The Jets mess is in the midst of finally getting cleaned up, and the guy most responsible or the guy who took the fall for everything going bad in New York is finally speaking.
Mike Tannenbaum was fired, blamed for the Jets failures, and as he told ESPN New York, that blame was warranted. Tannenbaum in a classy move took the blame for the failed Tebow experiment.
“I’m disappointed it didn’t work out, just like I’m disappointed when certain draft choices don’t work out,” Tannenbaum told ESPNNewYork.com Tuesday. “We put in a lot of time and effort. We had a rationale for it. At the end of the day, it didn’t go as we had planned.”
“It’s just a trade that didn’t work out,” he said. “Each year, we’ll make 200-plus transactions. Some worked out, some didn’t.”
“We thought there was a role for him,” said Tannenbaum, speaking publicly for the first time in nearly two months. “Working with Rex every day, and seeing the way the league has evolved with the ball being in the quarterback’s hands and making plays with your feet, we thought it would give us a chance to make our offense more dynamic. It just didn’t work out that way.”
Tannenbaum confirmed that he took the idea to owner Woody Johnson once Denver signed Peyton Manning.
“Once we met on it and talked about it, ultimately that was my decision to trade for Tim,” Tannenbaum said. Asked if he had to convince Johnson, Tannenbaum said, “I had a great working relationship with both Woody and Rex (Ryan). Anytime we’d make a decision on something like this, we’d talk about it, discuss the pros and cons and ultimately it was my decision. I’ve always said that.
“For seven years, I had final say on everything. That was an honor and a privilege and a responsibility I totally embraced — whether it was trading for Tim Tebow or trading up forDarrelle Revisor trading for Brett Favreand everything in between. Ultimately, I had the final say on things.”