Transcript of head coach Eric Mangini's news conference with Jets reporters before Friday's afternoon training camp practice:
A little bit of housekeeping here. Musa Smith and Jesse Chatman will come off the Active/Non-Football Injury list so they'll be at practice here this afternoon.
Some other good news, Vernon [Gholston] is in the building. He has signed, he'll practice. So that process, which was long, is through and now he can move forward and we can get him on the field and really start the intense teaching. Not that it hasn't been intense before, but he's got a little room to catch up. He has a little ground to cover here and make up. We will be focused on that. We'll make sure we get him up to speed as quickly as possible and see what he can do.
On if the Jets received permission to talk to Brett Favre…
With all discussions, those things are internal and that really hasn't changed. Mike Tannenbaum and I talk every night about a lot of different things, but that kind of thing we always keep internal.
On if anything has changed with the current QB situation…
No, I feel the same way as I felt yesterday and nothing has changed. With any conversation Mike and I have, we like to talk about a lot of different scenarios. He enjoys a good chart, he enjoys a good graph and he enjoys a lot of scenarios. That's what he does and that's what he's supposed to do. They are normal discussions that we always have.
On the comparison of pursuing a Hall of Fame QB vs. pursuing a second-string RB…
I don't think whenever Mike and I meet it's anything out of the normal. We discuss a lot of different things and like I said, all that stuff is internal.
On if bringing an old veteran in develops young talent…
We are trying to develop all our guys and we are trying to develop the guys that are here, and that's really what we're focused on is developing guys that are here and the guys that are working. Believe me, there's plenty of things that we need to work on. That's what we'll do today.
On if the Jets are exploring any avenues toward adding a veteran QB…
As I said, I'm happy with the quarterbacks we have. We look at a lot of different scenarios every night. Trust me when I tell you, we look at a lot of different scenarios every night. That's normal operating procedure for us.
On if he is denying the report or just not commenting on it…
What I said is really where I'm at. We talk about a lot of different things and all those things are between Mike and me, and organizationally we keep them inside. I hope you guys can respect that. I understand that you've got to ask the question and I hope you understand where I am on it.
On if it would be beneficial to clear up the Favre rumors…
I think we all hear rumors about a lot of different things and there's always things coming out. There are always external scenarios that are put in place and that's no different. What you've got to do is focus on the things we're doing here.
The other things are things that aren't going to affect your practice today, your performance today, your ability to improve today and our ability to improve today. When you lose sight of those things and don't focus on those things, that's when you don't make the progress that you're trying to make.
On Chris Baker…
I've always liked Chris and I like the way he's worked and studied. He's done good things, and Chris has been great in the meetings.
The PUP is purely a function of some medical things. Any of the PUP stuff we have up, like different tests that we go through to make sure that the player is ready to be on the field, if they can't complete those tests or can't satisfy the requirements, then they go on PUP. It's the one time when you get back to camp when you can make that designation. You work through those issues and as soon as they're ready to go, you put them out there.
Jesse and Musa didn't pass the requirements initially. They have now, so they're cleared and ready to go from an organizational and medical perspective.
On if it means physically unable to play and not psychologically…
I don't think there's a Psychologically Unable to Perform list, but I'm not sure.
On if it's an organizational policy to not comment on Favre…
It's with any scenario that we discuss, we keep internal. With any players that are on another team, that's also a league policy as well. You really have the league element and you have our philosophy, which is to keep discussions internal. It's not this issue, it's all the issues that we go through.
I promise you that the volume of things that we go through is really what Mike is very good at. He is good at going through different scenarios, practice squad scenarios. You have the short list with guys you can bring in in case something happens. There's different short lists, there's different combinations of combinations, and we have to talk through all of them. We do and some come to fruition. Some don't and we just keep those between us.
On the difference between checking into a practice squad linebacker and a future Hall-of-Famer ...
It's how we've always proceeded. It's something that we believe in and we do keep those discussions internal. I understand you need to ask the questions, and I hope you can respect our philosophy on them.
On the affect it might have on Pennington and Clemens…
As we were talking, there's so many rumors that come up with so many different teams with players about things that are going to happen, things that aren't going to happen, and the only thing you look to and the only thing that you do is control the things that you can control, and that's getting better, performing and trying to improve, not just individually but as a team. We always talk about focusing on now and improving on the here and now.
On if the Jets have actually requested permission to speak with Favre…
All I can tell you is it's internal, and the fact that it's internal is black and white. Like I said, I hope you can understand that.
On if he can guarantee this team will have a better record than last year's team...
I've never been in the business of guaranteeing anything. I'm focused on the progress we're making today.
On benefits of having Gholston's contract done…
It's great to get it done. It's great for him, it's great for us. From a coaching and player perspective, you want to get as much time as possible, as much work done as possible and with a young guy, too. He has his college experience to build on or to draw on, but it tends to be a little bit easier with veteran free agents because they've got more history, more experience, more reps. You can associate things a little better.
With a young guy, you need to get him in as quickly as possible and spend a lot of time. Some things aren't going to make sense right away and it's a building process, but it is a process, and the quicker you can start it, the better.
On whether Gholston was asked to name all the other players on the roster…
I didn't put him through that today. He was at the airport, not yesterday but the night before, and ready to go. His flight was canceled and then he had to get his bags off. He got here early, and he's been running around pretty good. I thought I'd give him a second to breathe.
On if Gholston is further behind than a normal rookie…
Yeah, it's going to be harder for him because there is a schedule. He has really followed the same progression as the spring installation, so this would have been his second time through. We had the OTAs, and repeated it in accelerated fashion during the mandatory minicamp, so that was a second exposure. That ended up being Vernon's first exposure. These guys are working on exposure three. He's still on two.
Also, the days that we have where the rookies were in and injured vets and quarterbacks, there's another chunk of time we were able to spend with guys, and he's got to make that up and he's got to make it up in a hurry. The train doesn't stop and the installation just keeps going in.
On if he was here all day yesterday…
Yeah, he was here, but he wasn't here. You can't really do anything with a player until they've signed the documents, so it's more a little bit of hurry up and wait. It's not anyone's fault. It's just everybody wants to make sure that it's right. With a contract like his, there might be a triple-check or a quadruple-check.
On Pennington playing last season with two torn ankle ligaments…
You've hit on the second thing that we don't talk about, and that's injuries [laughter]. What I can say is that we go through steps with all injuries, and it's not inconsistent for one guy or another guy. It's a consistent process and we're going to put the player in a position that we think is right. We're not going to put him in a position where he can't play or is at risk. Player safety is important to us, so we do have a procedure in place, and the procedure applies to Chad like it does to anybody else.
On if there is a statute of limitations on talking about an injury from last year…
That's kind of like the quarterback situation. There's no timetable on it. There's really no timetable on injury discussions.
On how long he thinks it'll take for Gholston to get up to speed…
Well, there's two factors. There's the factor that he's missed time and then there's the factor that each one of the rookies, their development and the incremental development is different. Darrelle Revis was really quick. He had had the benefit of the spring, but he was able to come in and pick up things pretty quickly. But each guy has been a little bit different.
In my experience, whether they're first-round draft picks or otherwise, here, in New England, Baltimore, everywhere I've been, with guys' development, you can't draw a straight line with those guys.
