A ‘mini-draft’
Tannenbaum to examine others’ castoffs
PHILADELPHIA — Mike Tannenbaum figures he won’t sleep tonight.
The Jets general manager will sit in an office with his lieutenants staring at a wall full of names, figuring out who should make up the bottom of the Jets roster. Hours after the Jets decide on the final cuts from their own team, Tannenbaum and Co. conduct what he calls a “minidraft.”
“Our joke is we labor on Labor Day around here,” Tannenbaum said yesterday before the Jets lost 2810 to the Eagles to finish their preseason with an 04 record.
The Jets have been preparing for this weekend for weeks. They dispatched their scouts after the first week of training camp to preseason games across the league. The scouting staff then compiled reports on players, blending what they have seen of them during regularseason, postseason and preseason NFL games and their reports from before those players were drafted. As of yesterday, the Jets had reports done on 608 players, but Tannenbaum said he expected a few more to be finished today.
Roster cuts must be submitted to the league office by 9 tonight. Shortly after, the Jets will receive the personnel report from the NFL and see who teams let go.
Tannenbaum will gather with assistant general manager Scott Cohen, director of pro personnel Brendan Prophett and assistant director of player personnel JoJo Wooden. They will huddle in an upstairs meeting room at the team’s Florham Park headquarters. They will compile something similar to a draft board on the wall, ranking the available players at positions they have needs at.
The group will consult with their college scouts over the phone and figure out how the available players measure up against the final few guys on their own roster.
“You don’t know who’s going to be available,” Tannenbaum said. “It’s very similar [to the college draft] in that regard. If we’re looking for posi tion ‘X’ we’ll have five players at that position, knowing that four of the five might make other teams.”
The meeting can last into the wee hours of the next day. After the Jets target the players they want, they must submit the claims by noon tomorrow. The waiver claim order is the same as April’s draft, so the Jets are 16th. The team can prioritize the claims, so if they claim three players
at one posi tion, they can say if the first player on their list is awarded to them, they are no longer interested in the other two.
Last year, the Jets entered seven waiver claims and were awarded four players. Tannenbaum said there is a strategy involved in prioritizing the players and trying to guess what other teams might do.
“It’s really fun and it’s collaborative because I feel like it’s almost a continuation of the draft where the college draft reports are the foundation for their first pro personnel reports,” Tannenbaum said.
The players the Jets pick up are not going to register on even the most diehard fan’s radar. They likely will provide roster depth this season in hopes that they can be productive players in the future. Tannenbaum points to wide receiver Patrick Turner as an example. Turner originally was claimed off waivers by the Jets on cutdown weekend in 2010 from the Dolphins.
“We try to, when we can, attack a need,” Tannenbaum said. “Sometimes it’s depth. Patrick Turner is maybe not a frontline guy, but we expect Patrick to significantly help us this year. There’s definitely a buzz in the office [tonight].”
Last year, the Jets picked up Colin Baxter, Mardy Gilyard, Kevin O’Connell and Andrew Sendejo off waivers. Only O’Connell lasted the season. They also traded for Caleb Schlauderaff, who stuck. These meetings also form the foundation of the team’s fall scouting for the Jets to know who they might target off other team’s practice squads. They liked Austin Howard at this time last year, but did not sign him until November off the Ravens’ practice squad. Now, he’s the starting right tackle.
“We’re always looking for things,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. ”