Transcript of GM Mike Tannenbaum's informal news conference with Jets reports Friday afternoon:
On whether he received a call from the Packers about Brett Favre…
I did have a conversation with both Chad [Pennington] and Kellen [Clemens] this afternoon. Relative to conversations I had with either other teams or with Eric [Mangini], those will remain private. I did have a good conversation with Chad. I did have a good conversation with Kellen. Those conversations are private, but I thought they were good conversations just to keep everybody on the same page.
On whether the ESPN report is true that the Jets received permission to talk to Favre…
Again, those conversations with other teams would remain private. We have conversations with a lot of teams about a lot of things. Those will be private conversations.
On whether the Packers initiated the call…
Again, any conversations with other teams will remain private. I did have a good conversation with Chad. We spoke for a little bit. I have all the respect in the world for him, his craft, what he's done here, what he has accomplished, his work ethic and the way he carries himself. None of that has changed. He's still competing for the starting job with Kellen. That hasn't changed. They're working hard to earn the job. They've both worked hard in the off-season. That's really where we are as of today on Friday afternoon.
On why he felt the need to have a conversation with the quarterbacks…
I just try to have good communication with the guys. I don't try to address every rumor every day with every player. That goes for the off-season. If we go to a college workout for player "X" at a position, I'm not going to call the incumbent player on the team and say, "Hey, we were at this workout."
Given the sensitivity or the high profile of Brett Favre's name, I felt like this was a fairly unique situation, that I wanted to be proactive, just so they heard from me first. Ordinarily, I wouldn't try to address every rumor with every player.
On whether he preferred that Pennington not be as forthcoming about their conversation…
No, Chad can say what he would like to. Again, we have a great relationship. We just had the conversation the other day that we're at similar points in our lives. We both got married here over the last few years, we both have two healthy kids that we're all too fortunate to have. He's a great guy. He's won playoff games here. I have nothing but all the respect in the world for Chad and his work ethic. He always works on his craft.
And we just had another conversation this afternoon because I felt like that was the appropriate thing to do as the general manager of the team. From my perspective, any conversation I have with players, I like for those to remain private. Obviously, if Chad wants to share that, he's certainly entitled to do that.
On whether Pennington's comments were inaccurate…
My conversation with him, from my perspective, will remain private. I thought it was a good conversation.
On why he is not taking the opportunity to say the Jets are not interested in Favre…
I'm going to fall back on our policy for operating the team. We have conversations with teams all the time about a lot of different positions. "Every rock, every day" is a saying we're going to have up at the new facility, so I could remind you of that all the time.
Eric and I talk about a lot of different scenarios from the cap, draft choices, about a lot of different players, and if I were to come down here and say, "Well, this one has a 60 percent chance of happening, but this one only has a 10 percent chance," that would take up a lot of your time and my time. Again, that's just how we're going to handle it.
On this being a unique situation…
That's why, out of respect for the players, I wanted to give them a heads-up and have that conversation, because I wanted them to hear it from me. Fundamentally, we do have the policy in place for these sorts of things.
On whether he's looking to upgrade the QB position…
We're happy with that position. We have four guys there. I think Erik Ainge and Brett Ratliff have great work ethics, not good work ethics.
It goes back to every position. We're always going to look at it. Cameron Worrell is someone that played in the division recently that became available and we added him. The day before that, we didn't say, "Gee, we're not happy with the safety position," but it was an opportunity that we thought made sense.
Regardless of the position, we're always going to look at the roster every day, be it the quarterback or the safety, wherever the opportunity may present itself.
On the possibility that the Jets would trade for Favre…
I am just trying to reiterate our policy. Any conversations with other teams, I think it's appropriate for them to remain private.
On if there is an update on Danny Woodhead…
We don't have an update yet. Danny has been working hard. A lot of productivity obviously in college. He's a great kid. Eric will get you that information as soon as it is available.
On if there has been dialogue with Chris Baker's agent…
I had some good conversations with Chris' agent. I think he [Baker] is working hard. His condition is really improving. I talk to a lot of agents all the time. It's a fun enterprise if anyone is interested in doing it [laughs]. I would like to keep any conversation with agents private as well, out of respect for the process. Not again, indigenous to Chris Baker but just generally speaking, I don't like to comment on negotiations.
On Vernon Gholston…
I am glad he is here. I give a lot of credit to [agents] Ben Dogra and Tom Condon. The contract, once again, was extraordinarily long and complicated. [Jets football administration staff members] Jackie Davidson and Ari Nissim did a great job. To get it on paper took a tremendous amount of time and effort. He is here, and he's here because they worked at it and we worked at it. I think we got a good landing spot. To sign without the pick above or below us being signed, I think is a tribute to both sides.
On why a six-year deal with Darrelle Revis was so important last year and this year he agreed to a five-year contract with Gholston…
Without getting into the specifics, the collective bargaining agreement has changed a little bit. I don't want to get in the complexities of how we got to where we got to except to say that, given the set of circumstances of rules and proration, and 30 percent and 25 percent and to recapture proration, it just made sense to do the deal that we did. It was a good landing spot for both sides. The rules change as we get closer to the last capped year and an uncapped year. That's what really made sense to me.
On the complexity of Gholston's contract compared to Revis…
I think lengthwise it was north of 50 pages. It was substantial. The landing spot in these fields every year gets harder because of the rules, litigation, and the Special Master Proceedings. There was a decision like two days ago. It did not affect us but it could have. There's just a lot of complexities. Again, I just give both sides a lot of credit because, again, five and seven aren't done. We went out there and got a deal that we thought was a good landing spot for everybody.
On when the deal was finished…
What is really frustrating for me, that I don't like, is you reach an agreement in principle, and then [not until] 48 hours later, you see the guy out on the field. That is just a byproduct of the system in dealing with the agent and the league and getting the wording approved by everybody. When you have three bodies involved and you have 50 pages, that is 150 pages of everyone having an opinion on it.
There is a huge lag time, much more than there was five years ago. I remember when we did D-Rob [Dwayne Robertson]'s contract [in 2003]. We agreed to it and then he was on the field the next day. The world we work in just doesn't work that way anymore.
On when he spoke to Pennington and Clemens…
I spoke to Chad after practice, I believe before he spoke to the media, but don't hold me to that. I think I spoke to Kellen after he spoke to you guys, but don't hold me to that, either. I'm not sure sequentially if it was before or after he spoke to you guys. It was after practice for both of them.
