06/05 — The first third of head coach Eric Mangini's news conference between minicamp practices today was predictably filled by questions about TE Chris Baker, who ended the morning practice with comments to a throng of reporters about his unhappiness over his current contract situation.

Mangini answered the questions similarly, by looking at the Jets' progress as a team.

"You know, I'm an inherently positive guy," the coach said. "I think it's part of the business, nothing unique to us. It's nothing that hasn't been experienced by everybody in the room, whether it's players or coaches. It's the business side. Everybody understands that. We're focused on the football side and getting that straightened out."

I'll have more on the Baker situation in a news story later this afternoon. But after the C-Bake part of the interview, reporters moved onto other areas, and Mangini had a number of interesting observations.

WR David Clowney — Mangini was asked which player or players have been standing out during the OTA period that is culminating with this minicamp. The name he mentioned was his very fast first-year wideout.

"I like the progress David's made," he said. "He's a guy that has excellent deep speed, a history of special teams production in college. He got into our system last year when we picked him up from Green Bay. I like the strides he's made till this point. He's worked on the learning side quite a bit and it's showing up. He's starting to show up more and more each day on tape."

LB Vernon Gholston — The sixth pick of the draft will finally make it back to Weeb Ewbank Hall for Friday's practices for the first time since the rookie minicamp a month ago. There's nothing the Jets could do about it since league rules stipulate rookies can't report to their teams until commencement ceremonies for the current semester, and Mangini said he understands why the rule is in place, to encourage students to work toward their degrees and graduate.

But the coach still said Gholston has missed a lot.

"He'll be behind in a lot of different ways," Mangini said, "in relation with the other rookies, in relation with the coaching staff, being able to physically go through drills, plays, in the huddle, the amount of questions I'm going to ask when he gets here. The other rookies have sort of taken a little bite each day. He's going to have to sit down at the buffet and eat it all."

TE Dustin Keller — The top rookie in camp until Gholston reports, Keller has had his ups and downs, not unlike the other top-two draft tandems Mangini has experience with here:

"It's kind of like all those guys, whether it's Revis and Harris, Mangold and Brick. It's a whole new world, and it's a shock to the system. Jumping into that cold pool, it's shocking. Dustin's had to get used to new ways of doing things, new coaches. You see the ability, but there's a lot of thinking, a lot of processing going on. Anytime you're processing, you're slower than you should be."

S Eric Smith — Smith has been working a lot on the first defense with Kerry Rhodes patrolling the deep middle, and the coach has liked his intelligence and his progress in the system:

"I think Eric might've turned down Harvard to go to Michigan State. Some of the books he's reading, a lot of us would struggle even getting the title out. He's impressive that way. And he's worked at having that understanding of the system. Back there with Kerry, the communication's getting better. I like his ball skills a lot. Now it's a function of him getting multiple reps and working with the first defense. He's done some really good things."

The Mangini Family — In talking about Baker, Mangini broke some family news. He said he spoke with his disgruntled TE on Wednesday night and also mentioned that "Chris' wife sent a note to Julie [Mangini's wife] about the impending birth of our third son." Congrats, Eric and Julie, and we'll provide react from Jake and Luke as it comes in.

One more Radar report on the late practice, plus the Baker newser, are on the way.