02/21 — Before New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum left for Indianapolis and the NFL Combine, we dropped by his office for a quick Q&A. Mr. T, now in his 12th season with the Green & White and third as the GM, has a large Jets contingent at the RCA Dome as more than 300 top college prospects make their respective cases during interviews, physicals and workouts.      

How much emphasis do you place on the combine?

Tannenbaum: The combine is another element in NFL teams' evaluation of college talent each year and we try to maximize our time to take full advantage of this opportunity. We'll explore all avenues to improve this football team and this is just one part of that process.

What can you learn about a player in the allotted interview time?

Tannenbaum: You can gauge a player's resiliency, his work ethic and his competitiveness. There is a lot of information to digest in a short period of time.

What’s your philosophy on building a team?

Tannenbaum: We want to build the team through the draft and we have selected players the last two seasons that have been productive and received significant playing time.

The Jets have fared very well in each of the past two drafts. Most recently, CB Darrelle Revis and LB David Harris both were rookie standouts. What does these successes say about your staff?

Tannenbaum: Joey Clinkscales, our director of college scouting, and his staff do a great job of researching and evaluating the talent, and we've been able to elevate the level of competition on the team in each season.