Silver Surfers: 'Four Aces' Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Jets' Storied 2000 Draft

The Jets' 2000 draft has always been called the "Four Aces Draft," but each of the four first-round cards they played that year just as easily could have been characterized as high-rise hotels in a rich run of Monopoly real-estate building. On the 25th anniversary of that draft, we look back to a normal approach to those proceedings that, as things often do in the NFL at this time of year, quickly developed into something huge and historic before the dust had settled late in Round 1.

The Jets began it all by holding just their own first-round pick, 18th overall, based on their strong 1999 finish to claw their way back to 8-8.

But shortly after the 19-9 win over Seattle on Jan. 2, 2000, a new storyline emerged to add the next playing card/hotel piece. Bill Parcells was shifting from head coach to the non-coaching, full-time director of football operations, the de facto general manager. In that role, he contractually elevated Bill Belichick from defensive coordinator to head coach.

That ascension didn't last long, as Belichick stepped down as "HC of the NYJ" a day later, ultimately to be hired as New England's head coach. The NFL stepped in to determine compensation due from the Patriots for signing Belichick away. The Jets sent two low picks to the Pats and in return received their No. 1 pick, 16th overall, in 2000, plus two more choices in '21.

The Jets sat pretty for about 2½ months with two mid-first-round picks. Then in April, Parcells and Mike Tannenbaum, the director of player contracts who had added the title of director of pro player development that year and set the table for much that transpired in the draft, began rolling the dice.

On April 10, the Jets dealt talented but unhappy WR Keyshawn Johnson, the former first pick in '96, to Tampa Bay. In exchange, the Buccaneers sent the Jets two first-rounders, No. 13 (originally from San Diego) and No. 27. The Jets then had four Round 1 picks, 13, 16, 18 and 27. But the Tuna and Trader Mike weren't done.

Two days later, the Green & White struck a deal with San Francisco, sending that No. 16 from New England plus the Jets' own second-round pick to the 49ers to move up four slots to No. 12.

The Jets went into that first round on April 15, 2000, with those four selections, 12, 13, 18 and 27. And then they converted those choices into versatile and powerful DL Shaun Ellis, dominant edge rusher John Abraham, accurate and inspirational QB Chad Pennington and productive and durable TE Anthony Becht. It remains the only time an NFL team has selected players with four first-round picks in one draft.

And when Becht (May 26), Ellis and Abraham (July 10), and finally Pennington (July 13, reporting day) inked their rookie contracts, the Jets became the first NFL team to sign four first-rounders from one draft, and all in time to make the opening practice of that summer's Hofstra University training camp. They were joined by Laveranues Coles, the Florida State WR taken in Round 3 who went on to become another Jets favorite pick from that bountiful crop.

The night of Pennington's signing that concluded three months of nonstop negotiating, Tannenbaum said that at last, "I slept like a baby." Yeah, like a toddler holding four of a kind.

Following are reflections from each of that year's top five choices on the 25th anniversary of one of the best first rounds enjoyed by any team in the history of NFL drafts.

Ellis, aka "Big Katt," was the first of the four first-rounders selected that night of the first round of the 2000 draft. He played the first 11 of his 12 NFL season in green and white, compiling 73.5 sacks in 184 regular-season games and being selected for two Pro Bowls.

"I remember flying to New York a lot," Ellis recalled of the predraft process leading up to his selection. "I didn't understand why, after I went through the first couple of meetings, and then it was like I was up here every other weekend. So when it happened and you got drafted by the Jets, it all made sense then. They were just trying to figure out what they wanted to do."

Katt said it took a little while to appreciate "the Four Horsemen" or "the Four Aces" coming together on that team.

"At first, I was just taking care of my own business," he said. "It didn't really dawn on me until later what the significance was because we didn't have much detail on how everything went down. When we came to the Jets and they started calling us 'the Four Horsemen' and we were taking pictures together, it dawned on us then that it was something special. But again, we were young. We didn't know what we were getting into."

He recalls his predraft conversations with Bill Parcells, who had stepped aside as head coach but was still overseeing the draft as director of football operations. "It was just straight to the point," Ellis said. "He was truthful with me. He saw a vision for me, he believed in my talent, and he just told me to stay the course and everything will be fine. I just wish he could've stayed the whole time during our career."

Before the 2000 NFL Draft, Pennington met with the San Francisco 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and had "formal interviews" with the Jets. But when draft day came around Pennington wasn't in The Theatre at Madison Square Garden.

"I was asked to come to New York, but I just didn't feel comfortable doing that," Pennington said. "I really wanted it to be a celebration of, one, having the opportunity to be drafted. That's something we take that for granted that's rare. And so I wanted to be able to celebrate that, enjoy that moment, and then also enjoy it with all of the people, both family and friends, that I felt have been a part of my life and part of my development."

And where was that exactly?

"The best way to do that was to go to Norris Lake in Tennessee, where I spent my summers, rent a houseboat and after I was drafted, get on that houseboat and go down the lake and have a good time with family and friends. So that's what we [he and about 60 others] did," he said.

It wasn't a surprise to Becht that he ended up in green and white.

"Bill Parcells told me he was drafting me in one of those picks," Becht said. "I thought I was going to go 18 because Chad wasn't supposed to be available. He told me they're taking care of some defensive stuff early and then I was like that's where I'm going. Then that didn't happen, so I was like, clearly, I'm going to be the 27th pick."

Despite what Parcells shared with Becht in the Hofstra weight room on his predraft visit, Becht had an uh-oh moment when the Jets were on the clock. The West Virginia product never received a phone call, so he found out he was drafted like the rest of the world — on TV.

"I could hear the whispers in the background like, 'What's going on? The Jets are supposed to take him,.'" Becht said of his 75-person draft party. "I had this bat phone, hard-wired all the way out to the yard. We had this big tent and I never got a call. So when Paul Tagliabue came up to the stage and announced my name, it was like a roar you would never hear, in unison.

"When I heard my name, it was sweet. But I did tell Chad he owes me about $4 million because I thought I was going to go 18."

Becht, who played five of his 11 seasons with the Jets, credits the Four Aces' professionalism in a veteran-laden locker room that included Hall of Famers-to-be Curtis Martin and Kevin Mawae, Wayne Chrebet, Vinny Testaverde and Aaron Glenn, that led to four double-digit careers in the NFL.

"There weren't a lot of young guys in that locker room," Becht said. "So it was like, you'd better grow up fast and learn how to do it or watch somebody because you know you're going to fall far."

Becht is happy to be back with the team that drafted him 25 years ago as the Jets' radio analyst alongside Bob Wischusen, a job that he started last season.

"I would have loved to have stayed there my entire career as a player," he said. "You know, business is business, right? It just doesn't happen that way. But I was able to reunite down the road, which was even better. So there's just something in my heart for New York and the Jets organization. I know that they're desperately trying to get back to where they want to be and I'm just glad to be a part of it in some small way."

Coles was not a charter member of "The Four Aces" but he was a fifth among equals that year. In two separate stints with the Jets, he parlayed his receiving skills and toughness into 459 receptions for 5,941 yards and 37 touchdowns. He had career season highs of 1,264 yards in 2002 and 91 catches in '06.

"It's weird that it's been 25 years already because it went by so fast," Coles told Eric Allen on The Official Jets Podcast. "I can't tell it's been that long, but when you look at the year and the date now, it kind of resonates."

Coles remembered his predraft exposure to the Jets being primarily limited to offensive coordinator Dan Henning traveling to Jacksonville, LC's hometown, to have lunch with him at an Olive Garden.

"I really had no clue that I had a chance of going to New York," he said. "I thought Jacksonville was going to take me. My agent told me he didn't know if I was going to get picked or not [in the first three rounds] but whatever place I went, just make the best of the opportunity. He said it's not about where you're drafted, it's what you do once you get there."