NFL

Tannenbaum’s take: Former Jets GM watches NFL Draft with The Post

STRANGE FEELING: Former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum, at his New Jersey home, watches as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell poses with Dee Milliner, Gang Green’s first of two first-round draft picks, last night. (
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The NFL Draft was unfolding without him on this night, and now the Jets were on the clock, no longer his Jets, but John Idzik’s team instead. Mike Tannenbaum was sitting on a tan couch in the family room of his Basking Ridge, N.J., home, only 14 minutes from the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, but really far, far away

And yet not all that far, far away. Because here was Tannenbaum, writing notes on a yellow pad, checking his iPad, analyzing each pick, and now standing in front of his television waiting anxiously for Idzik to make his first pick as general manager and begin rebuilding the Jets.

“It’s a little surreal,” Tannenbaum said. “Just different.”

I asked him whether any part of him missed being inside the Jets war room and he smiled and said: “Yeah, absolutely. But we would be having the same conversation — you’re just a different version of Terry Bradway right now.”

JETS DRAFT SELECTIONS

Now came word that the Rams had leapfrogged the Jets for wide receiver Tavon Austin. I asked Tannenbaum what he would have done if he were infatuated with Austin. “I’m calling everyone behind me and trying to bail out and pick up another pick — if they wanted Austin,” he said.

Would there have been groans in the war room? “I would have been M-effin’,” Tannenbaum said.

Tannenbaum is an Austin fan. “I think he’s really special, I think he’s a guy that has to touch the ball 10-15 times a game. and I know if you’re sitting in the defensive meeting on a Tuesday night, one of the first things you’re saying is ‘We gotta stop this guy,’ ” Tannenbaum said.

No Jets trade.

“I’m thinking this is either gonna be [Dee] Milliner or [Chance] Warmack,” Tannenbaum said.

Tannenbaum turned to his 9-year-old daughter Ella, and 6-year-old son Jacob, seated on a couch to his left, and said: “This is the first time since 1996 that the Jets are gonna make a draft choice without me being there,” Tannenbaum said. “It’s kinda weird. Since 1996 guys: that’s before I even met mom!”

“When I was born,” Jacob said, “he was the GM.”

Idzik selected Milliner, the Alabama cornerback now saddled with the burden of replacing Darrelle Revis.

“The short view of it is he has to replace Darrelle, but he can play really good man-to-man,” Tannenbaum said.

I asked Tannenbaum what he would say to the Jets draftniks who voiced their disapproval at Radio City Music Hall.

“Be patient,” Tannenbaum said. “He has a chance of being a really good player. He’s a premium position from a school that Nick Saban is unbelievable at coaching this position. And, you can’t have enough of ’em, especially within the division. I can see ’em playing four corners quite a bit now.”

Tannenbaum recalled interviewing Milliner on the NFL Network. “Really liked him,” he said. “Really poised.”

Now the Titans picked Warmack, and the clock was ticking towards the Jets’ next turn at 13. Now Tannenbaum noticed (Jets video director) Tim Tubito and (assistant equipment director) Vito Contento at the Jets table at Radio City and said: “They’re trying to make a trade, you can tell, because Tim Tubito, on that last shot, wasn’t writing anything down, so they’re hoping to make a trade.”

Idzik’s pick: defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson.

“Really productive, really good motor,” Tannenbaum said. “With Quinton, and Mo, and Kenrick Ellis, and this guy, that’s a lot of firepower,” Tannenbaum said.

I asked Tannenbaum whether this might signal coach Rex Ryan still has input. “I know John. John would not not include the head coach,” Tannenbaum said.

Earlier, Tannenbaum had spotted superagent Tom Condon in the background and said: “When I used to try to get him off his game, and he was chewing Nicorette gum, I knew I was making progress, that was a nervous habit that he had.”

They showed Geno Smith waiting in the green room on the NFL Network, and Tannenbaum expected Idzik to pass: “I don’t get the sense they’re going there,” he said. “They could be one of the teams that could trade up into the bottom of the first round for a quarterback.”

He is moving on to a new chapter of his life as president of the Coaching, Front Office and Broadcasting division in both basketball and football of Priority Sports & Entertainment, with an office in New York.

“I think they got really solid, good football players that have excellent football character,” Tannenbaum said.

Did you miss it?

“It’s certainly a different experience,” he said. “But I think making sure I’m on top of things will allow me to help my clients succeed in their respective positions.”