Another New York Jets offseason is limping towards its mundane conclusion, setting the stage for training camp bliss. At least that’s how fans view the NFL’s calendar on an annual basis.
Nearly identical to recent iterations, the fans of this franchise find themselves frustratingly stuck in Punxsutawney, P.A., in a hotel room across from Bill Murray, with a Sonny and Cher backdrop filling the air…
Hope, once again, rules the roost.
Optimism has been tough to come by. Confidence? Forget about it. Hope is what Jets fans have no choice but to attach themselves to as the football world prepares for another season (or, in the Jets fans’ case, any season in the last 15 years, save for a 2015 blip on the radar).
Thus, many a Jets quote is created which see the light of day. Some of these thoughts — mostly driven by the reactive human emotion of hope — receive far too much shine purely out of attention-seeking desperation.
You see, not only is this final offseason stretch (June and most of July) the final dark period for football fans who cannot wait to watch their team in August, but it’s also a living hell for digital sports platforms. Nothing is happening, which means some things must be established for the sake of business.
One such example involves the “this known guy said something so loosely positive about the New York Jets that it must become a headline” oh-so-transparent media game. After some time, hopefully (there’s that idea again), at least a modicum of self-respect enters the room, but alas, it never seems to arrive.
The latest instance falling under this hilariously trite column features Mike Tannenbaum.
Mikey T yet again stokes Jets hope
The former New York Jets general manager recently touched on the team’s offseason and provided some general thoughts, per the New York Post’s Alex Mitchell.
“They’re [the Jets] building it the smart way long-term. To have three first-round picks, arguably two years in a row, that is really, really rare,” Tannenbaum said. “We’ll see what happens with the process, but I thought they’ve had a very good offseason.”
This is nothing new. Tannenbaum has consistently shared his thoughts about how awesome the team’s future will be, particularly since he helped in the process that led to the hiring of Aaron Glenn.
This one’s just the most recent in a long line of Mikey T “truth bombs” that arguably place heels-dug-in conviction over sound modern football uniqueness.
It is interesting how he snuck in, “We’ll see what happens with the process,” particularly now that it’s offseason No. 2 for this regime. Granted, the Tannenbaum quotes are becoming fewer as time goes on, but the name of his bullish, optimistic game remains the same.
Much like the words Jets fans have been hearing for decades at this point, patience remains a key cog in the Tannenbaum gospel.
“It doesn’t happen overnight,” Tannenbaum said. “And sometimes, you have to be patient.”
Actually, it does happen overnight in the NFL. Just one glance at the 2025 standings, which emphasize the Jacksonville Jaguars’ and Chicago Bears’ turnarounds, makes that obvious. In fact, the more an organization romanticizes the plan, the more they spin those tires in the mud.
A great case can be made that, as critical as the quarterback position is, the start of today’s NFL show is the head coach. No matter the roster (and even quarterback), the same well-coached organizations enjoy a baseline level of success.
Sean McVay’s Los Angeles Rams are an example of doing it with a flat-out stud in Matthew Stafford and a not-so-stellar stud in Jared Goff. Kevin O’Connell’s Minnesota Vikings have won with hardly a franchise quarterback of their own. Nick Sirianni’s Philadelphia Eagles won a chip with Jalen Hurts, a quarterback whose “franchise QB” status is very much a question.
Mike Tomlin’s Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t had anything at the position, yet they consistently make the playoffs. John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens have Lamar Jackson, but was it the quarterback lifting the organization, or the other way around? Even Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs won games before Patrick Mahomes was even a reality.
Drake Maye, Caleb Williams, and Trevor Lawrence weren’t exactly lighting it up before Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson, and Liam Coen entered the picture. But I digress…
Tannenbaum’s bullish attitude about this particular Jets regime makes all the sense in the world, really. After all, the man owes his career in pro football to the start he received with this very franchise.
Tannenbaum’s Jets background
After three seasons of fetch-coffee roles with the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints, Tannenbaum snagged his first legit role with the Jets in 1997. Bill Parcells tabbed him as the director of player contracts, a role he held for four seasons.
In 2000, he significantly leveled up to director of pro player development, with the Tuna still holding office. The following year, he leveled up again, becoming assistant general manager and director of pro personnel under new GM Terry Bradway.
In essence, the rising front-office star was used as the general manager’s top financial lieutenant. All told, considering the results, he performed admirably during the Herm Edwards era.
That’s why, in 2006, the Jets elevated him again. This time, he accepted the big-dog role, general manager, forming the tandem that brought us D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Nick Mangold, David Harris, and, of course, Darrelle Revis.
This is the Jets roster representing the most recent joy in the diehard fan’s otherwise miserable NFL existence. No matter where anybody stands on who the true genius was behind the building of that team — Mikey T, Eric Mangini, or a combination — this is the duo that most recently got it done from a team-building and personnel perspective.
Therefore, it’s only natural and extremely human for fans to think kindly about the names of that era — Rex Ryan, Mangini, and, of course, Tannenbaum.
That’s precisely the problem with where we are today.
Refuse to live in the past
If Mike Tannenbaum’s former employment were the only matter at hand, an argument to carelessly wave away his thoughts about today’s Jets would be thin. Unbelievably, his former employment is just the tip of the iceberg.
Remember, Tannenbaum led the New York Jets’ head coach search in early 2025. Officially listed on paper as The 33rd Team spearheading the process, Tannenbaum and Rick Spielman were the Jets’ frontmen.
It made sense on a surface level. The Jets chairman attempts to do the right thing by paying for help and tipping his cap to NFL lifers whose decades of experience can help the franchise make the most informed decision.
Plus, no matter how horrendously the personnel decisions went during the Tannenbaum-Rex era — as compared to the Tannenbaum-Mangini era — Tannenbaum’s good name among Jets fan circles remained (and/or remains) on somewhat sturdy ground, at the very least.
(Again, his name was prominent the last time the team made serious on-field waves. For a football program that hasn’t experienced that in a decade and a half, that idea is exponentially romanticized.)
At the end of the day, however, none of that is the nail in the irrelevant-talking-points coffin.
Conflict of interest
How could any media member’s words hold water when that very media member led the way to hiring the very head coach he’s now analyzing? Not only is it extremely tiring to hear a Tannenbaum quote in the Aaron Glenn era, but it’s also menacingly trite.
Seriously, what is the point?
How any Jets fan could possibly consume his words with even the slightest intrigue is beyond anything conceivable. The conflict of interest in this realm is stunning.
To be fair to Tannenbaum, the actual NFL analyst, it’s not that side’s fault. Employed by ESPN to talk ball — most notably seen with diehard Jets fan Mike Greenberg — Mikey T should speak about his former team without any preconceived notions about conflict of interest or subjectivity.
As it relates to the Jets and Glenn, it’s just not possible. He has too much skin in the game for any of his opinions to hold any water.
Here is a well-respected former front-office player-turned-talking head who seemingly took a shot at morphing his company from a traditional content-creation business into a trusted analytical consulting firm. Although there’s nothing wrong with that goal, doing so while remaining in the talking head business presents crippling problems.
Thanks to the nature of today’s instant communicative world, those problems may not appear initially. But eventually, it’s the slow burn that’ll sink all ships.
The moment Tannenbaum says something negative about the Glenn regime will be the first. And if he does so, he’s simultaneously speaking negatively about his own coach-picking abilities — at least to some degree, wherever that may land.
Fair criticism
The New York Jets organization deserves a lot of credit from this perspective: They never frown on legitimate criticism.
Those familiar with how Jet X operates are well aware that we do not hold back the criticism when breaking down the on-field game. Not only do they take it in stride, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.
This game is played on the field, which is something we have always taken seriously. We can never ignore the off-the-field issues, and rarely do we ignore the casual fan, but the bits and bolts that hold Jet X together deal with the actual football analysis.
This Mike Tannenbaum-conflict-of-interest story may not have played out on the field, but its genesis sparked precisely what we saw on the field all of the 2025 season. Moreover, we also called out this conflict of interest — in real time — once the Jets hired The 33rd Team.
Desperation should never excuse a faulty process, because it is a faulty process that leads to desperation in the first place.
In other words, hiring Tannenbaum and Spielman as consultants is a fine move; hiring individuals and/or a company in the content creation/media business, whose visibility depends on maintaining an objective view, muddies the waters while introducing new, future problems.
The process Mike Tannenbaum is awaiting — from the Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey regime — is similar in tone to the one he participated in shortly after the calendar turned to 2025, the same one fans and non-involved media members cannot help but notice.
The current NFL analyst who helped the New York Jets coaching search last year can say anything he wants about that very team’s current state and possible future. Just realize how frustratingly meaningless each thought he shares actually is.
Unfortunately, even if Mike Tannenbaum’s many optimistic messages turn out to be 100 percent on the money, the messenger’s precarious situation — within the New York Jets’ universe — makes it moot.
