Erik Boland: Inside the Jets

Not sure what has been more uncomfortable today – watching the video of the incredibly talented writer Buzz Bissinger transform himself into a horse’s you-know-what last night on HBO while going off on bloggers, or just now watching Bill O’Reilly interview Hillary Clinton. A drowsy numbness pains my senses. Braylon Edwards, who shared the stage Tuesday night with Bob Costas, Bissinger and Deadspin's Will Leitch and became that evening's Mr. Irrelevant, knows what I mean.

As an aside, clutch job by Leitch by coming up with "The Professional" on the spot, all with Bissinger giving a look not unlike Mike Tyson's when he uttered his "I want to eat his children" speech.

So, anyway, the Danny Woodhead story I talked about two days and again today, yes, well it’s now getting pushed to the Friday paper to serve as an advance of sorts for this weekend’s rookie minicamp. Sigh.

Also, because the Jets as a policy do not confirm the players they’re bringing into the rookie camp until the weekend, the names get out primarily because of mentions that might occur in the hometown paper of a given player. Brian Bassett, who operates thejetsblog, having combed the Internet, today ran a pretty comprehensive list of players, complete with analysis, who will be at Hofstra this weekend.

Hoping to have something on Erik Ainge tomorrow afternoon, but we’re still working on it.

Coming tomorrow - or tonight on line - a story on Danny Woodhead, the NCAA's all-time rushing leader whom the Jets signed as a rookie free agent Sunday night. He'll be at Hofstra this weekend - along with this year's draft class and other rookie free agents and the like - for the Jets rookie minicamp.

Now, for another grading-the-draft pet peeve: well, the overall pet peeve is the concept of dispensing grades before players have even given their introductory press conferences, but we've covered that previously. Today's pet peeve is more specific: the nice-picks-but.....grade. I'll explain.

Here's part of an evaluation of the Jets draft from elsewhere: The Jets got "the best" pass rusher in the entire draft and "the best" tight end in terms of pass-catching ability.

Well, that sounds good so far...

And of San Jose State's Dwight Lowery, he was one of the top "ballhawks," remaining. More complimentary stuff and then...

"Grade: C."

So to review, the Jets got the draft's "best" pass rusher, "best" pass-catching tight end and a real "ballhawk" of a defensive back...and grade out as a C.

Um, Ok.

This isn't to say the Jets hit a home run last weekend; they very well might have struck out. It's just these grades seem more and more ridiculous each year. It's also not to say drafts can't be evaluated immediately after. They can and should be. Just skip the grades.

So I wrote what I thought was a seemingly innocuous story that appeared Tuesday where Ohio State coach Jim Tressel defended Vernon Gholston against the charge that his former defensive end didn't play hard all the time.

A relatively inoffensive piece – I thought anyway – so there was some surprise when someone emailed me late Tuesday afternoon and said, "check out the comments after your Gholston story." When I looked, there were 133 of them, many from Dolphins fans irate at Tressel for, in their minds, taking a shot at Jake Long. I thought Tressel was more pumping up his guy than taking down someone else, but interpretation is always in the eyes of the reader. It certainly had a bunch of people "going Abramson," a new phrase Bob Glauber is trying hard to inject in the lexicon.

The phrase, for those who didn't get a chance to follow Newsday's live draft blog Saturday, is named for Adam Abramson of newsday.com, who year-round writes some great college football stuff. Other than that, I'm not sure what Abramson does but - to paraphrase the great Harry Doyle - I'm sure he does a heck of a job.

Randy Lange, the former Jets beat writer for the Record who now writes for newyorkjets.com, runs through the uniform numbers for the Jets 2008 draft class. Lange is the best when it comes to statistical odds and ends and his full report on this is worth reading. Here's one example:
"56 — DE/OLB Vernon Gholston
College: Wore No. 50 for Ohio State from 2004-07
Current Jet Wearing 50: LB Eric Barton
Last Jet to Wear 56: LB Anthony Schlegel
Notable Jets to Wear 56: DE-LB John Abraham (2005 only), DE-LB Jeff Lageman (1989-94), LB Lance Mehl (1980-87), C John Schmitt (1964 only)."

Lange follows the same formula for the other five draft picks. A hint: tight end Dustin Keller is the new Justin McCareins. No snappy punchlines, please. And it should be noted these numbers are for this weekend's rookie minicamp and are subject to change.

Only because a reader suggested it...here they are, Bob Glauber and Rupert Murdoch, side by side. Kind of a before and after situation there, though I'm not sure of the "what" part of that equation.

Also, continue to check out the blog of Newsday's NFL columnist, who, according to a source familiar with his space, might write about football at some point today.

Anyway, coming tomorrow in Newsday is an expanded version of what I covered in this blog yesterday but couldn't fit in today's story, which primarily was Ohio State coach Jim Tressel responding to the criticisms surrounding Vernon Gholston. Wednesday it is Purdue coach Joe Tiller discussing new Jets tight end Dustin Keller, whom he compared favorably to a tight end from Iowa he coached against earlier this decade.

I also just got off the phone with Danny Woodhead, the NCAA's all-time rushing leader from Division II Chadron State, an undrafted rookie free agent who signed with the Jets Sunday night and will be in town this weekend pursuing his NFL dream at the team's minicamp. A very interesting and down-to-earth kid, who has a sense of humor about things. I'll be writing a longer story in a couple days for the paper, but here's a snippet: I asked Woodhead about his height; I had seen it listed as 5-7 ½”, 5-8 and even 5-9. So, what's the deal?

"Well," he laughed. "I was 5-7 ½ on my pro day, so that's what most teams were getting. Let’s call it 5-8 because I have to wear shoes during the games and stuff."

But what about the 5-9 he's listed as on the school's Web site?

"Some people really wanted to be generous," he said.

Woodhead's numbers at Chadron State were off the charts - which includes 19 games he hit the 200-yard mark - as was his speed at Nebraska's Pro Day when he ran a 4.38 40-yard dash [Darren McFadden, by comparison, ran a 4.33 at the NFL combine, which Woodhead did not receive an invite to].

And while Woodhead is very much grounded, he's quite serious regarding his long-shot proposition to make the Jets, a journey that begins this weekend.

"I believe I’m a good football player," Woodhead said. "More anything I’m going to work hard every single day. I hope they’ve seen that on film and with workouts. I'm going to come out and work as hard as I can. I can’t change the things that have gotten me here."

Just heard two Hofstra football players, Kareem Huggins and Charles Sullivan, have been invited to this weekend's Jets rookie minicamp.

The 5-8, 189-pound Huggins, who alternated running around and through tacklers, averaged 106 yards per game [a 5.3 yards per carry average] this season and rushed for nine touchdowns.

The 6-1, 201-pound Sullivan caught a team-best 86 passes, which ranked fifth in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), for 991 yards (11.5 yards per reception) and seven touchdowns. Sullivan’s 238 career receptions and 2,869 career receiving yards are both program records. Who knows, maybe Sullivan will add his name to the list of Hofstra receiver alums - Wayne Chrebet, Marques Colston, Devale Ellis - who made it in the NFL.

First, thanks to Gary over a jetscentral.com for passing along the links regarding the signings of these rookie free agents: fullback Justin Valentine out of Minnesota, defensive end Bryan Mattison from the University of Iowa and wide receiver Prechae Rodriguez out of Auburn. Jets Central also reported the signing of Wagner cornerback Al Phillips. Again, the Jets rookie minicamp is this weekend.

Bob Glauber's blog, meanwhile, earns a BG-13 rating this morning for his barefaced [no pun intended] and unrepentant page-views ploy by posting a picture of Miley Cyrus. And after that is another Carlos Delgado brief. Something on Rev. Wright is next, I'm assuming, which would complete Bob's version of this week's page-views Triple Crown. Bob must really be trying to impress the guy rumored to be buying Newsday. And to be clear to that potential new guy - should he be a serial blog surfer - I have Fox News on in the background while I'm writing this. Megyn Kelly does great work on "America's Newsroom."

This afternoon the Jets waived tight end Joe Kowalewski and fullback Stacy Tutt. Kowalewski, a Syracuse graduate signed as an undrafted free agent in May of 2006 after attending a rookie minicamp as a tryout player, was responsible for one of the more memorable quotes of the Eric Mangini era [It's a dry humor, but there's been a few].

Kowalewski, who spent all of the 2006 season on the practice squad, caught a one-yard touchdown pass in a loss to the Redskins last season, which set off a fist-pumping celebration that started in the end zone and continued on the Jets sideline.

"It was a one-yard catch and about a 50-yard celebration," Mangini said with a laugh afterward.

Tutt, signed as an undrafted free agent in 2006, played in nine games and recorded seven special team tackles in 2007 before being placed on IR on Nov. 17.

Joe Tiller coached Dustin Keller at Purdue and didn't run away from the "doesn't block" question. He embraced it, with humor.

"Yes, it's true his first couple years, he wouldn't block Molly Putz," Tiller said in a phone interview earlier today. "He was allergic to blocking, but he improved as he got older."

And there was this: "Freshman and sophomore years, his idea of a block was something found around the street corner."

But Tiller also pointed out several times that was in the past.

"I think he’s a little underrated as a blocker," he said.

Tiller said Keller's overall development, blocking included, had been impressive to watch. Keller came to Purdue having been a wide receiver, known as much for his ability in the high jump - an event in which he was an Indiana high school state champion - as anything else.

"His YAC (yards after catch) stuff changed," Tiller said. "As a senior, he was a real handful for anybody. His junior year, he was a real challenge as a receiver, but not necessarily dangerous after he caught the ball. He can do things not just athletically but as football player, too. I’ve seen him hurdle guys; he just has good football speed and football sense."

The Jets rookie minicamp is this weekend.

How big is the Delgado story? So big our NFL columnist Rapid Robert Glauber weighed in.

Oh, yes, the draft and Mel Kiper. The public relations staff at ESPN, perhaps seeing my post yesterday regarding the, well let's just say it, absurdity of the concept of draft grades before anyone takes the field, this afternoon sent me...draft grades from Kiper. Naturally, I read it. I don't think much of grading these things hours after the fact, but Kiper's always a good read. For those not wanting to read about every team, here's what he said about the Jets:

"New York Jets: GRADE: B-Lining up opposite Calvin Pace, OLB Vernon Gholston has a chance to get a lot of sacks in his rookie season. Tight end Dustin Keller can be used in a lot of different ways and will give the passing game some much-needed juice. Dwight Lowery had a great junior season at corner for San Jose state, but his grade tailed off as a senior. Erik Ainge does not have that wow factor you like to see in a quarterback, but he has great pocket awareness. And he has the ability to make throws when he's outside the pocket. Ainge has a little bit of that "it" factor. Kansas wide receiver Marcus Henry does not have a lot of speed and doesn't separate well, but he caught the ball very effectively. I liked the Jets' picks, but I thought they would have taken wide receiver a bit earlier in the draft."

Grades must have been submitted before the seventh round because Kiper left out the Jets seventh round pick, Arkansas tackle Nate Garner. No respect for those guys.

Speaking of Keller, just finished a conversation with Purdue coach Joe Tiller. He was pretty candid about some things, like Keller's blocking. More in a bit.

Thanks to Brian over at thejetsblog for passing this item along about another Jets rookie free agent signing. One of the team's first signings Sunday night was Danny Woodhead, of Division II Chadron State, the NCAA career rushing leader. These names will be trickling in all week, though the Jets probably won't confirm any of them until this weekend's rookie minicamp. The Jets have roster room to sign a total of nine players.

Also, I spoke with Ohio State coach Jim Tressel this morning regarding the "takes some plays/games off" charge against Vernon Gholston, the Jets first-round pick. There will be more in tomorrow's paper, but one thing Tressel stressed several times was Gholston's sack and tackle numbers fluctuated for a reason: his role in Ohio State's 4-3 defensive scheme wasn't strictly as a pass rusher or a run stopper.

"When you're a D-end who is sometimes a drop guy, there are going to be times where you're not going forward," said Tressel, who later said he didn't see any issues for Gholston becoming an outside linebacker in the Jets 3-4 defense. "There are times where you'll be in the scuffle and sometimes when you're out in your zone."

Tressel is also familiar with Purdue's Dustin Keller, who, after a trade, turned out to be the Jets second pick of the first round. Ohio State beat Purdue, 23-7, with the nation's top-rated defense having an easy night...with one exception.

"If you watched our game against them last year, we played well defensively, but the one thing we didn’t have an answer for was Dustin Keller," Tressel said of the tight end, who finished the game with seven receptions for 101 yards. "We stopped everything and everyone else but him."

Not unexpectedly, Mike Tannenbaum and Eric Mangini were pleased with the six players the Jets took in this year’s draft. Tannenbaum seemed particularly excited about getting Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge in the fifth round.

“He had tremendous production under Coach [David] Cutcliffe, who also coached Eli Manning and Peyton Manning,” Tannenbaum said of Cutcliffe, a former Tennessee assistant and Ole Miss head coach now at Duke. “I’m not saying he’s necessarily going to be that good but he’s had very good pedigree from a coaching and development standpoint.”

“I think we did a lot of positive things in the draft,” Mangini said. “I like the things we’ve done defensively, I like the things we’ve done defensively, the things that we’ve done offensively. The thoroughness of the process, all the work that Joey (Clinkscales), Terry (Bradway) and Mike and all the scouts and coaches have done, we feel very good about the picks that we made.”

To review, it went like this:
1st Round (#6 overall pick): Vernon Gholston, OLB, Ohio State
1st Round (#30): Dustin Keller, TE, Purdue
4th Round (#113): Dwight Lowery, DB, San Jose State
5th Round (#162): Erik Ainge, QB, Tennessee
6th Round (#171): Marcus Henry, WR, Kansas
7th Round (#211): Nate Garner, OT, Arkansas

Overall grade on the draft? No thanks. Really, that’s like passing out grades without the students taking one test, quiz or exam. The only question that gets answered the day after the draft is this: did Team A, in this case the Jets, address the primary needs they had going into the draft? For the Jets, their biggest needs – in no particular order – were cornerback, pass rusher and wide receiver. In some form and at some point, they addressed all three. How well they addressed them doesn’t get answered until the fall, though we get a sneak peak this weekend with the rookie minicamp. More to come Monday.

The Jets draft Arkansas offensive tackle Nate Garner (6-6, 334 pounds) with their seventh-round pick, the 211th overall selection. One draft guide referred to him as "heavy-footed." Oh well, can't get it all in a seventh-round selection. Couldn't get McFadden, might as well get someone who blocked for him.

Really, though, who knows with guys like this? Great size. Could turn out to be a steal. If not, no harm done. The Jets desperately need some depth on the offensive line. General Manager Mike Tannenbaum will be in soon to put his final thoughts on the draft.

Overall, tough to hammer the Jets for much of anything they've done the last two days. Dustin Keller was the most controversial of the picks and that's only because the Jets traded up to get him. He's more wide receiver than anything and he'll be a nightmare for linebackers to try and cover. Other needs not covered in the draft - or positions simply in need of adequate backups - likely will be addressed via the rookie free agent route and after the June cuts. Tannenbaum shortly...

And it's Erik Ainge out of Tennessee. Some draftniks had Ainge rated as high as the sixth-best quarterback in this year's group, but the nephew of the former Celtics guard - and current Celtics GM - ended up as the ninth quarterback chosen. There are plenty of questions regarding the QB.

Certainly physically there's a lot to like, starting with his size: 6-5 1/2" and 223 pounds. But he doesn't have a big arm and his overall career at Tennessee, after entering the program with much fanfare, was considered somewhat of a disappointment in terms of contending for a national championship. Those kind of yearly expectations at Tennessee seemed to wear on Ainge at times.

But while his performance in the "big game" was always a criticism - and a fair one - Ainge did break Peyton Manning's single-season completions record this year with 325 and he finished the 2007 season having completed 62.6 percent of his passes, throwing for 3,522 yards, 31 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions. Lots of big numbers across the board. Interesting project pick here.

Next up for the Jets, the fifth pick of the sixth round, the 171st pick overall.

UPDATE: and with that pick [love the condensed time of the draft this year] the Jets grab a receiver: Marcus Henry, a 6-3 1/2" 207-pound wideout from Kansas. Became an NFL prospect based on his huge senior season when he became the go-to guy in the Jayhawks' offense. Henry had 54 catches for 1,014 yards and 10 touchdowns. Known for great hands, ability to adjust his body to poorly thrown passes, but also for not having great speed.

Also known as having no relation to Newsday's very own Marcus Henry.

But first, word from the league that the Jets are barred from making any more deals with the Packers in this year's draft...

Anyway, we had Dwight Lowery on conference call and the first thing that needed clearing up was his height. Seriously. Five publications had five different heights for Lowery - everything from 5-11 1/4" to 6-1.

"I'm about 5-11 1/2"," Lowery said, getting an immediate introduction to that vicious New York media.

Lowery arrived at San Jose State as a safety but was converted to corner, a transition he called "smooth."

"It allowed me to do what I do best, so it ended up being pretty smooth," Lowery said.

What does he do best?

"My whole college career, I've had good ball skills and that's probably the thing that I do best," he said.

Joey Clinkscales, the Jets Director of College Scouting, said the Jets liked Lowery's athleticism and versatility. Lowery, who had nine interceptions as a junior and four last season, ranked 14th in the nation in punt return average in 2007 (14.37), returning one of his 19 attempts for a touchdown.

"We think he's a guy who can come in and has a chance to compete," Clinkscales said.

Lowery recorded 13 interceptions at Cabrillo College (JC) as a safety, switching to cornerback before the 2006 season at San Jose State. He said he hasn't been given an indication by the Jets of whether they see him as a corner or safety.

"No, they just want me to come in, play hard and work hard," Lowery said. "As a rookie, you really have to establish yourself and establish some type of role on the team."

Three more picks for the Jets today - one each in the fifth (162nd overall pick), sixth (171st pick) and seventh (211th pick) rounds.

But Dwight Lowery? He's a cornerback from San Jose State with this lowdown: a 5-11 1/4" corner who had a much better junior season than senior year. Ran a 4.54 40 at the combine and had a 33 1/2" vertical jump. He's known as a good athlete but not particularly good on run support. Tackling skills have been questioned and, depending on the scout, he's either good or average in coverage. It will be interesting to see if Tannenbaum says whether the Jets traded the 102nd pick after Justin King, the Penn State corner, was taken at 101 by the Rams, catching the Jets off guard. Look at Lowery this way: he would have been a late first-round or second round pick after his junior season. The question is, what happened to him his senior season? Back with more soon...

The Jets trade their fourth-round pick (102nd overall) to the Packers. Justin King, a cornerback from Penn State the Jets might have been considering, was selected by the Rams in the spot (101st overall pick) before the Jets. That's two trades with Green Bay in the last 16 hours. The Jets get the 113th pick back, which they dealt yesterday, and the 162nd overall pick, a fifth-rounder. The Jets came into this year's draft without a fifth-round selection.

That might be the Jets final answer to Chris Baker's demand for a renegotiated contract. Mangini and Tannenbaum will be in soon enough to talk about it. For what it's worth, Keller is a tremendous tight end, an overall great athlete (he ran a 4.53 at the combine and had a 38" vertical). I'm just not sure this was a more immediate need than corner, wide receiver, etc. Not a horrendous pick, though right now a perplexing one. The Jets gave up two picks in this year's draft to move up - their second round pick (36th overall) and one of their fourth-round picks (113th overall).

UPDATE: Tannenbaum just spoke to the media and assured everyone this pick had nothing to do with Baker's contract demands. They don't seem out of line given the guy brought in to back Baker up - Bubba Franks - is slated to make significantly more.

"Chris is on the team, we expect him to be here," Tannenbaum said. "We expect him to be here for the 2008 season."

That remains to be seen.

But regardless of how the move is interpreted, Tannenbaum said Keller was among a handful of players the Jets deemed worthy of a trade back into the first round should they still be on the board. Keller has been compared to Dallas Clark and Tannenbaum did not run from that comparison.

"We feel like Dustin's another weapon for us," he said.

So that puts a wrap on Day 1.

"We still have a 4, 6 and 7 left," Tannenbaum said of the Jets remaining draft picks. "We don't expect to trade back into the second round."

Without any trades, the Jets next pick comes in the fourth round Sunday, the 102nd overall selection. Cornerback anyone?

General Manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini met with the media a little while ago, with both praising Gholston's work ethic and flexibility.

Tannenbaum: "We spent a lot of time with Vernon on and off the field and we think he’ll fit in well here. He can help in all phases of our defense. He can rush the passer, he does a good job staying the edge in the run game. He plays over the tight end as well, so there’s a lot of different things he can do. That’s why we’re excited to have him.”

Mangini: "Vernon’s got to come in and establish a role but we look forward to him coming in and doing that. One of the things I liked about him was his flexibility and being able to line up over the tight end, drop back into coverage, do a lot of other things that they do at Ohio State."

Mangini displayed his knack for understated humor when asked about some of the criticism surrounding Gholston, primarily that many of his sacks came in bunches.

"I'm always happy with sacks in bunches," Mangini said.

Back with more later...

With Matt Ryan and Darren McFadden gone, it turns out to be Vernon Gholston after all. He was serenaded with a heavy dose of "Ver-non Ghol-ston! Ver-non Gholston!" chants just before Roger Goodell announced his name.

"I'm going to make things happen," Gholston just said on the NFL Network.

The Jets certainly hope so. One need addressed, still a few to go, primarily at cornerback.

And with reports being that it is a done deal the Rams are going with Chris Long at No. 2 and the Raiders are ready to grab Darren McFadden at No. 4, the question becomes this: is it automatic the Jets take Vernon Gholston? Don't rule out Troy cornerback Leodis McKelvin, even at No. 6. Word is McKelvin might actually be rated higher on the Jets draft board than Gholston.

On this morning's ESPN First Take, the show took all six of its Cover Two reporters, put them in a war room and had them come up with a consensus mock draft. I know, I know, never can have enough of those.

Of course, I'm promoting this only because Newsday’s NFL columnist Bob Glauber – a longtime ESPN contributor dating back, and I might have my dates mixed up here, to 1984 – was among those in the ersatz war room.

Anyway, here’s the consensus of picks 1-7, with the panel guaranteed to at least have the first pick right.
Miami: Jake Long
St. Louis: Glenn Dorsey
Atlanta: Matt Ryan
Oakland: Darren McFadden
Kansas City: Chris Long
Jets: Vernon Gholston
New England: trading down with the Saints who pick Sedrick Ellis

If you missed Glauber this morning, here’s a Jets draft video he did with newsday.com’s Adam Abramson, a burgeoning Mel Kiper Jr. in terms of draft knowledge who facially has been trying to resemble Merlin Olsen [the Olsen of mid-80’s NBC fame]. Also, lots in Newsday today on the draft: Glauber did his mock draft; I wrote about the Jets trading D-Rob [could have sworn I heard canon fire across Jets Nation afterward] and Darren McFadden’s vibe regarding Saturday’s draft; Johnette Howard offered her thoughts about the Jets draft and Tom Rock wrote about the prospects of Jeremy Shockey getting dealt by the Giants.

Glauber and Abramson, by the way, will be live-blogging tomorrow’s draft starting around 2. Not sure what Abramson will blog about from 2-3 seeing that the draft starts at 3, but I covered the Heisman Trophy awards ceremony the last two years with him and each time he started his blog more than an hour before the festivities began. Expect lots on the pre-draft buffet, but some really good stuff once the draft gets underway.

Finally, to steal from Eric Mangini, there's some housekeeping I neglected to get to late yesterday. Lost in the headliner of the Jets finally dealing D-Rob was the release of four players: RB Alvin Banks (James Madison), CB Manny Collins (Rutgers), LB Jerry Mackey (Syracuse), and WR Shaine Smith (Hofstra). No shockers there.

Housekeeping item No. 2: Jay R., that takes some major brass defending Dewayne Robertson in the comments section here. Admirable.

And with that, tomorrow afternoon can't get here soon enough. All the pre-draft talk is great, but let's get it on already. As I've previously said, I go with McFadden if he's available but it would be tough to rip the Jets if they go with a pass rusher or cornerback, two huge areas of need.

On the surface, it appears the Jets got next to nothing in trading Dewayne Robertson to the Broncos Thursday afternoon for what has been reported to be a late-round conditional pick in the 2009 draft.

But, a league source said, if Robertson plays as much for the Broncos as he did for the Jets last season, the draft choice could "be significantly better than that."

That has a decent chance of happening. While Robertson has a bone-on-bone condition in his knee and he flunked a Broncos team physical last month, the defensive tackle, never a fit for the Jets 3-4 scheme, played in 15 of 16 games in 2007. In 2006, he played in all 16 games. If Robertson sees the field that much next season, the Jets will end up getting more out of this than it currently looks. Still, for the fourth overall pick of the 2003 draft...well, something's better than nothing.

Of course, the larger victory for the Jets here is the money they've cleared. Robertson was due about $18 million over the final two years of his contract.

Darrell and so many others who have wished for it...your day apparently has come. Dewayne Robertson has been shipped to the Rockies. No, not the baseball team. More to come...

There was plenty of "I just want to play football somewhere" and "It doesn't matter where I go," cliches at this afternoon's NFL Draft Luncheon at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, but Darren McFadden strayed from that a bit. He's convinced, should he be around when the Jets pick sixth, they'll take him.

"I feel like if I’m still up there when they’re picking, they’re probably going to try to take me," McFadden said.

McFadden had nothing concrete go on, saying, "Talking to them, I get that vibe."

Reminded that all teams try to make players feel welcome during the pre-draft interview process, McFadden said, "I felt it more with the Jets."

I'll have more of that in tomorrow's paper, as well as comments from some of the other projected top picks, including Vernon Gholston, Chris Long and Matt Ryan. Ryan veered for a moment from his stock answers when I asked him if teams were as secretive with draft picks as they are with the media.

"Probably more so," Ryan said with a laugh. "You leave these meetings hoping for some feedback like, 'Hey that was a great workout, Matt,' or 'You did a great job with the interview process.' You get NOTHING."

See, everyone's in the same boat here.

Props to E-Boland for letting me (La Monica) sneak into his blog to post this video of B-Glaubs chatting it up with the Big Cat about what the Jets may do in the NFL Draft this weekend.

Nothing like a little B-Glaubs to start your morning off right. Call it Free Pizza, if you wish.

No matter how many ways the question was phrased, Kellen Clemens wasn’t biting.

Clemens was one of several Jets in Central Park this afternoon as part of the NFL’s Play 60 Youth Football Festival to promote physical fitness among kids.

Clemens said his mental preparation for the upcoming preseason, when he will square off with Chad Pennington for the starting job, began shortly after watching the Giants upset the Patriots in February's Super Bowl. But what of all this recent Matt Ryan talk?

“Coach Mangini and Mr. Tannenbaum are going to make that decision,” Clemens said before taking the makeshift turf field and lobbing passes to an enthusiastic group of New York City students. “At this point, obviously, Chad and I are in a battle. I can only control the things I can control. If we do pick him [Ryan], awesome, it’s one more guy in the competition.”

More from Clemens in tomorrow’s paper [and on newsday.com, of course]. He had more to say – though not much more – on the prospect of Ryan being selected, his offseason preparation and if the second half of last year provided a fair body of work with which to judge him.

I also caught up with a more confident-sounding D'Brickashaw Ferguson at the event. I didn’t even bother asking him about the quarterback situation and he laughed at my admittedly ham-handed attempt at getting him to address what it might be like blocking for Darren McFadden.

Me: “This is not a set-up question in any way…”

Ferguson, smiling: “If you have to say that, then it is. But go ahead.”

Woodward and Bernstein would be proud. Anyway, these were Ferguson’s general thoughts about McFadden, making it clear he wasn’t lobbying the Jets to go one way or another in Saturday’s draft.

“He’s an impressive runner. A fast runner and he does things on the field that are just impressive. It’s almost like, you look at Reggie Bush and the things he did in college,” he said. “I think whenever you have a great back like a Leon Washington, like a Thomas Jones, it always makes your job easier because you know they’re going to fight for those yards. You know if you give them this much, they’re going to take a mile.”

Well played, D’Brick.

Ferguson, in the flag football session before Clemens, threw a variety of ducks, floaters and, yes, some spirals too.

"During recess," Ferguson said when I asked him the last time he threw a pass.

By the way, good conversation, everyone, on McFadden and other draft topics. JC from Arkansas, thanks for the video links. Roger; I think Jonathan Stewart will be a steal for someone. Of the top running back prospects at the combine, he had the highest vertical jump at 36 ½”. No, that’s not terribly relevant for a running back, but it is a little bit interesting. [For those vertically-inclined, McFadden’s vertical at the combine was 33”, Rashard Mendenhall’s was 33 ½" and Felix Jones’ was 33 ½”].

On the ESPN conference call today promoting this weekend's draft coverage, Ron Jaworski, asked about the Jets taking Darren McFadden, said he thought there was, "a very good chance that could happen."

"[McFadden] has been all over the board," Jaworski said. "Some guys love his game, some don't like him at all."

His impression?

"Tremendous speed and quickness when you get him in open space," Jaworski said. "[but] I don't see a powerful back who can run over people."

For that reason, Jaworski differed from those who have compared McFadden to Adrian Peterson. Jaworski didn't say it but by his description of McFadden, it sounded like the player Jaworski most saw in the Arkansas running back was Reggie Bush.

"He's going to have to go to an offensive system that will get him the football in space," Jaworski said.

Also of interest on the conference call was Jaworski's prediction for who he thought would have this year's "death wait" [my expression, not Jaws'] in the Green Room, ala Brady Quinn last year.

"Vernon Gholston," Jaworski said.

With the news this afternoon that Jake Long had agreed to terms with Miami, will the Dolphins still take all of their allotted 10 minutes to make their first-round pick?

Gholston. McFadden. Ryan. Chris Long. Almost every scenario for the Jets draft this weekend has been covered here and elsewhere and the one constant in terms of fans' perspective is this: there is no unanimity on what the right move is. Yes, McFadden seems to be the people’s choice but in voting pro-McFadden, I don’t pick up an anti-this-guy vibe from anyone. In other words, a lot of you want McFadden, but wouldn’t be upset if the Jets went with Gholston, Long or someone else that addressed an obvious need.

So I’ll turn the question this way: What, from your standpoint, would be absolutely unacceptable for the Jets this weekend? Take it from the No. 6 pick perspective or the draft overall [Note to Darrell and others: besides not completing some kind of deal for Dewayne Robertson].

Other notes: check out Bob Glauber’s s