Forget his age. Forget his theatrics. Forget his salary. Forget the compensation. Is he head and shoulders better than the 2-headed monster of Kellen Pennington? Yes sir. Brett Favre would give the Jets their best chance of going to the Super Bowl since they led the Broncos 10-0 heading into halftime of the 1998 AFC Title Game. For a guy like Mike Tannenbaum to leave no stone unturned in his search for players to improve the team it goes against logic to say the Jets are not at least exploring this avenue. To that I think they are exploring it and they are giving it serious thought and not dismissing it as their quotes would lead you to believe. After all, everything the Jets do now is a state secret so why should anyone think they’d admit they were interested in Favre even if they were?

I say take the plunge. What have the Jets got to lose? Thye have not been to a Super Bowl in 40 years! Favre is not the same guy that won those MVP trophies years ago but he is still better than about 25 other QB’s in the league right now. A special player like him should never become available like this and even if it is in the twilight of his career he still has plenty left in the tank to make the Jets a top 5 team in the AFC. The gunslinger in him will determine the plus or minus amount of games they play beyond the 16 game regular season. I say go get Brett and make him a Jet like he should have been all those years ago.

Another preseason forecast and this one sounds pretty good as the Jets get tabbed as a team on the rise thanks to their off-season additions. I don’t believe the Jets always throw money at the probl;em after a bad season but this time I think they brought in quality personnel. Take a look at how Dave Hutchinson see’s the AFC taking shape. 

As Jets training camp kicks off the player whose progress I’m most excited about is…Justin Miller. If he can step up to the plate and give us a second good young cornerback our defense may be top 5. He had an entire year to mature and study his position. He has always had the physical talent but he never applied himself to the classroom and game film so hopefully he comes back a new player at a position most fans thought Jets were desperate at. It looks like Favre won’t be joing the quarterback controversy so it should be a fun battle to watch between Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens. Don’t forget the Pope did bestow the divine touch on Clemens in the offseason. Don’t underrate that. You can’t coach divine intervention and I’ll take anything I can get before ruling Clemens a bust.

And last but not least the Jets signed one of their two first round draft picks over the weekend — Dustin Keller. The man who may be our MVP in my opinion. Get your Keller jerseys now as he will be a force to be reckoned with.

“There was never really any doubt in my mind that we were going to get everything done on time,” Keller said. “I’m just happy that everything’s done and to officially be a New York Jet — just happy that all that stuff’s done now and we can actually get down to the real football business and get the pads on.”

“I feel pretty confident with the offense right now. I’ve been doing a lot of studying and getting everything down,” Keller said. “As far as expectations for the season, I haven’t really set any true expectations for myself. For right now, I just want to get the offense down as good as I can and I want to go out there and give the Jets everything I’ve got every chance I’m out there.”

With Keller in Jets’ fold, only Gholston remains unsigned - ESPN.com

So why won’t the suits at the former Weeb Ewbank Hall pull the trigger? Money, Favre’s age and possibly the biggest reason: Eric Mangini. Favre is older than Mangini and is a supernova peronsality to Mangini’s tiny satellite moon. Mangini is cut from the stoic charisma-less Bill Belichick mold. Mangini isn’t quite as somnambulistic as Belicheat but he’s more tortoise than hare.

The bottom line is winning and who among the trio of Pennington, Clemens, and Favre gives the Jets the best chance of getting back to the playoffs and dethroing the Patsies? Hint: He played himself in There’s Something About Mary. 

As always, the underwhelming and overrated Pete Prisco offers his scientific analysis on postion battles and this time focuses on the AFC East heading into training camp. check out this in-depth scouting report. You’ll be sorry you did.

In other non-news the Jets signed a tight end. A.J. Schable. Yes, that A.J. Schable. Is Chris Baker on his way out of town? Well he hasn’t made it easy to want to keep him by being a first class jerk…and this from a player on the cusp of mediocrity. What is a Chris Baker worth on the trade market? Maybe the Saints would parth with a 5th round pick for Baker…maybe. Anything the Jets get would be better than nothing. It seems like the only person that is not aware that Baker only ranked 19th best overall at his position last season is Chris Baker. In this same blog we also read speculation for a bold quarterback move for Jets. Might not be a bad idea.

While this isn’t really huge news — it just goes to show you what grabs headlines this time of year for an NFL team — it may have repurcussions. Think about it…Tannenbaum is only entering his third year as a general manager and he has displayed great skill working the salary cap and signing free agents while improving his drafting ability. Hopefully his new expanded role with the team will not take too much time away from his shaping the Jets on the field product in exchange for shaping the overall bottom line on the business side. We know about Mike, about his apprenticeship and the fact that he has been here awhile. Scott Cohen is much more unknown but could he be the Jets GM of the future if Trader Mike continues his ascent and someday becomes Jets Team President? Food for thought.

Only a story as big as Jay Cross leaving could bump this shocking free agent signing by the Jets to the back burner. You should be sitting when you read this.

The Faneca signing will be the most important free agent signing in the league as history suggests it is this position that translates into W’s and immediate and substantial dividends in the ground game rankings. Faneca will also be much more than a single position upgrade over uber whiner Pete Kendall. He’ll be the mentor and on field coach that will continue to make Ferguson and Mangold two of the leagues best young players on the offensive line.

While the line has been solidified since the start of free agency it appears that the Jets front office needed some impact additions as well. Who knew? The biggest news was the hiring of an aisstant general manager. It doesn’t appear that Scott Cohen — the man Mike Tannenbaum tapped — has any prior connections to Tannenbaum or the organization but at the very least he comes from a solid front office and winning franchise so that can’t hurt.