Committed to Improvement
After another day of watching his 90 piece ensemble perform together, General Manager Mike Tannenbaum was satisfied with the arrangement. This group of Jets has officially been Tannenbaum's since his February promotion and since then he's made a number of significant and strategic transactions. Although they will forever remain his "first squad," in this business, he cannot remain entirely attached to the roster, for there's always room for improvement.
"I don't know if there will be drastic changes, but we'll always look to modify, tweak and look for opportunities. We are committed to building an organization that hopefully will be successful both in the short-term and the long-term," said Tannenbaum. "There are a lot of challenges each and every day, and we're committed to trying to improve the team through waiver claims, through trades and through free agent signings. We're looking all the time to upgrade the team with any opportunity that presents itself."
Tannenbaum's job - not the least stressful of professions - is a constant grind and public gratification comes only if his group musters more wins than losses. Tannenbaum's assignment has put him on center stage in front of the millions of football fans across the world. His tireless task is to somehow satisfy the likes of all while winning football games, something that takes time, patience and most importantly, passion.
"I'm on the phone quite a bit and for every transaction you see, there's probably 15 or 20 that get killed somewhere along the way," he said. "That's the great part about the job that I really enjoy is the relentless pursuit of trying to distinguish ourselves from our competitors and trying to keep looking for opportunities to improve the team."
After watching his quarterbacks battle it out for the first time in front of the national media, Tannenbaum praised his impressive foursome. He wasn't surprised by anything though including the work of Chad Pennington, a 1st round selection by the Green & White in 2000.
"It's the same thing I have seen from Chad since 2000," Tannenbaum said of Pennington. "He is a hard-working guy, he is a team-first guy and although the media has only been here today, he has been throwing the whole off-season, closely monitored by the coaching staff and the medical staff.
"At the end of the day - and Chad will say it too – the best player will play. Whoever gives us the best chance to beat Tennessee on opening day will be our quarterback and that's the way it should be."
The idea of holding competition at every position is a core conviction. Tannenbaum says the team will undeniably shape itself through virtually every aspect of the game on the field and by way of individual player preparation.
"As Coach Mangini said, the whole procedure is a continual evaluation process," Tannenbaum said. "How much did they do for Coach Paul in the weight room? How much did they pick up in the classroom? And how do they look on the field? Obviously, we don't have pads yet and that is going to go along way in who plays and who makes the team, but there are still a lot of things we can look at from an athletic standpoint and from picking up a system standpoint."
If his players turn out to have the same qualities as their new head skipper, you will be sure to see Tannenbaum wearing a smile heading into Tennessee on September 10th.
"He is passionate in everything he does," said Tannenbaum of Head Coach Eric Mangini. "He is an innate competitor and his work ethic I saw from an early stage when we were in Cleveland together and here working together under Coach Parcells and Coach Belichick. He is a tireless worker who is really passionate for the game of football."
