Here is a brief rundown of what I have inherited. I have a team with that plays hard and has been somewhat competitive despite the lack of talent and depth in certain key areas. I have an abundance of cap space and a limited amount of time to change the look, perception and culture of this franchise. The players deserve it, the owner deserves it and most of all the fans deserve it. I have a large amount of cap space to work with. May have to over pay to get certain players under contract. I will not sign or draft players based on what the popular thinking is, I will count on my scouting dept. and advisory board to get the players who fit in with my new coaches philosophy and coordinators schemes.
Let’s keep certain areas in tact for now due to the fact that we don’t have enough time to shake up the entire organization. I have decided to keep the front office in tact. That includes my training staff, security, pro-player personnel and my scouting dept. I cannot disrupt the work these people have put in.
My first hires will be the coaching staff and a capologist.
I am going to hire the head coach, offensive, defensive coordinators and special teams coach. They will interview and eventually hire their assistant coaching staff. My head coach will also be in charge of hiring his own strength and conditioning coach.
It is now Monday, February 2[SUP]nd[/SUP], 2015. Welcome to this press conference. After numerous interviews with some very strong candidates, I am proud to name the following new coaches to our coaching staff. First, your new head coach is familiar to this organization. Dan Quinn, formerly the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks the past 2 seasons. Dan had Seattle in the upper echelon when it came to defensive schemes and player personnel in the NFL. He was the DL coach here with the Jets in 2007-2008.
As for our unit coaches, I have hired coach Karl Dunbar to be our Defensive Coordinator. Coach Dunbar is a motivator and a teacher who raised the level of play for our defensive lineman. He is responsible for the development of Mo Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson, and Kendrick Ellis etc.
Our new offensive coordinator is Greg Roman, formally of the SF 49ers; Greg runs the west coast scheme, while also serving as an excellent in game manager. He also has shown great patience in working with young, inexperienced quarterbacks.
I have rounded out the staff with Jeff Banks as our new special teams coach. Jeff Banks, has agreed to leave Texas A&M to become our special teams coordinator. Jeff understands the importance of special teams and hidden yardage. He has succeeded as a special teams coach for the past 3 seasons at the college ranks.
I have hired a private accounting firm to assist in salary cap issues. This company has had prior dealings in pro sports and assures me that they will conform to all NFL sanctions.
March 12th, 2015.
Our free agent press conference. I am here to discuss our offseason personnel plan with you today. We have made some significant moves, and have brought some key free agents on board.
First off, we have 97 million in allotted cap space as of yesterday with 50 million available. I have decided not to absorb Percy Harvin’s contract and we have released him.
My first area to address is the offensive line. And we have by signing Offensive Guards Mike Lupati and James Carpenter to 4-year contracts. We have also come to terms with Cb Bryon Maxwell 6 years and Brandon Flowers, 5 years Ilb Ray Maluuga 4 years and De Greg Hardy 3 years. We also signed WR Jarrett Boykin to a 2-year deal.
We have also made 2 trades that will impact our 2015 NFL draft. I have traded our
#6 pick to the Cleveland Browns for their 2 first round picks,
#14 and
#18 . I have also acquired Robert Griffin from the Washington Redskins for our 4[SUP]th[/SUP] round pick this year and a conditional pick in the 2016 draft.
And the biggest news, we have signed franchised WR Dez Bryant to an offer sheet. The Cowboys have 3 days from today to match our offer, if they do not, the Dallas Cowboys will be awarded the 14[SUP]th[/SUP] pick in this years draft.
As for our free agents, Mo Wilkerson’s contract will be addressed before the end of this season. He will count 7 million against the cap this season. We have re-signed the following to contracts.
David Harris ILB
Dawan Landry S
Bilail Powell RB
Nick Bellore ILB
Ledger Douzable DE
Kendrick Ellis DT
Damon Harrison DT
Jaiquawn Jarrett S
Tanner Pardum LS
Greg Salas WR
With our free agent signings and trades, if we end up with Dez Bryant, we will have 8.5 million in cap space left for draft picks and our practice squad.
Welcome to the 2015 NFL draft. My first draft was exciting, and I think I have added some real potential difference makers to our roster.
Here is my final tally of year 1 as GM
Round 1 Pick 14 (Sent to Dallas for Dez Bryant)
Pick 18 RB Melvin Gordon Wisconsin
Round 2 Pick 37 WR Rashard Greene Florida State
Round 3 Pick 70 S Derron Smith Fresno State
Round 4 (Sent to Washington)
Round 5 (Sent to Seattle Percy Harvin)
Round 6 QB Bo Wallace Old Miss
Round 7 OLB Tony Washington Oregon
I would like to announce that we have made 11 rookie free agent signings. The following have been signed to the preseason roster. P-Will Baumann, K- Ty Long, CB/S Josh Shaw, WR Brandon Carter and Tommy Shuler, TE Clay Burton, DE Noah Spence and Frank Clark, OLB James Roos III and Denzel Devail and QB Braxton Miller.
After a preseason in which we had no injuries to any player on our considered final 53 man roster I present you with your 2015 NY Jets 53 man roster. The starters will be in capital letters. This part is fantasy, due to the fact that injuries are a part of the game. I cannot speculate even in my wildest dreams on this one. If there were any injuries, you would see a change to the 53-man roster. I will also list my opening practice squad players based on roster carryover and a few undrafted free agent signings.
QB (2) ROBERT GRIFFIN
Geno Smith
RB (5) CHRIS IVORY
Chris Johnson
Melvin Gordon
Bilal Powell
Tommy Bohanan
WR (6) DEZ BRYANT
ERIC DECKER
JEREMY KERLEY
Rashard Green
Greg Salas
Jarrett Boykin
TE (3) JACE AMARO
Jeff Cumberland
Zack Sudfeld
C (2) NICK MANGOLD
Dalton Freeman
G (4) MIKE LUPATI
JAMES CARPENTER
Brian Winters
Dakota Dozier
T (3) D’BRICKASHAW FURGUSON
BRENO GIACOMINI
Ben Ijalana
DE (4) MOHAMMAD WILKERSON
SHELDON RICHARDSON
Greg Hardy
Leger Douzable
DT (3) KENDRICK ELLIS
Damon Harrison
TJ Barnes
ILB (4) DAMARIO DAVIS
RAY MALUUGA
DAVID HARRIS
Nick Bellore
OLB (4) QUINTON COPLES
Calvin Pace
Jason Babin
Tony Washington
CB (5) BRYAN MAXWELL
BRANDON FLOWERS
Dee Milliner
Marcus Williams
Dexter McDougle
S (5) DAWAN LANDRY
CALVIN PRYOR
Derron Smith
Antonio Allen
Jaiquawn Jarrett
ST (3) NICK FOLK
WILL BAUMANN
TANNER PURDUM
Here is our opening day practice squad consisting of 6 players who have met the criteria.
QB Braxton Miller
WR Tommy Shuler
CB/S Josh Shaw
TE Clay Burton
DE Noah Spence
OLB James Roos III
I also want to announce that we have changed our uniform and team colors. After league approval, we will now be outfitted in black helmets with the same logo that has been in place. The helmets have green stripes highlighted in white and green facemasks. Our home jersey will be black with green numbers and names. Our pants will be black with green stripe highlighted in white. We will wear an alternate green jersey for our home opener.
Our away uniforms will consist of white jerseys. Our alternate uniform will be in Miami where we will wear white jerseys with white pants with black numbers and stripes. These 2 alternates are allowed by the NFL and will aid our players in dealing with the heat associated with these 2 games.
