JOIN THE CLUB: Tim Tebow wasn’t the only one confused by yesterday’s deal-then-no-deal-then-deal between the Jets and Broncos. (Getty Images)
The funny part is this: From the moment the word started circulating, around social media and around the world, that the Jets had actually dealt for Tim Tebow, this was the reaction of both sides of the great divide, those who endorsed the deal and those who thought it more absurd than “John Carter”:
This had better work out well.
Or else someone’s going to get fired.
That someone, of course, was Mike Tannenbaum, the Jets’ Teflon-coated general manager, who somehow was allowed to both hire and fire Eric Mangini and never once have his own job status questioned, who somehow survived last year’s calamitous 8-8 mess with only a minimum of blood spatter since Rex Ryan and Santonio Holmes and Mark Sanchez were the ones who spent the most time walking the gangplank.
Yes. Irony. Because now it really doesn’t matter that the Tebow trade went through after hours of hand-wringing yesterday, and it doesn’t really matter if it’s a big success or an epic failure. Because you could argue, and with cause, that his amateurish handling of this whole transaction nudges open a window into the way Tannenbaum — and thereby the Jets — does business, paints a portrait that’s a lot more whole than anything we’d seen before.
And it’s not a pretty picture.
And Tannenbaum has to answer for that. He has to explain how he could be a GM in this league for six years, how he could be an executive in the league for 15 years, and — at best — allow what the Jets had already turned a done deal into something else and — at worst — not notice the fine print in Tebow’s contract that explained that trading for him could cost the Jets an extra $5 million. And it’s not about the money: Woody Johnson could use 5 million dollar bills as kindling to light his fireplace if he wanted to.
It’s about a franchise whose image was already battered and bleeding, exposed as bullies without foundation during the season and now further exposed as overmatched buffoons in the offseason. And seeing how this whole thing went down — the Jets congratulating themselves and breaking their own news early, them scrambling to try to prove they aren’t a complete fiasco late — was like watching clowns trying to avoid banana peels.
Failing, too, by the way.
Executives and agents across the league were laughing at the Jets yesterday for the way they handled all of this, even if, as the Jets insist, this was just a misunderstanding and not malpractice. The Jets have become a target anyway thanks to the boastful and boisterous personality of their coach.
But at least Ryan has a record. Even if you don’t project him to be the next Don Shula he did lead the Jets to successive AFC Championship Game trips his first two years on the job, and has a well-earned rep as a smart defensive mind. He did do a remarkable job of closing civic gap between the Giants and the Jets before the Giants counter-punched the best way possible this past winter. He has accomplishment on his side.
At some point, it’s not a bad idea to start attaching the same minimum standard to Tannenbaum, who crafted the porous offensive line that caused so many headaches (figurative for Jets fans, literal for Sanchez) this year, who was the one who acquired Holmes and his poisonous personality, who assembled every ruinous piece in the lost locker room that Ryan was forced to answer for at season’s end.
And who now, depending on whom you believe, can’t be bothered to simply read a contract thoroughly.
I actually think adding Tebow is a fine idea. This will work out fine for them and for Tannenbaum. They didn’t give up a whole lot to get him. They don’t break the bank to pay him. The Jets missed Brad Smith’s jack-of-all-trades versatility last year, skill sets that were as pronounced by his absence as they ever were by his presence; in essence, Tebow is Smith 2.0, low risk, potentially high reward.
I didn’t know the Jets might need to kick in an extra $5 million while pondering the wisdom of the deal (half of which they’ll have to pay), but it isn’t in my job description to know that.
It is a part of Mike Tannenbaum’s. It might be wise for him to brush up on that while he still has a job. And he may want to make it snappy.