New York Jets: Who is going? Who is coming? What is changing?

If you are a fan of Gang Green you have to admit this off-season is surely going to be a long one for you. Between the fact that your head coach talks way more than he should, that you are not going to the playoffs and that there is some serious chemistry issues between skilled players, someone in the organization has to stop and say “how do we get back to being what we were?” One thing seems sure, from an interview that head coach did on ESPN and from what the Jets’ GM, Mike Tannenbaum, said in an article, Mark Sanchez is the quarterback of the team. So, since it seems that the QB and wide out Santonio Holmes are not on the same page, the receive could be the one to go.

Not from what this small post says, where it basically says…

"Holmes is due a fully guaranteed $7.75 million in base pay for 2012, according to a person familiar with the contract. In addition, if he’s on the Jets’ roster on the second day of the waiver period (Feb. 8), more than half of his 2013 salary becomes guaranteed — specifically, $7.5 million of $11 million."

Which basically means that the team owes Holmes at minimum $7.75 millions and if not, it would be more than double, plus all the consequences on the salary cap. Meaning that the team has to deal not only with huge egos on the field, but with huge financial repercussions depending on how this is played out. And let’s also add to this, that no matter how united the locker room seems, when one star is gone over another there will always be players not happy with the one gone and the one staying. But fear not Jets fans as there is good news, the other big name wide receiver, Plaxico Burress, was on a one year contract and so management will have a much easier time deciding what to do with him between now and the camps.

Then, of course, one must ask: when will management look up, past the players, to the head coach? He is fearfully backing his quarterback in all of this, someone who threw for three interception and just didn’t look good in the Jets’ last loss against the Dolphins. Will Ryan’s blind faith in Sanchez be his downfall? Will his mouth be? Will the combination of the two? Or will something else? Or will the team be able to re-group and find a way to get back to where they were a year (or two) back? And will anyone ask how did this team regress so quickly?

I have a feeling that it’s going to take a major shake up, more than any wild statement by the head coach at a presser, or what right tackle Wayne Hunter said to Holmes during the last game of the season (read it below), or anything else like that. It is going to take a level headed person that is going to lead by example and move it forward without much lips and with plenty of skills. That is why, just like I wrote a while back, with the Colts now having the first pick in the NFL Draft, this team needs Peyton Manning to guide it. Even without a great running game the Indy QB has been able to do plenty for his team, I am sure he could do the same if he was to land at the Meadowlands. For a team like the Jets, who has always been the second team in the metro area, having the first of the Mannings would make a splash that I am not sure anyone could see it coming.

In the end, this should be a wild off-season for this organization. There is no more “week to week” mentality than the National Football League, but in this case the week to week will be months and months as the team will work on trimming the roster, looking to make trades and figure out what to do in the draft. They can either go looking for top notch wide outs that will make their average QB better or they can find a top notch gunslinger to make above average receivers look even better. Not sure which the head office will choose, but sooner or later they will have to take one path or the other, and when they do you know that the NY media will be all over the coverage, which will give Rex Ryan the possibility to do what he does best, spend useless words on promises that have been put out before.