Transcript: Mike Tannenbaum 3/5/10
Opening statement…
Hi everybody. I appreciate you joining us here today. Just a quick opening statement and then I’ll be happy to answer any questions. We did officially release Thomas Jones today and I just wanted to start it off by thanking Thomas for everything he’s done for the organization both on and off the field. We also released Donald Strickland and we’ve traded for Antonio Cromartie with the San Diego Chargers. That’s what we’ve done so far over the past few days.
On Antonio Cromartie…
When we make a decision like this, we do a lot of research. We have a lot of people in this building that we believe strongly in like Steve Yarnell (Vice President, Security) and Dave Szott (Director, Player Development) and obviously, our coaching staff. We realize that for Antonio to be available, someone of his talent and his age at his position, there were some inconsistencies that may have happened out there. San Diego does a great job. Without those issues out there, maybe he would not have been available. When we weighed the decision, we felt the risk was reasonable based on the fact that he has been productive.
We’re looking forward to him having a fresh start here with us and we’re going to work with Antonio collaboratively to make sure we can do everything we can organizationally to give him the best chance to be successful. We’re looking forward to working together in that partnership. We appreciate the fact that the last few years may not have been as productive as he has been, but Rex (Ryan) is very excited about him. I’m very excited about him. We’re looking forward to a fresh start and him being in our offseason program working with Mike Pettine (Defensive Coordinator) and Dennis Thurman (Defensive Backs coach) every day and moving forward.
On Cromartie’s off the field issues… We looked at that and we understand some of the issues that he has, but we feel really good about the organizational resources we have to help him and give him the best chance to be successful. There is going to be some work involved on Antonio’s part and on our part working with him, but we felt the risk was reasonable given the price we had to pay. We really think he has a lot of great years ahead of him. We have some work to do, but that’s really what the offseason program is for. We have great people and great resources here that will hopefully make him successful.
On how the trade for Cromartie came together…
We talked to San Diego a little bit out in Indianapolis and we have all the respect in the world for Coach (Norv) Turner and A.J. Smith. They do a great job. Obviously, they’re a perennial playoff team. We just went back and forth with some ideas and concepts. Late last night things really started to heat up and we were able to make it official today. Like all trades we make, we think there’s value in it on both sides. I assume they’re happy because they did it and we’re happy as well.
On if being in a contract year will help Cromartie be a model citizen…
Well, certainly players in contract years, that always helps. In my experience with some of the players we’ve had here, fresh starts often times do people well. I think it’s more of how Rex and I feel about the organization relative to the resources that Woody (Johnson) provides us every day. Because of that, we think we can create an environment where Antonio can really thrive here.
On Cromartie’s tackling…
Antonio’s going to be on here in a few minutes and I think you can ask him what he thinks of his tackling. I know what he’s going to say, which is that he can tackle and he’s a been productive tackler in the past. We’re going to hopefully give him a lot of attention to it in the offseason and a chance where he can be a good tackler on a consistent basis. Obviously, that one play (a missed tackle on Shonn Greene in the AFC Divisional playoffs) has a tremendous amount of notoriety, but let’s face it, Shonn Greene broke a lot of tackles. That happened to be a pretty significant play. There have been some inconsistencies with tackling. There’s no question about it. That’s something we’ve talked a lot about as a staff. Again, we think our coaching staff can hopefully get him to a point where we’re getting a consistent level of performance, but there are plenty of examples where he does do a good job of tackling. We acknowledge that he needs to be more consistent, but we think it’s certainly in his game and we look forward to that getting better.
On Leon Washington’s agent saying there was a 50/50 chance that Washington would return to the Jets…
You would have to ask Alvin (Keels) that. I speak to him a lot, but I’m not really sure what that means. What I can tell you is we did put the tender on Leon. We hope to have him back. He’s earned the right as a restricted free agent to go out there and we’ll see what happens. As I said many times on and off the record, I’ll never bet against Leon. He’s a tireless worker, a great competitor, a great teammate. He did a lot of things in getting Shonn and TJ (Thomas Jones) and T. Rich (Tony Richardson) prepared going down the stretch in preparing scouting reports. He loves football. I’m one of his biggest fans and we’ll see what happens in the restricted period. It started today.
On the tandem of Darrelle Revis and Cromartie in the secondary…
We also like Dwight Lowery a lot, Drew Coleman and Marquice Cole. It’s funny Ozzie Newsome, as you guys know I respect as much as anybody in the League, he basically said that he was shipping Rex Ryan up the Atlantic seaboard with a sign that said, “Get corners.” Ozzie said you’re going to hire a really good coach and all he wants is corners. The ink wasn’t dry on this trade and Rex wanted to know who the next corner was we were going to get. That’s even with the feeling on Dwight Lowery. Being with Rex a year, I frequently think about what Ozzie told me. Rex loves corners. We feel like we’ve improved the position, but by no means are we satisfied there. The more corners we have as far as Rex can see, that’s good.
On if they are still actively looking at cornerbacks…
Yes. At some point between now and opening day in September, the depth at corner is something we’ll constantly look at. One of the fun parts about my job is there are opportunities all the time. Last year we were able to add Ben Hartsock late in August and Braylon Edwards in September. You don’t know when opportunities will come along. Depth at corner is something that is paramount to Rex and the way him and Mike Pettine want to play defense, so that is something we’ll always try to add to.
On if he needed to be convinced that Cromartie would be a good fit with the Jets…
Sure. We all did. We thought the risk was reasonable and we did a lot of research on Antonio. We really feel he has a great career ahead of himself here. It’s the environment of the organization here and working with him collaboratively to do whatever we need to give him a chance to be successful. Everyone can see the talent this guy has. Starting with him and Darrelle and Dwight Lowery and Drew Coleman, we feel that’s a good group of corners to try and get to where we want to go. There are a lot of good receivers in our division and our conference. That was a position we just felt we had to address. It made perfect sense before, but I really believe in it, the more we can address before the draft the better the draft we can have. I think there was a strong possibility if we hadn’t made this trade that we very well could have been looking at a corner at 29 and you never really want to go into the draft feeling like this is a position you have to get at this pick. The ancillary value of this trade allows us to have as much flexibility in the draft as possible. Going back to the last few years, we have done the best work in the draft room when we’ve gone in there and said, “Whatever happens, happens. We can trade up. We can trade back. We’re going to take the best football player at 29.”
On if Cromartie said anything to him specifically to make him feel comfortable with the trade…
I would just say, without getting too specific, the vision that Rex and Mike have and the way we’re going to use him scheme-wise we think is a really good fit. Relative to some of the issues off the field, we did a lot of research on that. None of us are perfect and we understand there are some things we need to get resolved. We felt the problems were fixable and what he had done in college, the success he had in San Diego, albeit not on a regular basis, he’s had very productive seasons in the NFL. We felt we could work with him to get back to that level. It’s both on the field and off the field, but we understand going into this that there’s work to be done, but we’re embracing that challenge. We’re really looking forward to him being productive for us.
On if he personally spoke to Cromartie…
Rex spoke to Antonio and I spoke to a couple of other people around the situation. Again, it was really more of the organizational research that we did. We took all of those pieces and put it together.
On Cromartie playing better in man-to-man coverage…
I think that’s certainly a piece of it. When you make a trade of this magnitude, you look at all the different factors and then say, ‘Can this guy be productive consistently, scheme, off the field?” All those issues come in to it. We felt that when we looked at all the things that go into the decision, we felt that the cost was very reasonable given the expectations we have for the player and how good of a fit we think it is.
On what work Cromartie needs to do this offseason…
He’ll be here for the offseason program and then there are just some loose ends that he needs to tie up on his end that he’ll tell you more about. We expect him to be here in the offseason program. Once those loose ends are tied up, he should be here and should be able to hit the ground running.
On if Kerry Rhodes will stay on the team…
We expect Kerry to be here, unless something changes. We expect Kerry to be here for the offseason program and to be with us next year and beyond.
On if he expects anything to change with Rhodes…
No, I don’t, but in this business, you see some of the players get let go at the end of the day. Going back to my previous answer, did I think we’d add Ben Hartsock or Braylon Edwards during the season? No. We do expect Kerry here. We expect him to be here for the offseason program.
On if Cromartie has a relationship with Leon Washington….
I believe they do have a relationship. I’m not sure if those two have spoken today. I know a couple of our other players have spoken to Antonio, but I don’t know if Leon has spoken to him yet.
On if the players in the locker room will help Cromartie…
No question about it. I think we have a locker room full of high quality players and people. I think we have a really good environment. Rex says, “The number one job description around here is you have to love football.” When we talk about players, it really starts with that. I think passionate football players create an environment of wanting to lift more and run more and do more to be successful. Our offseason program is a couple of weeks away and every day there are up to a dozen guys that are here just because they want to be here to get better. Rex, Woody and I work really hard to try and create that environment.
On the decision to release Thomas Jones…
That was a really hard decision for Rex, Woody and myself. Ultimately, I’m accountable for any football decisions. It was a hard decision, but we’ll always make the decision that we think is in the best interest of the team. We take all factors into it. We just felt that at this time, it was in the best interest of the team to move on. With that said, on a personal level, it was hard because I respect Thomas so much. You just think of all the success he’s had and everything he’s done as a leader for this team, the weight lifting groups and all the things he’s done. He’s made a tremendous impact in the years he was with us for three seasons. Sometimes in this business, the hard decisions aren’t always easy. We just felt like it was the best decision for us.
On why releasing Jones was the best decision for the team…
We factored all the things that go into it from skill to budget, even though there’s not a salary cap this year. You still have to make what you think are judgment calls for your roster. We just felt at the end of the day that was in our best interest, but it was still a very difficult decision to make.
On if they need to fill Jones role with another veteran or in the draft…
I just look at is a continuum of opportunities. Do I see us adding another player at the running back position? I think that’s well within reason at some point. It could be within the next 24 hours or it could be over Labor Day. It just depends on when we think there’s the right opportunity. I think that’s something within reason for us. With that said, Chauncey Washington, although he doesn’t have a great reputation right now or not a lot is known about him, he’ll have a chance. He’s a good special teams player. He’s played in the kicking game. Mark Sanchez spoke really highly of him. The ultimate test to see if he was a good pass blocker was to just ask Sanchez. That’s the guy he’s protecting. Mark really felt good about him. Obviously, he’s not a household name, but I think Chauncey Washington has a good chance at making our roster. If and when we can, we’ll look at the running back position.
On if there is a scenario where they could bring Jones back…
Yes, there is certainly a scenario where we would evaluate that. Right now, he’s looking at other opportunities, which we anticipated. We’re doing the same. In our business, I would never rule anything out. Right now, I know he’s looking at other opportunities.
On the terms he and Jones left on…
I had a couple of conversations with Thomas going down the stretch and I spoke to Drew Rosenhaus three to four times a day over the last three weeks. As far as I know and as far as I’m concerned, it was amicable. You should ask Thomas about his feelings. In terms of respect and admiration, I put Thomas up on a very short list of guys that’s ever been through our program. Not just because of what he did on the field, but the leadership he brought and the passion he played with. In my view of the world, it was amicable, I couldn’t speak for Thomas.
4 Responses to Transcript: Mike Tannenbaum 3/5/10
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Tom in Raleigh says:
It’s amazing to think that just a year or two ago, so many of us were calling for this guys head.
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Dave says:
I can’t think of any Jets fans with any sense of understanding that could have been calling for this guy’s head.
Trader Mike, Rex & Woody: a triumvirate Front Office that will be heralded in years to come as probably the second best the Jets have ever had in its history. Only a championship would vault them ahead of Weeb and Werblin.