He Comes from the Land of Ice and Snow
Nick Mangold was the end result of the three team John Abraham trade involving the Jets, Broncos and Falcons. So with Atlanta up against New York today, Dave Hutchinson of the Star-Ledger looks back at how Nick Mangold got to New York in the first place, in large part due to Terry Bradway’s urgings.
It was a bit of an unconventional move. Just a few hours earlier, the Jets had taken left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson fourth overall and there was a sentiment against taking another offensive lineman in the first round. Other options – Memphis running back DeAngelo Williams and UCLA tight end Mercedes Lewis – were still on the board and being discussed by the Jets’ decision-makers.
But Bradway, armed with impressive game tape from Mangold’s days as a Buckeye and a stellar Senior Bowl week showing, was convinced Mangold was their guy and was ready to stake his reputation on it.
“Center is an underrated position until you don’t have one,” said Bradway, who knew the Jets had parted ways with veteran Pro Bowl center Kevin Mawae after the 2005 season and only had free agent Norm Katnik left at that position. “A lot of people take the position for granted. I was just concerned because we didn’t have a legitimate center and all the good teams I’ve been associated with had one.
“We had Mawae here for all those years. In Kansas City, we had Tim Grunhard. With the Gaints, we had Bart Oates. I felt strongly it was an area we had to address. I didn’t want us to get stuck without a center.”
Turns out, the dominoes fell into place for the Jets, who opted not to trade up. Carolina took Williams at 27, Lewis went to Jacksonville at 28 and the Jets selected Mangold at 29.
Hutch goes on to note that while Center is never a very popular first round pick of late, the NFL is known for it’s copycat strategies, and there were two taken in last April’s probably because Mangold has legitimized doing so. Between Bradway, JoJo Wooden and Mike Tannenbaum, the Jets have a pretty solid front office when it comes to the draft. While Bradway wasn’t the best GM, he’s best as a talent evaluator. Tannenbaum has learned a lot about the soft sciences of scouting, but he’s best at taking the talent and matching it with value, something that Bradway was never very good at doing.
I don’t know how long the Jets will keep this triumverate in place, but between home run picks like D’Brickashaw, Mangold, Revis and Harris they’ve done a great job of building talented yet grounded players.
As a nod to Mangold, here’s a song in honor of his striking viking appearance.
13 Responses to He Comes from the Land of Ice and Snow
-
Mike Tannenbaum is a cap specialist. But he also great talent evaluators around him.
I don’t understand how so many solid players and high priced players fit under the cap.
Sanchez, Jones, Edwards, Cotchery, Mangold, D’Brick, Faneca, Ellis, Pace, Jenkins, Scott, Revis, Sheppard, Rhodes, Gholston, Keller.All of those are big time players or 1st round picks so they must have a big salary.
-
Green Lantern says:
I Love The Mangold Pick. Absolutely Love It but imagine if we got Deangelo Williams….
-
Dylan says:
Ryan and Turner are starting
-
Give Leon The Damn Ball says:
imagine if we got deangelo williams? maybe we would have the best run offense in the nfl..oh wait we already do!
mangold is a stud..he’ll be a jet for a long time
-
Yea we could have the number 1 Rushing Offense and Possibly Number 1 in something else because we weren’t using Picks trying to get a Running Back..
-
WOJF says:
When they find a starter later than round two I will call them a solid front office that knows something about value.
Really bad timing for this debate, but could not help myself.
-
In fact, they should not even show up on day two, just let the computer make the picks like you can in fantasy football.
-
Lando X says:
Man Gold… great pick, will be a pro bowl caliber player for years to come. Better stay a Jet!
-
Bent says: Wise – Cotchery, Moore, DeVito, Pouha, Rhodes, Smith all started the last game and were picked up later than round two.
That’s 6 guys. 7 were picked in round 1/2 and 9 were brought in externally.
Not to mention multiple contributors off the bench.
I’m sure that compares favorable with other teams around the league.
-
jon in bk says:
Green Lantern & WOJF-
Come on, guys. 1st of all, without Mangold there’s no saying that they would have a good running game w/ 20 more backs. And it’s not like they’ve used up a ton of picks on trying to find a back.
Then the argument that they need to get starters past the 2nd round? Why? Isn’t is possible that their strategy of aggresively trading up for players they “know” are gonna be great is a viable one? They’ve been able to plug holes w/ UDFAs and free agency, and it’s not like they’ve run into cap problems b/c of this strategy.
People who complain about the Jets late-round success are like those who say they just need to get an “Ed Reed-type” safety. Sure, it would be nice, but that doesn’t mean it’s a resaonable expectation. If you just objectively look at the overall talent compiled by this FO, i don’t know how you don’t come away impressed.
-
nyckage says:
Bent
But weren’t Moore, Rhodes and Cotchery drafted by Bradway, Isn’t this whole debate more about Mike T. ?
This is what I’ve been saying all this time, while some of you have been calling for Mike T.’s head. HE got us great talent, it’s all a matter of coaching and leadership, we have the talent.
And you kinda forgot LW, and even though Brad Smith, Lowery, and Stuckey aren’t great, but they were good value.