Well, well, look what we have here.
While several key Jets players are toiling in frustration over contractual issues, the Jets announced yesterday that they have extended the contracts of coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum, keeping them together with the Jets through 2014.
Ryan, who had three years remaining on his original four-year, $11.5 million deal, had two years added to it.
Tannenbaum signed his new five-year deal in June, but the team didn’t announce it until yesterday.
“Our franchise is heading in the right direction and I believe that continuity is important,” Jets owner Woody Johnson said in a statement. “Mike and Rex have demonstrated the passion, commitment, and expertise to get us to our ultimate goal — winning a Super Bowl.”
The timing is interesting considering the player contract issues that Tannenbaum and Ryan are facing with some of the most important players on their roster as training camp is set to begin tomorrow.
Pro Bowl cornerback Darrelle Revis, for example, is due to make $1 million this year to make him the eighth-highest-paid defensive back on the roster, is seeking a contract extension.
So, too, are center Nick Mangold and linebacker David Harris, both of whom are in the final year of their respective deals.
Revis is so incensed with the Jets’ lack of commitment to give him a new deal with guaranteed money, he’s leaning heavily toward holding out of training camp if nothing is worked out before the players are required to report to the team’s Florham Park, N.J., facility tomorrow morning.
Ryan’s extension is compelling considering he has been a head coach for just one year.
Johnson extended Herm Edwards after making the playoffs in 2001, but he didn’t do it for Eric Mangini after he reached the playoffs as a rookie coach in 2006.
Ryan, in his first season with the Jets and first year as a NFL head coach, led the Jets to a 9-7 record and a wild-card playoff berth. Once in the playoffs, the Jets advanced to the AFC Championship.
Johnson made a statement in displaying his pleasure with both Ryan and Tannenbaum. It will be interesting to see what kind of statement Johnson makes with his wallet when it comes to Revis, Mangold and Harris.