ADJUST & TRUST
Mangold getting used to new LT Clady
THE call came a few weeks before the public knew that after 10 years in the NFL, Jets left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson was retiring. They were drafted the same year, Ferguson with the No. 4 overall pick in 2006 out of Virginia and Nick Mangold with the 29th pick in the same first round out of Ohio State. Together they were as reliable as furniture, but now Ferguson was calling to tell his longtime teammate and friend he was done playing football.
“I think I took it harder than he did,” Mangold told The Post this week.
Now the Jets seven-time Pro Bowl center begins his first season without Ferguson, a process that has proven bittersweet during the first two weeks of training camp.
“It’s different,” Mangold said this week. “But it was different from the moment he called me and said he was retiring. When you’ve been together with a guy for 10 years and he leaves, things are going to be different.”
Mangold admits he was surprised when Ferguson informed him he was the quitting. The two hadn’t discussed it.
“But it made it easier for me talking to him because he was at such peace with his decision,” Mangold said. “It was, ‘I’m retiring. I’m done and I’m moving on.’ He was good with it.”
Now Mangold is working with a new left tackle, Ryan Clady, a nine-year veteran the Jets acquired from the Broncos for a fifth-round pick. The best NFL centers know what their teammates are thinking without having to communicate with them. Mangold is working on building that bond with Clady, who missed Denver’s Super Bowl season with an ACL tear.
“It was comforting having Brick for 10 years,” Mangold said. “We never had to communicate football-wise. We just knew. We didn’t have to talk things through. I didn’t have to look at something to read his perspective because I already knew his perspective. Since Ryan came in here, it’s actually been neat this late in my career having to relearn a perspective of a new guy at left tackle. We’ve gone through the spring and now since we’re hitting, we’re starting to get a feel of what we can do together.”
Building the kind of chemistry Mangold enjoyed with Ferguson won’t be accomplished overnight. But Mangold is trying to speed the process by spending quality time on and off the field with the new acquisition.
“When a new guy comes in, you start working with him not only during football, but outside football, too,” Mangold said. “I believe if you know a guy off the field, that’s only going to make you fight that much harder because you’re personally invested in what that guy’s got going on.”
Mangold, 32, said he has no plans to retire “until they kick me out.” But he feels the wear and tear on his body. Soaking in cold tubs, wearing recovery boots, stretching and getting as much sleep as possible have become a daily routine.
“You always feel your best the day before training camp starts,” he said, “and it’s a slow grind to get back to that.”
Ferguson played in every game during his 10 seasons, making 167 consecutive starts including playoffs. He had also publicly expressed his concerns about the league’s stance on concussions, writing a column on SI.com saying he felt “betrayed” when the league initially downplayed the long-term effects of concussions.
Mangold, who has made 156 regular-season starts, bangs helmets on just about every snap. For now, he is not overly concerned about his long-term health.
“I think I’ve been smart over the years of understanding head injuries and what goes along with that,” he said. “It’s one of those things where there’s danger in every job. This is the danger that we have. It’s one of those things where you hope it doesn’t happen and if it happens you deal with it.”
Right now, Mangold is dealing with life without Ferguson.