FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The rebuilding of the Jets began here — at a tiny high school football stadium in the suburbs of Mobile.
Head coach Rex Ryan and new general manager John Idzik spent their first day on the job together yesterday, watching college players practice for Saturday’s Senior Bowl. It was an unlikely setting at Fairhope Stadium with a wooden pirate ship in the corner of the field and concrete bleachers.
The Jets are not making Ryan or Idzik available to the media until Thursday’s press conference, but both men chatted informally with reporters and had big smiles as they sat in the stands for the practice to view the entire field.
Ryan and Idzik do not know each other at all, so this week is like a first date. They met for the first time last Wednesday when Idzik had his second interview with the Jets. The two sat down to discuss football philosophy and learn a little about each other. Idzik officially got the job on Friday.
The former Seahawks executive did not have any Jets clothing yet, in contrast to Ryan, who wore a Titans throwback sweatshirt. The duo spent the two-hour practice talking and joking at times. They will have plenty of time over the next three days here to get to know each other. They will interview the college players, have meetings and watch about five practices together.
The Jets’ contingent at practice consisted of Ryan, Idzik, assistant general manager Scott Cohen, director of football administration Ari Nissim, director of pro personnel Brendan Prophett and a number of scouts. It appears Idzik has not made any changes to the front office yet.
The decision to hire Idzik is a popular one with many people in league circles. Agents who negotiated contracts with him when he was with the Cardinals and Seahawks spoke very highly of him.
“It’s a great hire,” one agent said. “He’s smart. He’s a really good guy. He has the perfect combination of what they need — he’s good with the cap, but he also has personnel experience.”
That is the one question people around the league bring up with Idzik: Just how much personnel experience does he truly have? Those who defend him point to his time in the personnel department with the Buccaneers in the 1990s and early 2000s. His detractors say that was low-level work and he is really just a salary-cap expert who dabbled in some scouting.
“I was surprised they went with someone so similar to Mike [Tannenbaum],” a league executive said. “The talk had been that they were going to hire a personnel guy. But they hired a numbers guy with this much [holding fingers slightly apart] personnel experience.”
One thing nearly everyone agrees on is how big a challenge Idzik faces turning the Jets around after a 6-10 season with major questions at quarterback and a bad salary-cap situation.
“He’ll fix things there,” an agent said. “It may take three or four years, though.”