on a real 3-4 Nose Tackle to start over Pouha
1. Spend money on at least 1 Top Tier Off. Lineman Free Agent and a quality backup Off. LinemanPS. If Rex Ryan doesn’t get a head spot hire him in a heartbeat. Jet fans should watch this closely and pray he gets overlooked.
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the whole “we don’t renegotiate contracts” is bs. They gave brandon moore a new contract, and they also are probably going to give coles a new contract. Plain and simple, the jets did not treat Kendall with any respect, and I’d be pissed if my employer did the same thing to me. Putting him in the rookie dorm was BUSH league, and then they didn’t have him working with the first team offense, had him working at center, and the whole jacob bender fiasco. the entire thing was a joke, and that makes the whole organization look childish.
But you’re right, the worse offense, was not having an alternative to Kendall ready after they traded him. its not like Pete was a probowler, and he is in his mid30s, but they made it much worse by not having anyone behind him.
I still like Tannenbaum, and Mangini, so I’m willing to let them slide on that. With the schedule they had in 2007 it was going to be very hard to repeat a 10-6 year. I think we’ll see good things from the Jets in 2008, If we can get some FA linemen in green and white!!
“I’m not so sure if we had done anything differently if that would have changed the outcome of it.”
My interpretation of that is that it may not really have been about the money, just like it wasn’t in Seattle or Arizona.