Jets general manager John Idzik took questions from the press today after his official introduction and while mostly “softball” questions were asked when confronted by recent news of the Jets looking to trade all-pro cornerback Darrell Revis or what might happen with quarterback Mark Sanchez, Idzik did not provide much clarity. (Note: questions are paraphrased)
Q: What about the opinion that you are more of a salary/contracts specialist then a personnel evaluator?
Idzik: “I think my role as a general manager is to provide some direction and develop consensus within the building, so when we make decisions there Jet decisions, now I maybe the person that hands in the card but what is on that card is a Jet decision … I’ve had a myriad of different perspectives so I think that is something I can lend to the New York Jets, various perspectives that is inclusive of personnel, that is inclusive of management, administration, operations, it is inclusive of contract and cap, so I think that will be help for the New York Jets.”
Q: Woody Johnson expressed support of head coach Rex Ryan, how would the relationship work with the head coach having the support of the owner and you coming in?
Idzik: “I look at Rex Ryan as a very accomplished coach, he’s very energetic, he’s optimistic, he’s engaging as well, as we all know, and he engages our players and he gets them to play hard … I look forward to our time together, I really do, I’m excited about it, so that to me was a plus.”
Q: The salary cap situation was seen as an issue and how might it hamstring you in the near future or down the line?
Idzik: “Every year as you enter into a new league year, much like you do with free agency, your own players, the draft, you’re going to have to develop a plans for the salary cap. We’re going to develop those plans in the days to come. I never saw the cap situation here as a hindrance or anything like that, it is something you research, you pour through, you evaluate, just like we evaluate our roster and we make the moves that we think are best for the Jets. So I’m fully confident we will be able to do that and we’ll have a fruitful offseason.”
Q: How do you characterize the level of challenge to get back to a playoff caliber team?
Idzik: “Every year is a challenge whether were in the playoffs or not and we’ve experience it right here in New York. You can go as far as the conference championship game, you can go to the Super Bowl, we did it in Tampa we went to the Super Bowl one year, next year we weren’t as fortunate. So every year is a challenge and you really try and wipe the slate clean.”
Q: What is your thinking of a role for Mark Sanchez mindful on the guaranteed money he is owed?
Idzik: “Well Mark obviously with Pete Carroll we have a little background with him coming out of school. I can’t comment really, I’m literality hours into the building … I don’t want to drill down to deeply that’s what we’re going to save for the days and weeks to come. In looking at Mark and evaluating him as a draft prospect, he’s an athletic guy, he was accomplished at SC, he’s done some nice things here but I think we need to take our time and evaluate Mark with everybody else on the roster and see how we can move forward and improve.”
Q: There were several reports that there was a perception that no one wanted the Jets general manager’s job?
Idzik: “Everyone is good to have their opinions and I don’t deal much with perception to be honest, I deal with reality and the reality here is I think this is one of the most fabulous football infrastructures anyone could ask for. For one we have some of the most fervent passionate fans in the National Football League … we have state of the art stadium to play in, we have state of the art facility, the people in this building are tremendous. The more I got to know about the people here, the fans here, the environment here, the facilities, I think the football infrastructure is second to none so my personal opinion it is one of the best, one of the best opportunities you can have.”
Q: There are reports the team is willing to trade Darrelle Revis, would you be open to that possibility?
Idzik: “It’s way premature to say anything specific, again I haven’t even had a chance to sit down and thoroughly get through our roster with Rex, his staff, our personnel staff. So I think it would be presumptuous to say anything on that vain.”
Q: How important on your priority list addressing this (Revis) situation as soon as possible?
Idzik: “Well not that one specifically but I’d say very important one of our first steps is to go through our roster in detail, that includes Darrelle, that includes everybody on our roster. Then develop a comprehensives plan off of that but it’s still a little premature to say.”