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Jets' Mike Maccagnan retains John Idzik's pal Rod Graves (for now), so what is Graves doing?
Darryl Slater | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com By Darryl Slater | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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on February 17, 2015 at 9:20 AM, updated February 17, 2015 at 10:05 AM
When Jets owner Woody Johnson fired general manager John Idzik after the 2014 season, most people assumed the new GM would clean out the front office upon his arrival.
While new GM Mike Maccagnan did fire the organization's top two college scouts, Terry Bradway and Jeff Bauer, one prominent Idzik holdover remains in the front office: Rod Graves.
Graves, the Cardinals' former GM, was Idzik's right-hand man. They worked together in Arizona from 2004-07. Graves' official title with the Jets was senior director of football administration. He was hired shortly after Idzik took over in early 2013.
About a month into Maccagnan's tenure, Graves still has that title, and remains employed by the Jets. Most observers figured Graves, who got a courtesy interview for the Jets' GM opening, would be fired by the new GM. But that hasn't happened, at least not yet.
The first big sign of Graves being retained (for now) was his presence at the joint introductory press conference for Maccagnan and new head coach Todd Bowles.
In an interview with the Jets' website, Maccagnan explained what Graves is doing as free agency and the draft approach. Maccagnan said Graves and Jacqueline Davidson, the manager of football administration, are handling the salary cap.
Graves and Davidson comprise the Jets' football administration department, according to the team's official staff directory. Davidson also retained her old title. She has been with the Jets since 2007, when Idzik's predecessor, Mike Tannenbaum, was the GM.
There is always the possibility Maccagnan could make more front office changes after the draft. But at this point, Graves and Davidson remain with the Jets.
Graves had interviewed for Washington's GM job this offseason, but didn't get it. After Johnson fired Idzik, the owner put Graves in charge of running football operations until a new GM came on-board.
While detailing the salary cap issues Graves and Davidson are working on, Maccagnan said, "More or less taking all the players we've targeted in free agency and trying to almost set parameters on what we're going to sort of target (with) salary ranges for the players, with all our salary cap space -- to see who we can afford, who we're going to target, where will we even start the negotiations off, and then sort of a higher-end range of where we would feel would be beyond what would be a fair compensation for the player."
The NFL's 2015 salary cap hasn't been officially set yet. But according to a projection by overthecap.com, which presumes a $140 million cap, the Jets will enter free agency with $48.9 million in salary cap space -- the league's fourth-biggest figure.
In his interview with the Jets' website, Maccagnan also described how his pro and college scouting departments are progressing as they get ready for free agency and the draft.
• On pro scouting: "We more or less have vetted all the higher-rated pro free agents as a group. We've given those players to the coaches, that we've targeted to evaluate. Currently, our pro scouts are going back over sort of the second-tier and lower-level investment type players (in free agency), to hopefully find a lower-level value player that has good return for the investment."
• On college scouting: "We're basically putting together an initial (draft) board. So we're going through every draftable player, kind of coming up with our rankings. We'll in turn give some of those players to the coaches to evaluate. We'll also kind of identify all the areas of concern that we want to vet (with particular players), going back for the pro days in March and also at the combine with these players."
Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.
Darryl Slater | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com By Darryl Slater | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on February 17, 2015 at 9:20 AM, updated February 17, 2015 at 10:05 AM
When Jets owner Woody Johnson fired general manager John Idzik after the 2014 season, most people assumed the new GM would clean out the front office upon his arrival.
While new GM Mike Maccagnan did fire the organization's top two college scouts, Terry Bradway and Jeff Bauer, one prominent Idzik holdover remains in the front office: Rod Graves.
Graves, the Cardinals' former GM, was Idzik's right-hand man. They worked together in Arizona from 2004-07. Graves' official title with the Jets was senior director of football administration. He was hired shortly after Idzik took over in early 2013.
About a month into Maccagnan's tenure, Graves still has that title, and remains employed by the Jets. Most observers figured Graves, who got a courtesy interview for the Jets' GM opening, would be fired by the new GM. But that hasn't happened, at least not yet.
The first big sign of Graves being retained (for now) was his presence at the joint introductory press conference for Maccagnan and new head coach Todd Bowles.
In an interview with the Jets' website, Maccagnan explained what Graves is doing as free agency and the draft approach. Maccagnan said Graves and Jacqueline Davidson, the manager of football administration, are handling the salary cap.
Graves and Davidson comprise the Jets' football administration department, according to the team's official staff directory. Davidson also retained her old title. She has been with the Jets since 2007, when Idzik's predecessor, Mike Tannenbaum, was the GM.
There is always the possibility Maccagnan could make more front office changes after the draft. But at this point, Graves and Davidson remain with the Jets.
Graves had interviewed for Washington's GM job this offseason, but didn't get it. After Johnson fired Idzik, the owner put Graves in charge of running football operations until a new GM came on-board.
While detailing the salary cap issues Graves and Davidson are working on, Maccagnan said, "More or less taking all the players we've targeted in free agency and trying to almost set parameters on what we're going to sort of target (with) salary ranges for the players, with all our salary cap space -- to see who we can afford, who we're going to target, where will we even start the negotiations off, and then sort of a higher-end range of where we would feel would be beyond what would be a fair compensation for the player."
The NFL's 2015 salary cap hasn't been officially set yet. But according to a projection by overthecap.com, which presumes a $140 million cap, the Jets will enter free agency with $48.9 million in salary cap space -- the league's fourth-biggest figure.
In his interview with the Jets' website, Maccagnan also described how his pro and college scouting departments are progressing as they get ready for free agency and the draft.
• On pro scouting: "We more or less have vetted all the higher-rated pro free agents as a group. We've given those players to the coaches, that we've targeted to evaluate. Currently, our pro scouts are going back over sort of the second-tier and lower-level investment type players (in free agency), to hopefully find a lower-level value player that has good return for the investment."
• On college scouting: "We're basically putting together an initial (draft) board. So we're going through every draftable player, kind of coming up with our rankings. We'll in turn give some of those players to the coaches to evaluate. We'll also kind of identify all the areas of concern that we want to vet (with particular players), going back for the pro days in March and also at the combine with these players."
Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.
