Jets Takeoff

Inc. Magazine has selected the New York Jets as one of the best small business to work for in the country.

The Jets’s new 120,000-square-foot complex is the key to providing a superior workplace that unites the business and football sides of the organization. Employees have access to the fieldhouse and the team’s gym. For a nominal fee, the organization also provides breakfast, lunch, and snacks throughout the workday, featuring a salad bar, organic fruits and vegetables, and grass-fed beef. Employees are eligible for tuition reimbursement of up to $15,000 per year.

What impressed the magazine the most was the Jets’ new Florham Park training facility.

But hidden away on a 27-acre expanse in Florham Park, New Jersey, sits what is perhaps the organization’s most significant new asset: a 120,000-square-foot shrine to athletic and corporate excellence. The Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, houses five football fields, immaculate and sunny open-plan offices, and—this is a sports franchise, after all—many dozens of TVs tuned to ESPN and the NFL Network. “We wanted to create something that was not just an operating structure,” [Jets' owner Woody] Johnson says. “We also wanted a place people were proud to come to every day.”

Pretty impressive, and a great credit to the Jets for being named as one of Top 20 small company workplaces in the U.S.

Read the article here.

Sanchez Participates in Drills

Mark Sanchez is coming along just fine. Considering he had surgery on his left knee three months ago, it’s fair to say he’s ahead of schedule.

Sanchez fully participated in drills yesterday at the team’s OTA  in Florham Park, and those who witnessed his performance were impressed. Sanchez, entering his second year as the Jets’ quarterback, will be on hand next week during the team’s mandatory minicamp which begins Monday.

Tomlinson’s New Role

Daily News’ beat writer Manish Mehta reports that LaDainian Tomlinson will get plenty of work during the preseason. This makes sense because Tomlinson, who will turn 31 later this month, has to learn and get used to the Jets’ system, and the team has to decide how to best use him.

Interesting quote from Brian Schottenheimer who said that “LaDainian’s fighting for playing time. He’s got to earn the right.” For the first time in his NFL career, that’s true.

A ‘Super’ Season

With the additions to the roster and the success experienced last season, the Jets are expected to make a run at the Super Bowl. The Sporting News is predicting that the Jets will win the Super Bowl. The magazine has New York (13-3) beating Dallas (12-4) on February 6 in Arlington.

Darrelle Revis returned to the Jets' OTAs today.

Darrelle Revis returned to the Jets’ Organized Team Activities today after skipping last Thursday’s OTA due to his unhappiness over stalled contract negotiations.

The New York Post has the story here.

But this may be the calm before the storm, according to Manish Mehta in the Daily News:

Sources said that Tannenbaum may have budgetary restrictions from owner Woody Johnson, which could make it difficult to lock up all the members of the Jets’ young nucleus. They believe Johnson will need to adjust his stance and give Tannenbaum more spending flexibility to have a realistic chance of securing long-term commitments for Revis & Co.

Tannenbaum, however, dispelled the notion that he’s been hampered by ownership.

“Woody has always provided us with the resources that we need to compete for a championship,” Tannenbaum told the Daily News. “That has not changed and I don’t foresee a time when it ever will change.”

That report contradicts what ESPN New York’s Rich Cimini reported over the weekend about the Jets’ plan to sign Revis, Nick Mangold, David Harris, and D’Brickashaw Ferguson.

Good news for the Jets: Mark Sanchez wants to get better, and he’s willing to listen. Proof lies in Sanchez seeking, and getting, the help of former NFL quarterback Rich Gannon.

According to USA TODAY, Sanchez and Gannon met for two days. The 2002 NFL MVP and four-time Pro Bowl quarterback came away impressed with the Jets’ QB.

“The great thing about Mark is he doesn’t just want to be good; he wants to be great,” Gannon told the newspaper. “And he’s willing to put in the work to get there. He has a very bright future.”

Jets' QB Mark Sanchez

Sanchez led the Jets to the AFC championship game last season, but he threw an AFC-worst 20 interceptions. Clearly, he wants to improve. And the Jets, with Super Bowl hopes this year, need him to be better in order to get there.

“I really applaud a guy like that who wants to get better,” Gannon told the paper. “It’s incredible what this guy has accomplished already in winning playoff games on the road in Cincinnati and in San Diego. He’s a leader with a great deal of toughness.”

Sanchez is still recovering from the patella tendon surgery performed on his left knee in February, and has spent a considerable amount of time this off-season at the Jets’ training facility in Florham Park.

Click here to read the article.

Following the lead of the Giants, the Jets announced today that they will hold a minicamp practice at the New Meadowlands Stadium that will be open to the public next Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. Fans can also tour the stadium before the practice session.

Information is available on the Jets’ website. Tickets are free.

The Jets will also hold an open minicamp practice next Monday morning at their Florham Park training facility. Tickets are not required.

Jets' center Nick Mangold

ESPN New York’s Rich Cimini is back on the Jets’ beat today with a report on the team’s desire to sign their “Core Four.” That would be Darrelle Revis, Nick Mangold, David Harris, and D’Brickashaw Ferguson. It’s hard to imagine the Jets without any of these core players, and according to a league source, “The club has “allocated enough money” to get all four players locked up to long-term deals.” Cimini reports that “according to league executives, the Big Four will cost at least $100 million in guarantees.”

From Cimini’s article:

In the coming months, the Jets will be under pressure to satisfy their top players. Revis was a no-show for Thursday’s voluntary practice because he’s unhappy with his negotiations. He wants to be the highest-paid cornerback in the league — about $16 million per year — and there appears to be a huge gap in negotiations.Revis has three years remaining on his current contract for a total of $21 million, assuming the Jets exercise a buyback for 2011 and 2012. The Jets are showing no sense of urgency, and they still have two months before training camp.

They’re proceeding with caution, in part, because of the uncertain future of the collective bargaining agreement. But they’re also taking a big risk because Revis is their best player and is revered in the locker room. The organization would take a PR hit if it alienates their most valuable defensive player.

Mangold and Harris are entering the final year of their deals; Ferguson is signed through 2011, but the final year is a $10 million option.

Mangold has been a good soldier, showing up for practices and saying the right things, but he’s privately seething, according to a source. The All-Pro center, hinting he might consider a training-camp holdout, said he wants a new deal by the start of the regular season.

Click here to read the entire article.

I’ll say this: People who accuse the Jets of pinching pennies are way off base. This is an organization that brought in LaDainain Tomlinson, Anthony Cromartie, Santonio Holmes, Jason Taylor, Brodney Pool, and Nick Folk. Alright, so Thomas Jones and Alan Faneca are gone, but the Jets have replacements in place. And now, a commitment to sign these four? Sounds pretty good to me.

Rich Cimini’s most recent post onESPN New York is a must-read for all Jets’ fans. Cimini addresses the Darrelle Revis contract situation and talks about what this all means for the organization.

Here’s one exciting tease for you:

Owner Woody Johnson is asking fans to make a long-term commitment to the Jets by purchasing high-priced PSLs. Shouldn’t he do the same, making a long-term commitment by re-signing his homegrown players?

And one more:

If the Jets give Revis $16 million a year, what will Mark Sanchez be demanding after the 2012 season, when he heads into his final year?

Click here to read the entire piece.

In what will likely become the No. 1 distraction at camp this summer - if the team and its star cornerback allow it to get that far - Darrelle Revis vs. the New York Jets is back in the news. Now, the cast is expanding.

Today, the New York Post’s Bart Hubbuch explores the possibility that unsold PSLs at the New Meadowlands Stadium may be having a huge impact on the organization’s finances, and thus, the team’s stance with players seeking new deals (Jets’ unsold PSL’s likely keeping players’ salaries down).

From Hubbuch’s article:

According to an industry source, the Jets are not taking advantage of the lifting of the salary cap in the NFL this year, the last in the current labor agreement.

The source said the Jets — despite a series of splashy moves and signings this offseason — have just $110 million in salaries committed for the 2010 season. That is far below last year’s salary cap of $128 million and even further below what the cap likely would have been this year (roughly $138 million).

The Jets’ relatively small 2010 salary commitments combined with their glacially slow movement on new contracts desired by Revis and fellow young cornerstones Nick Mangold, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and David Harris are prompting alarm bells around the league.

The Post reported last month that the Jets still have 10,000 unsold PSLs in their new $1.6 billion dollar stadium.