Cimini....Jets put picks to test

[SoFlaJets]

Pretty interesting read here.......

Jets put picks to test

BY RICH CIMINI

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Sunday, April 22nd 2007, 4:00 AM

The Jets' ten-man draft class last year included seven college graduates, four former team captains, two husbands and no felons. The group also posted the highest average Wonderlic test score in the NFL.

Smart and squeaky clean: Say hello to the anti-Pacmen.

From the moment they were hired, coach Eric Mangini and GM Mike Tannenbaum vowed to build the Jets with high-character players. As they showed in their first draft, it wasn't just lip service. Because of that commitment, they didn't have to frantically rearrange their current draft board when commissioner Roger Goodell recently announced the league's new personal-conduct policy.

"I think it's a philosophy we've had for awhile now, and it actually intensified when Eric got here," said player-personnel director Terry Bradway, who served as the GM from 2001 to 2005.

The Jets are so concerned with character that a list of desired intangibles is posted on a wall in their draft room. Their security director, Steve Yarnell, is a former FBI agent whose job is to investigate players who have been involved in off-the-field incidents.

Times have changed at Weeb Ewbank Hall. In the 1980s, the Jets invested a top-10 pick on a player who, unbeknown to them, had tested positive for marijuana, according to a source. The information was available to every team, but they failed to check it out. That player didn't last long in the league.

Tannenbaum learned from his mentor, Bill Parcells, the importance of filling a roster with solid citizens. In 1998, Parcells signed Curtis Martin, even though running back wasn't one of the Jets' top priorities. Why?

"I'll never forget what Coach Parcells told me," Tannenbaum said. "He said, 'The reason we should go get Curtis Martin is because he'd be our best player and our best person. That will transcend the locker room and change the culture.'"

Mangini was groomed under Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who stressed the team concept in building a three-time Super Bowl champion. Together, Mangini and Tannenbaum have devised creative techniques in an attempt to learn a player's personality.

For example, when a player arrived at the Jets' interview room at the scouting combine in February, he was introduced to about 10 team officials. Moments later, the player was asked to recite the names of the officials. Many couldn't name more than one or two.

"We're not going to draft or not draft a player based on that," Tannenbaum said, "but it helps to see if they can think quickly under a little bit of pressure."

[drago]

This is what makes it easier to be a jet fan then in past years.

[SoFlaJets]

For example, when a player arrived at the Jets' interview room at the scouting combine in February, he was introduced to about 10 team officials. Moments later, the player was asked to recite the names of the officials. Many couldn't name more than one or two.

"We're not going to draft or not draft a player based on that," Tannenbaum said, "but it helps to see if they can think quickly under a little bit of pressure."

...and here again, another example of how this regime thinks outside the box