Nick Mangold breaks silence on his Jets heartbreak

[joewilly12]

Nick Mangold breaks silence to reveal his Jets heartbreak

By Steve Serby

March 4, 2017 | 11:59pm

 

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Nick MangoldPaul J. Bereswill

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He was a wide-eyed kid from small town Centerville, Ohio, who grew to love playing in New York, grew to love being a Jet and chasing the franchise’s elusive Super Bowl. He bled green-and-white for 11 years, as classy and loyal and professional as anyone who has worn the jersey.

Even after all the Jets turbulence and turmoil — the Buttfumble and Tim Tebow and Geno Smith and Rex Ryan and John Idzik — Nick Mangold held tight to the dream of retiring a Jet.

D’Brickashaw Ferguson, his fellow 2006 first-round draft choice, had read the handwriting on the salary-cap wall and retired a Jet following the 2015 season. But Mangold was certain he had more to give — even at 33, even after an ankle that betrayed him and dented his relentless durability and dependability, four damn games missed over his first 10 seasons — and could not see any handwriting on the salary cap wall.

Only there was.

“I was hoping there was going to be a negotiation of some sort to get something worked out,” Mangold told The Post, in his first interview since his dream was shattered, “but when you’re told, ‘Hey, we’re cutting you, and good luck,’ that really caught me off guard.”

And just like that, 11 heart-and-soul seasons wearing No. 74 with pride and honor ended with one phone call from general manager Mike Maccagnan.

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Brooks Bollinger and Mangold in 2006Anthony J. Causi

Asked if it was heartbreaking for him, Mangold’s answer should tell you everything you need to know about the man, and why he was so beloved by his coaches, teammates and fans.

“Yeah,” he said. “There’s a lot of people in that organization, not just players, that have affected my life and been a part of my life. But you have your equipment staff, your training staff, coaches that have come through, front office staff, marketing, ticketing, the kitchen staff, the operations … There’s a whole bunch of people in that building who have been around for a long time, that it’s difficult that I’m not being able to have a proper goodbye and say goodbye to those people at the office ’cause now I’m a free agent. I’ll have to call to be able to go over to the facility.

“I don’t think my code’s going to work anymore.”

Mangold was lunching at Epcot when his world was turned upside down.

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Kicker Mike Nugent and Mangold in 2006AP

“It was a Disney extravaganza that was kind of clouded a little bit,” Mangold said.

He wasn’t about to jeopardize Disney World for his 6-year-old son Matthew, however.

“He took it a lot better than I was expecting,” Mangold said. “Maybe as parents we build things up more than they need to be, but I sat him down after we got back from Disney ’cause I didn’t want to have the cloud of Daddy not playing for the Jets anymore over Disney. So I sat him down once we got him and said, ‘Hey, Daddy’s not going to play for the Jets anymore, I’m going to see what’s out there and see if I can play for another team.’

“OK,” Matthew replied.

“You’re good with that?” Mangold asked.

“Yeah that’s fine.”

It wasn’t so fine for his wife, Jennifer.

“She was hurt and she was upset … sad as well,” Mangold said.

“It’s definitely going to be different. I’ve worn the same uniform for 11 years, which is the longest I’ve ever worn a uniform, even going back to my grade-school days. I only wore the same uniform going to school for eight years. It’s going to be a difficult transition.”

They all understand the business side of it. Mangold carried a $9.075 million cap number, and became the first domino to fall, before it was known Darrelle Revis and Brandon Marshall won’t return, either. But it seems so much crueler when it happens to one of the franchise’s best and brightest gladiators.

“I’ve seen the other moves that have been pulled off recently, and it just seems to be the route that they’re taking,” Mangold said, “to get younger and cheaper.”

There was a Woody Hayes book entitled “You Win With People!” and the late Ohio State coach could have been talking about Nick Mangold, a proud Buckeye.

“I still feel that I got a couple of good years left in me,” Mangold said. “I still love the game. It’s still a great passion of mine. So hopefully the right situation comes along, and be able to find a team that I can carry that on with.

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Mangold practicing for the Fiesta Bowl in 2005UPI

“This whole free agent thing is a whole new territory, that I’ve never really had any experience like this, so I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know how it all works. I’ve got a couple of calls to make to try to ask a couple of guys what they went through and how they approached it. Just kind of taking it slow, and seeing what’s out there.”

Could he see himself playing for the Browns or Bengals?

“I think all options are open, and that’s kind of the fun of being in this new situation, that I really have no idea how it’s all going to play out,” Mangold said, “but I’m excited about the journey of it.”

His glass always has been half full. It will serve him well now.

“Feel pretty good,” Mangold said. “I’ve been rehabbing like crazy trying to get the foot back to health as I can. Otherwise, the body feels great, and hopefully we can get that healthy, pass the physical and get ready to go.”

Mangold always took the high road, always represented his organization the right way on and off the field. He appreciated the club delaying the announcement of his release last weekend for several days.

“Mike gave me a couple of days to come to grips with it and tell people I wanted to tell ahead of time, so even though it was a horrible situation, I thought they handled it the best way that they could,” Mangold said.

Mangold grew up a Bengals fan.

“My time here has made me a Jet fan, and happy that my son’s a Jet fan, and my daughter [2 ¹/₂-year-old Eloise]. So it’s going to be a tough transition,” Mangold said.

The Ring of Honor and possibly Hall of Fame await him. Mangold is a seven-time Pro Bowl center.

“I attempted to give everything I could to try to win a Super Bowl for the New York Jets,” he said, “and unfortunately I came up short, got close twice [2009 and 2010 AFC title games] but never succeeded in 11 years, and to that, a great disappointment.”

Asked how he would like to be remembered by Jets fans, Mangold said: “A hard-working player that did everything he could to help the team. And I think that’s the best that you could ask for.”

The Jets were lucky to have him.

 

[CrazyCarl40]

The fact they offered to extend/restructure Marshall and not Mangold says all I need to know about this front office. 

[Jetdawgg]

Good luck Nick.

[KRL]

4 minutes ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

The fact they offered to extend/restructure Marshall and not Mangold says all I need to know about this front office. 

Where is the proof that they wanted to extend Marshall?

[joewilly12]

8 minutes ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

The fact they offered to extend/restructure Marshall and not Mangold says all I need to know about this front office. 

Agree Carl thanks Mike Maccagnan for this current mess. 

[T0mShane]

Good luck in New England, Nick. I hope you're the one to pancake Darron Lee on the play that puts the Pats over 100 points in our November "rivalry" matchup that gets everyone fired here.

[Joe W. Namath]

3 minutes ago, KRL said:

Where is the proof that they wanted to extend Marshall?

Agreed.  Im not buying that at all.

Aging vets w/ high salaries and diminishing skills get cut all the time in this league.  He should be the last person who was caught off guard by this.

He will catch on with another team for a year or 2 and then retire w/ a lot of money in the bank.  Good job by him.

 

[CrazyCarl40]

8 minutes ago, KRL said:

Where is the proof that they wanted to extend Marshall?

It's been widely reported. 

[NoBowles]

If they restructured him:

"Mac is such a stupid a$$hole. Why the hell would he give an injured over the hill center a big contract. He sucks. Bring back Idzik!"

[RutgersJetFan]

8 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Good luck in New England, Nick. I hope you're the one to pancake Darron Lee on the play that puts the Pats over 100 points in our November "rivalry" matchup that gets everyone fired here.

Seeing Ellis and Revis in Pats jerseys sucked, but if I have to see Nick Mangold throw that jersey on, that one is gonna hurt.

[T0mShane]

1 minute ago, RutgersJetFan said:

Seeing Ellis and Revis in Pats jerseys sucked, but if I have to see Nick Mangold throw that jersey on, that one is gonna hurt.

Ellis was particularly painful, imo. Still, it'll be good to see Nick win

[JetsFanatic]

23 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Good luck in New England, Nick. I hope you're the one to pancake Darron Lee on the play that puts the Pats over 100 points in our November "rivalry" matchup that gets everyone fired here.

I don't I hate the f*cking the Cheaters.  If Mangold wears a Cheaters jersey f*ck him.

[JetsFanatic]

37 minutes ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

The fact they offered to extend/restructure Marshall and not Mangold says all I need to know about this front office. 

It tells me that the front office feels Marshall has more left than Mangold.  

[tfine]

The fact they offered to extend/restructure Marshall and not Mangold says all I need to know about this front office. 

So your saying we should've kept mangold? At what price? Football is a business. Aging vets get cut all the time.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[jetrider]

I can see Decker and Marshall in NE ... not Mangold.

[CrazyCarl40]

14 minutes ago, JetsFanatic said:

It tells me that the front office feels Marshall has more left than Mangold.  

And this front office has been a failure at almost every turn. Marshall may have had more left than Mangold, but the situations couldn't be any different. Mangold is a Jets legend. They dropped him with barely a second thought. That's pathetic. 

3 minutes ago, tfine said:

So your saying we should've kept mangold? At what price? Football is a business. Aging vets get cut all the time.

Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

 

Not what I said at all. I said they should have negotiated with him and paid him a little respect. Of course it's a business, but that doesn't mean that other players won't see what's happening and take that into consideration when contemplating which team to choose in free agency. 

[JetsFanatic]

1 minute ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

And this front office has been a failure at almost every turn. Marshall may have had more left than Mangold, but the situations couldn't be any different. Mangold is a Jets legend. They dropped him with barely a second thought. That's pathetic. 

 

This front office took over a patheric 4-12 team.  Stop your damn whining and give them time!  You"fans"are pathetic. 

[T0mShane]

27 minutes ago, JetsFanatic said:

This front office took over a patheric 4-12 team.  Stop your damn whining and give them time!  You"fans"are pathetic. 

Agree to disagree 

[Maxman]

1 hour ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

It's been widely reported. 

The Jets owed him 7.5 million. I think they offered him a 3 year extension for 7.5 million lol.

[Maxman]

Mangold is a guy that I think you could have stick around to teach the young guys. Football is brutal so if they are okay with Wesley starting then this is how it works unfortunately.

[Mogglez]

41 minutes ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

And this front office has been a failure at almost every turn. Marshall may have had more left than Mangold, but the situations couldn't be any different. Mangold is a Jets legend. They dropped him with barely a second thought. That's pathetic. 

Not what I said at all. I said they should have negotiated with him and paid him a little respect. Of course it's a business, but that doesn't mean that other players won't see what's happening and take that into consideration when contemplating which team to choose in free agency. 

Being a Jets Legend doesn't excuse being hurt a ton and getting paid for not so great play.  I love Mangold.  Always will.  When it comes to Marshall and him though?  One still had plenty to give and the other can't stay on the field and play at a high level.  Offering Marshall an extension was a way to lower his CAP hit and keep him for two more years for dirt cheap.  Offering Mangold an extension would be a way of saying "we love you even though you suck now so here's some money".

Wesley Johnson stepped in immediately and graded out better than Nick.  The second that happened, his career as a Jet was over.  There was absolutely nothing to negotiate.

[CrazyCarl40]

1 minute ago, Mogglez said:

Being a Jets Legend doesn't excuse being hurt a ton and getting paid for not so great play.  I love Mangold.  Always will.  When it comes to Marshall and him though?  One still had plenty to give and the other can't stay on the field and play at a high level.  Offering Marshall an extension was a way to lower his CAP hit and keep him for two more years for dirt cheap.  Offering Mangold an extension would be a way of saying "we love you even though you suck now so here's some money" 

One openly dogged it. One has played through many injuries and at the highest level in the game. I'm not saying keep him and start him at the money owed, but at least give him the option to retire a Jet. Also, 75% of Mangolds best is still better than Wesley Johnson. 

[CrazyCarl40]

41 minutes ago, JetsFanatic said:

This front office took over a patheric 4-12 team.  Stop your damn whining and give them time!  You"fans"are pathetic. 

Whining? Stop. Questioning the moves of the front office is what this board was built on. And the quotes on fans is laughable. You'll question my fandom but not the guy who wasted 40 million dollars two years ago. Cool. 

[JetsFanatic]

11 minutes ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

Whining? Stop. Questioning the moves of the front office is what this board was built on. And the quotes on fans is laughable. You'll question my fandom but not the guy who wasted 40 million dollars two years ago. Cool. 

Nothing wrong with questioning  the moves made by the front office.  I disagree that Mac & company have done a bad job.  They took over a bad team and deserve time to turn it around.  10-5 in 2015 was a gift and gave us unrealistice expectations for 2016.  To me their biggest mistake was waiting on Fitz like he was Joe Namath.  However on balance I'm willing to give them a fair chance.

[T0mShane]

6 minutes ago, JetsFanatic said:

Nothing wrong with questioning  the moves made by the front office.  I disagree that Mac & company have done a bad job.  They took over a bad team and deserve time to turn it around.  10-5 in 2015 was a gift and gave us unrealistice expectations for 2016.  To me their biggest mistake was waiting on Fitz like he was Joe Namath.  However on balance I'm willing to give them a fair chance.

List the accomplishments of the current regime plz

[Mogglez]

23 minutes ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

One openly dogged it. One has played through many injuries and at the highest level in the game. I'm not saying keep him and start him at the money owed, but at least give him the option to retire a Jet. Also, 75% of Mangolds best is still better than Wesley Johnson. 

1.  At the end of the day, Marshall is a guy capable of putting up huge numbers and is still capable playing at an extremely high level.  He was due 7.5 million and the Jets figured that if they could lower his CAP hit for the next two years, he was worth keeping around.  Unless he agreed to that "extension" he was probably always going to be cut.  Mangold, for as great as he was in the past, was no longer worth keeping.  You don't just give someone a contract because of what he once was.  That was the whole argument for cutting Revis.  Especially if you don't plan on keeping him in at starter. 

2.  Wesley Johnson was better than Mangold this year even when he was healthy so no, 75% of Mangold talent, nowadays, is not better than Wesley.  That's not something that's subjective.  I don't even think Wesley is the true "future" for us at the position, but he's a younger, cheaper, and better option.

Peyton Manning was cut by the Colts in favor of a younger route.  It's just the way the NFL is.  Mangold will, without a doubt, be back to retire a Jet.

[Larz]

[artemusclyde]

32 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

List the accomplishments of the current regime plz

9-7 bro. We also drafted Leonard Williams. That has to count for something right? Also, that Darron Lee kid's got potential. He needs to put on like 20 more pounds, but he's got potential.

[pointman]

52 minutes ago, JetsFanatic said:

Nothing wrong with questioning  the moves made by the front office.  I disagree that Mac & company have done a bad job.  They took over a bad team and deserve time to turn it around.  10-6 in 2015 was a gift and gave us unrealistice expectations for 2016.  To me their biggest mistake was waiting on Fitz like he was Joe Namath.  However on balance I'm willing to give them a fair chance.

How much time would you like for them to get when the average NFL career was stated at being 3 years (last time I heard)? They inherit a bad team, and two seasons later go 5-11. So we just act like the 10-6 didn't happen? OK. So we improved 1 win over two seasons. You are happy with this progress? Or how about the idea that they inherit a bad team, play two seasons, and then, only then, do they decide to burn it down and start over. Why was that not the plan all along? We wasted a lot of time, money, and draft picks.

[Warfish]

50 minutes ago, Mogglez said:

2.  Wesley Johnson was better than Mangold this year even when he was healthy so no, 75% of Mangold talent, nowadays, is not better than Wesley.  That's not something that's subjective.  I don't even think Wesley is the true "future" for us at the position, but he's a younger, cheaper, and better option.

This is laughably inaccurate.  If we have to play Wesley this season fans are going to realize quickly he's a nobody compared to what we've enjoyed the past few decades at Center.  

Some days I think some fans convince themselves a guy sucks so they don't have to be critical of the team, or care a real true Jet got tossed aside like trash.  Macc handled this poorly, and barring FA or Drafted Center, we're going to be materially worse on the Oline because of it.

Best of luck Hackenberg, better grow eyes on every side of your head the way this O-line is trending.

[Mogglez]

1 hour ago, Warfish said:

This is laughably inaccurate.  If we have to play Wesley this season fans are going to realize quickly he's a nobody compared to what we've enjoyed the past few decades at Center.  

Some days I think some fans convince themselves a guy sucks so they don't have to be critical of the team, or care a real true Jet got tossed aside like trash.  Macc handled this poorly, and barring FA or Drafted Center, we're going to be materially worse on the Oline because of it.

Best of luck Hackenberg, better grow eyes on every side of your head the way this O-line is trending.

Well the way the players both graded out at the end of the year and anyone with two eyes would vehemently disagree with you, but you have an outstanding bias against anything this front office does so it's not worth arguing.  We could draft Darnold next year and your track record suggests that you would argue that they didn't do enough homework and should have taken Rosen.  Or vice versa.  

Cling to your Mangold jersey all you want.  The guy sucked last year, couldn't stay on the field, and got outplayed by a scrub.  I don't give two sh*ts that he was once a great player.  I don't care that some of you hold out hope that their favorite team will hold on to your favorite players forever.  We're rebuilding.  Keeping an old as dirt Center who can't stay healthy and sucks when he is healthy at a decently high salary is stupid.  

Side note:  Teams that blow things up to rebuild typically get worse before they get better.  That is kind of the point.

You honestly need to make up your mind because with each passing day it's getting harder and harder for everyone to understand what direction you want the team to go in.  Everytime you hear that we MIGHT sign/keep an older veteran it's: "The team is stupid.  They're handling it all wrong.  This front office doesn't have a clue.  What have we ever accomplished by signing guys in FA other than getting older?"  Now we're FINALLY blowing it all up, planning on playing our youth and it's, once again: "They're clueless.  How does this make us better?  They'll never get it right."

Sh*t, the day we cut Mangold you were whining that we cut him and kept Revis and multiple people told you that it didn't matter and that Revis was getting cut anyway.  A couple of days later Revis is cut and you said nothing about being wrong about the front offices plan's, despite being upset with it the day Nick was released.

[HessStation]

3 hours ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

The fact they offered to extend/restructure Marshall and not Mangold says all I need to know about this front office. 

This. 

So ok cool now I can really hope for the worst with these ****heads. Both MacCagnan and Bowles can slowly eat sh*t and die. 1-15 clean house = Sam or bust. **** this sh*t organization and may Maccagnan be flipping burgers at Wendy's by next years draft.

[HessStation]

3 hours ago, T0mShane said:

Good luck in New England, Nick. I hope you're the one to pancake Darron Lee on the play that puts the Pats over 100 points in our November "rivalry" matchup that gets everyone fired here.

THis. 

Seriously, **** this team. And most definitely **** Maccagnan and Bowles.

[HessStation]

3 hours ago, T0mShane said:

Ellis was particularly painful, imo. Still, it'll be good to see Nick win

I may just root for whoever picks him up this year. Instead of the Browns.

[HessStation]

Honestly, I usually don't give a **** with this team anymore. But Mangold is about the ONLY thing I've been able to look at or reflect upon with pride as a fan of this sh*t organization over the past oh say amost 20 years. The one guy I really did expect some type of proper treatment. **** this team.