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The Jets have another 47 days before their season opens against the Cowboys on Sept. 11. The team’s first wins and losses could come this week, though.
With the NFL lockout over, it’s time for the Jets front office to do their thing. General manager Mike Tannenbaum and his staff will begin negotiating with free agents and draft picks today, hoping to piece together a puzzle that results in the Super Bowl championship coach Rex Ryan has talked about since the day he got the job.
Tannenbaum faces plenty of challenges. Start with the Jets’ own free agents. Receiver Santonio Holmes and cornerback Antonio Cromartie were key pieces of the 2010 Jets who will command big bucks on the open market. Receiver Braylon Edwards is not far behind.
Everything flows from what those three players do. The Jets, if they retain those players, are projected to be about $1 million over the $120.375 million salary cap established for 2011. Once they figure out who’s in and who’s out, Tannenbaum will see how creative he must be in addressing other plans and players — such as figuring out if there is some way to fit cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha under the cap or if Randy Moss or Plaxico Burress truly is a fit for Ryan.
Joel Segal, the agent for Holmes and Moss, sounded optimistic yesterday when talking about a Holmes encore in green and white.
“Santonio loves New York, he’s a fan of the head coach, he likes the quarterback, he likes the system,” Segal told The Post’s Steve Serby. “There’s a strong possibility of Santonio staying in New York. He’s a huge fan of New York.”
The Jets players who are under contract get back to business today. The team’s facility in Florham Park will be open to the players for the first time in months, allowing players to visit with coaches and the medical staff. Training camp begins when players report Sunday. The first practice is Monday.
Jets player rep Brandon Moore has spent 4**½** months trying to resolve the lockout. Today, he will go to the Jets’ facility to have his surgically-repaired right hip checked by the trainers and reunite with teammates and coaches.
“I think there will be a lot of handshakes and a lot of smiling,” Moore said. “We’re ready to get back to football. I think the intensity of the [strength and considtioning] program and [the people] in the building will be in playoff mode. Now it’s time to get back to football and do this thing.”
Ryan wasted no time getting back to his usual operating mode of predicting greatness for his team. In a video posted on the team’s website and in a voicemail left for season-ticket holders, Ryan said the Jets are better than they were last year, even though no one, including Ryan, knows exactly what the 2011 Jets are going to look like.
“I’m really exited to get back at this and the New York Jets are going to be ready, and the best thing is we get to prove it,” Ryan said in the video. “Believe me, we are ready to do it. We think we’ve helped our football team during this time, we took it as an opportunity to get better, and we believe we’ve accomplished that and that we think its going to be our year and we’ll find out soon enough.”
Decisions made this week will determine whether the Jets will be playing in Super Bowl XLVI next February or watching from their couches.